Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister responsible for WSCC. In the NWT, in Nunavut, the total number of people employed is around 35,000. About a third of those people work for a territorial government or public entity, but those employers only pay one-sixth of all of the revenue WSCC collects from employers. The rest comes from industry, small business, and municipalities, which last year generated $55 million in revenue to WSCC. In turn, WSCC paid out $34.5 million in claims to employees from those organizations. That's a difference of $20 million. I'd just like to ask the Minister: what happens with that $20 million? Where does it go? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On any given year, you never know what kind of claims you're going to get in within workers' claims. We want to promote workplace health and safety, of course, both here in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Last fall, in 2018, we did develop a 2019 corporate plan, and that was through the governance council which approves the operations and capital budgets on an annual basis. As I said, we don't know what kind of claims we will be getting on a yearly basis. For more detail, I will have to go back to the WSCC and get that information for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that. I didn't give the Minister enough heads-up on this. I've got some technical questions here, so maybe I'll just jump to a different question. The Minister mentioned this last time when he discussed this issue, that, in 1993, the OH&S function of government was transferred to WSCC. At that time, not only did government save money by transferring this function to WSCC, the government also has what appears to be preferential rates from WSCC, and it has deep pockets. If it's not compliant, it can usually handle any monetary penalty by throwing some taxpayer money at it. It never has to worry about going out of business, generating revenue, or any of that kind of stuff. I don't like wasting people's time, and I don't like creating plans for the sake of plans, but I would really like to see WSCC put forward a plan to shift these OH&S costs off the backs of private industry and back onto government. This wouldn't necessarily mean GNWT employees would be performing these OH&S duties. It would probably be easier to just adjust the rates for government, but I'll leave those details to the experts. Can the Minister commit to working with WSCC to develop such a plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I had mentioned, the governance council does approve the budget on an annual basis. They develop a strategic and a corporate plan. Moving forward under this corporate plan, they are focusing on increasing the number of employers with an occupational health and safety program, as well as increasing occupational health and safety education in communities for vulnerable workers. As much as the Member wants to move forward with private industry, we also have to make sure that anybody who does business in the Northwest Territories is also held accountable for the health and safety of our residents and our people in our communities. I did table a document in oral questions earlier during this sitting, and I have committed to informing the governance council of the industry's concerns regarding the rate structure. I do believe that the governance council has recently met, and they have also agreed to review both the rates and the subclasses that were mentioned in questions that were asked earlier on in this sitting. I will stay by that commitment, and I will keep Members who were concerned regarding this apprised moving forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not suggesting that we reduce safety in the territory. Everyone is all for safety. The other question I had was: what portion of WSCC's budget is spent on occupational health and safety responsibilities? I understand the Minister doesn't have that information. I was just wondering for a final question: would the Minister be able to commit to answering the questions I've provided in some sort of written form that I can then share with my constituents who have been raising these concerns with me? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I had mentioned, we do have a corporate plan that's out there. It's done on an annual basis. There is a budget breakdown within this corporate plan, but, for the specifics on the OH&S, I will have to get back to the Member, and I will commit to providing that in a written document. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
