Debates of March 2, 2006 (day 40)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today once again in support of the cause of the quick service restaurants in Yellowknife. As you are well aware, this issue has been on the front burner for a number of us, and I am not sure we are getting any closer to resolving and addressing some very real and legitimate concerns that these QSRs have. Make no mistake about it, Mr. Speaker; unless the WCB, the Minister and the governance council do something positive and do something soon, we risk putting some of these businesses out of business, Mr. Speaker. I am not going to let that happen. I appreciate the WCB’s position that this is only a small group out of many businesses and that many of them are not complaining, but in public eyes, we are not here to speak about the happy clients we have. Thank goodness we get some of them once in a while. Our main task here is to be the voice of those small portions of our client groups who are most disadvantaged, the most grieved and the most frustrated. In this case, we have both the employers and injured workers in that area. I submit to you that the WCB Governance Council and the Minister have to step up to the plate on their behalf. The status quo is not working for them. We need a different look, different approach and different attitude. As it stands now, these QSRs are paying more than oil and gas well drillings, air transportation, trucking, public utilities, even forest fire, ambulance and rescue services. Some of them have seen a decrease of more than 25 percent. Yet the QSRs have seen a 25 percent increase for four years in a row. That is more than double during that time. No other group I can see has gone through such an increase at the same time.

Mr. Speaker, to top it off, I understand that the WCB is planning on moving the camp and industrial caterers into this subcategory, a category that is paying more than the QSR. This is going in the wrong direction, Mr. Speaker. There is no misconception on my part about what WCB is doing or not doing. Both the WCB Governance Council and the Minister have a choice of defending the status quo or doing something proactive and out of the box. I do hope that they will have the heart to do the latter and do it soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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