Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission in follow-up to my statement. MLAs were informed in August of an average 15 percent-plus increase in employee assessment rates. Meanwhile we have a Safe Advantage Program, which is supposed to improve rates of safety performance, yet the rates are skyrocketing. Why are the rates going up? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister responsible for Workers’ Safety and Compensation, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I did meet with the board chair and the president and I did share some of the concerns that were brought to my attention. Part of the reason why this rate is going up is due to the fact that their investment at the national stage has had a downturn in investment in the environment, and also the rising cost of health care across Canada. Given that there have been subsidies given to these businesses across the Northwest Territories for the last 10 years, it has basically taken back the subsidy and put that into an increase in assessment rates. So, swapping that. That was my understanding from the WSCC when I met with them. Mahsi.
I have to say thanks to the Minister, but there is something faulty with the reasoning there, because there’s not much activity in our health care costs that we’re going to repress our businesses even more. I’ve mentioned the burden our businesses already have. I have a constituent, as I mentioned, with employees in Class 7, whose rates have leapt from 48 cents to 58 cents per $100 of payroll. The government claims this is a 6 percent, whereas my Grade 3 arithmetic says this is a 22 percent increase. What is the truth here? Obviously, this is a massive increase, but how can the government claim it’s 6 percent here? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I got the facts here from WSCC and it is in between. It’s not 6 percent or what the Member is alluding to; it is an increase in 2013 of 16 percent. That’s the number I have from WSCC, in replacement of the subsidy that’s been provided over the last 10 years.
Thanks to the Minister. I guess I would ask the Minister to commit to investigating that because, obviously, if the rate has gone from 48 to 58 cents, that is not a 6 percent increase and neither is it a 15 percent increase. So I hope the Minister will seek the truth on that.
The Safe Advantage program is meant to be self-funded and independent from the claims budget. It’s a separate budget. However, my understanding is that penalties income is less than rewards paid out. There’s also rewards paid out, not just penalties in the Safe Advantage program. That’s resulting in a deficit. We’re paying out more in rewards than we’re taking in penalties.
I have to assume the deficit is being made up from the claims budget, which is supposed to be independent. If this is true and we have safer practices today, which we should with Safe Advantage, to what degree is this the cause of the steep increases in rates that businesses are being asked to pay?
The information that I did receive – and I will be going back to WSCC for another follow-up meeting, because whenever a concern has been addressed by the Members and the general public, I usually meet with the chair and the president.
With respect to this increase in assessment rates for 2013 of 16 percent, this has been in the subsidy area. A subsidy has been provided for the last 10 years and now WSCC has taken that back. In return is an increase in assessment rates. That information was brought to my attention. It is the subsidy that has been provided is now taken back by WSCC due to the investment economy throughout the national stage.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. That goes somewhat to explain some of the increases, although it does not excuse them. Obviously, in these days of soaring electricity rates and other basic costs, we can’t keep adding to the burdens of our small businesses, the economic engine of our communities. How can we wonder, again, while they’re throwing in the towel and not coming north? What is the Minister doing to keep rates low and what steps will he promise to correct the imbalance of increased payments being required while safety performance is supposedly increasing?
When this was first introduced for 2013, the increase of 16 percent, I did indicate to the president and the chair that they need to work closely with even the smallest contractor on what the implications would be. What kind of subsidy are we providing? Is it in replacement of a subsidy to increase the assessment rates? It was assured to me that it was in replacement. I told them that we need to have a long-term mechanism to highlight the implications and potential impacts. I will be sharing that information with the Members once it is available to me by WSCC.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
