Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will follow up on my two-day review of the WSCC federal penalty and our Safe Advantage program assessments. There is over $750,000 in two years of penalties and our escalating claims cost experience, and I thought we should address the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation and Safety Commission with some of the following questions.
Given the dismal performance in the past few years of the GNWT in our safety performance, many would find it odd that the GNWT as a whole has only had a modest increase of 13 cents to our new assessment rate of 79 cents per $100 of payroll. Can the Minister validate to the public that this rate assessment is truly indicative of the performance claims growth and classification befitting of WSCC’s largest client and largest number of clients? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT’s assessment rate is increasing from 66 cents in 2012 to 79 cents in 2014. That is an overall 20 percent increase, which is also the maximum annual allowable increase set by the Governance Council. If the 20 percent cap wasn’t issued or in place by this government, there would be required a payment of 86 cents in 2013. That would be in addition of the 30 percent increase at that time, instead of 20 percent based on the claims experience. Those are the reasons why the Governance Council is pursuing the rate increase as we speak. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to split hairs on math, but I believe 13 cents on 79 cents is more of a 16 percent, not 20 percent. Given we heard from the Minister of Human Resources, health and safety claims both for GNWT showed significant increases for the Department of Health, Justice and also Transportation, if we were to compare these departments with job descriptions and classifications in the current 2013 WSCC Rate Guide, the comparable private industry fields would find the following: for Health, $1.61; for Justice, $2.58; and Transportation, $5.85.
Given the law of averages, can the Minister explain how the GNWT can be assessed at only a single rate of 79 cents per 100 when, clearly, the three most prolific and costly departments with health and safety concerns are, on average, two to over seven times less than the industry average? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, that information that I have from WSCC is that GNWT is one employer under the Workers’ Compensation Act and also is classified as industry subclass specifically developed for government, and whose current rate reflects on government’s long-term history of claims experience. Due to that increase in GNWT’s claim experience over the last few years, this will continue to increase up to the maximum of 20 percent per year until it covers the full cost of the GNWT’s liability. That is where we are at, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister’s response. Will the Minister commit to facilitate an independent oversight review of the WSCC of all employer industry classifications and assessment rates as it pertains to proper claims experience? Would the Minister commit to facilitate a full public audit of accounting in relationship to written claims made by the WSCC in terms of the depletion of the Workers’ Protection Fund due to rising costs of health care services and continued downward trend in investment markets? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Governance Council does engage in third-party actuary on an annual basis to review any impacts of the Workers’ Protection Fund and also the employee industry classification, the claims experience and also the recommended assessment rates. WSCC is also audited annually by the Auditor General of Canada, but we just had a recent audit done. I am confident that the audits of the Auditor General of Canada and the use of the independent actual rate of WSCC have the new checks and balances in place as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I have great faith in the Auditor General of Canada. Again, we are asking for some public input in terms of the audit and information shared with the public.
On the subject of governance, will the Minister responsible for the WSCC commit to facilitate a full review of governance on how the GNWT is being assessed by the WSCC employer industry classification and assessment rates? Will the Minister commit to tabling all findings and correspondence from the department and the WSCC to this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, back in 2001, December, this Legislature completed a comprehensive review of the WSCC. Then it was WCB. That report tabled was called Act Now. The recommendations on the report, coupled with the 2006 Auditor General’s operational review of WSCC and the yearly audit by the Auditor General ensured compliance of the WSCC. I will be sharing that information that the Member is referring to today with the chair and the president of the WSCC. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
