Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the WSCC regulations and the concerns that the regulations won’t take into consideration the feelings and worries of industry, both small and medium. As I highlighted continually, that small and medium industry certainly is our breadbasket in our economy and if we don’t do everything we can to keep them competitive, it makes it very challenging for them to keep up and running.
My question to the Minister is: I understand that the WSCC has extended its feedback deadline, which certainly has been received positively. However, the key to feedback is the WSCC’s willingness to discuss or even accept observation and comments from industry. What assurance is the Minister able to give to industry, business and employers that their feedback will be considered and won’t be a waste of their time?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can assure the Member that any feedback is not a waste of time. I can assure him that in the February meeting of the committee they will take all correspondence that they’ve had, all consultation, all feedback that they’ve had and do a summary and provide written correspondence to those that submitted the recommendations. Then they will continue to consult with them and make sure that all their input is taken. I can assure the Member that the input is taken quite seriously.
I want to thank the Minister for that answer. That’s the type of answer they’re certainly looking for, is that the WSCC will listen and certainly evaluate, if not consider their response.
The other problem with changes to the regulations is the reality that changes mean money. One of the big fears is the cost of any of these potential regulations that will be happening. May I remind this House, and the Minister knows this, that there are almost 400 pages of regulations being updated. What is the WSCC doing to ensure that the administrative burden is not being ploughed down onto industry when they’re able to afford it least? What are they doing to ensure that we’re looking at stabilizing and ensuring that costs will remain the same for industry through this regulatory update?
I’d like to remind the Member that this is still a draft. We’re still consulting. As far as costs, we won’t have an idea of what the costs may be until after the whole consultation process is done and the report is then brought to the Minister for his review, my review, then to see if any further consultation is required. We’ll take the necessary steps to ensure that all the voices are heard, as far as this goes. I can assure the Member that we’re in a draft process right now and we don’t have an idea of what the potential costs might be.
I appreciate the Minister’s answer. As I’ve highlighted a few times in this House this term and certainly the last term, my concern about red tape and a red-tape bureaucracy, and B.C. has a red-tape Minister. If they bring in a new regulation, they have to take away two. The point being is they don’t want to continue burdening industry as well as the everyday person with more rules and unnecessary regulations.
The Minister had said this is a draft and I’ll accept his statement that it is a draft. My concern is the draft will roll into this is the way it will be before costing out these regulations. Will the Minister be able to commit to this House or provide direction or guidance on this issue, which is there will be costing out of these regulations before an implementation is put into place and allow some discussions so that people have a good idea of what may or may not be happening and be able to provide some feedback before anything does get locked down for who knows how long before the next review?
I can assure the Member and ministry out there that it would not be my intent as Minister of WSCC to proceed with the regulations until all stakeholders have had an opportunity to have one last comment on it. Then as far as the financial part of it, those would need to be worked out. I can assure the Member that this is not something we will just implement without seeking feedback.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
