Ontario’s WSIB Has Proven Itself Unworthy to Manage Our Monies!
Well at any rate, on to this Blog and the meaning of
the title…
For those who do not live in Ontario, or do not know, Ontario’s
workers compensation board had its name changed to the Workplace Safety &
Insurance Board, or the WSIB. This was the result of decades of lobbying, by Ontario’s
insurance industry, to take over Ontario’s workers compensation. The first step
was to convince people workers compensation was not workers compensation, but
insurance. Then next, to claim that Ontario's workers' compensation system it is better off being privatized. The first step was done in January 1998.
This was when the Ontario Legislature changed the name to the workers' compensation law, changed the name of the workers' compensation board, and changed the name of the workers' compensation appeals tribunal. The Ontario Legislature did what the insurance industry wanted. They included the word "insurance" in all the names. Most
devastatingly to injured workers, the Ontario Legislature included the removal of the right to workers compensation.
Instead replacing with the right with a privilege. Now injured workers must beg for.
The historic trade off was commonly known as:
Workers lost their right to sue employers
for their injuries as a result of their employer's workplace
and in return workers were provided a right to workers' compensation.
The only requirement was workers must prove their injuries were the result of the employer's workplace!
This was confirmed by the Supreme court of Canada in the case of
Nova Scotia v. Martin.
Now days, the historic trade off seems to really be:
Workers' lost their right to sue their employers, but are forced back to work the day after a work injury.
Where is the right to workers' compensation?
Seems today it is more like a Historic Ripoff!
This is why I now include the hashtag #HistoricTradeoffIsDead with my social media posts.
However, one key feature in both the Ontario’s former Workers' Compensation Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. W.11 and the present Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, S.O. 1997, c. 16, Sched. A, was the statement that the Act must be implemented in a financiallyresponsible and accountable manner.
I raise this point, as it is key to this Blog. It is why I submit to you the WSIB, the care keeper of the monies destined to injured workers, is unworthy to continue to perform their obligation!
I first have to go back in time a few years ago. This was when I was before the courts arguing the bad faith conduct of both the WSIB and the WSIAT towards me was, without question, an abuse of their public office. As confirmed in their own law under s. 179. To this the WSIB counsel, Mr. Belec had quoted the above line, but did not make mention of the rest of the purpose. Mr. Belec’s purpose was clear.
To convince the Court that I, like all injured workers, was nothing more than a
FREELOADER!
Furthermore, to grant me, or any injured worker, anything would be
fiscally irresponsible for the court to do. Moreover if the court did that somehow, it would cost taxpayers! Sadly, his argument was so effective the court said
that both the board and tribunal cannot be sued as they lack the legal capacity
to be sued. What is interesting to note is that the Court was incorrect in the interpretation
of the law.
First, while the law does provide for limited immunity to board &
tribunal staff, it provides no immunity to the board or tribunal for the actions
of their staff. This is confirmed when reviewing s. 179(3)(4). This provides board/tribunal staff with LIMITED immunity and no immunity to the board/tribunal!
Second, and more importantly, in my claim before the court, I
did not list any staff of the board/tribunal as defendants. I only listed the
board and the tribunal as defendents.
This legal tactic often used by the WSIB and WSIAT would again revisit me. This was
recently in an application for judicial review. A review is sort of like an appeal,
where one has no right of an appeal. This was when Mr. Lokan, counsel for the
WSIAT again repeated the statement and again he got his wish my judicial review
was dismissed before it was even heard!
It is very interesting to know why the courts give such, as they say deference tot he WSIB and WSIAT, or as I say preferential treatment to the WSIB and the WSIAT. This the courts reasoning is from a "very strong privative clause." The meaning is that the intent of the legislation is to keep the matters within the administrative appeal process. A good example often cited by courts is the Supreme Court of Canada's case of Ontario Energy Board v. Ontario Power Generation. In this case, the Supreme Court of Canada explains the purpose of a privative clause. That is to protect the public interest, which in that case was to protect consumers against price gouging in the energy sector.
However, respectfully, I disagree with the Supreme Court of Canada's position. That while in cases like that of the above mentioned case I agree completely there should be a strong privative clause. This is because there is a strong public interest need for it. That being protecting the price of energy for consumers. Most importantly, allowing such a board to take part in an appeal/judicial review of its' own decision also protects public interest. However, when we look back to the intent of the workers' compensation, by reviewing the Meredith's reports. Meredith issued reports between 1910 and 1914 from his in-depth research on workers' compensation. The reports led to Canada's workers compensation system. Within the reports on Meredith' argued for a strong privative clause. However, it was NOT meant to prevent workers from getting justice, as he said it was solely meant to prevent wealthy employers from challenging every decision of the workers compensation system. Thus protecting workers from losing their right to workers compensation. Today, workers lose their right to workers' compensation and are prevented from any lawful redress to the courts. All for the wrong reasons!
Today, it seems, Meredith's dream has become
Meredith's nightmare!
Now fast forward to the winter of 2022. For those who don’t live in Ontario, this was the lead up to the coming election in June 2022. Doug Ford, the current Premiere of Ontario, at the time, was a conservative and obviously wanted to be re-elected. Throughout the pandemic Doug Ford was often criticized for not doing enough for business, well small business. Doug Ford and Monte McNaughty, Minister of Labour had to come up with a plan to raise Doug Ford's likeability. They decided on a plan to give money back to business from the WSIB's so called surpluses. Money that was intended for injured workers. They knew injured workers could do nothing as nobody would listen or even care, when injured workers screamed fowl! They knew this because of years of ant-injured worker stigma campaigns by employers and government. All of which imply all injured workers are faking their injuries. So, the WSIB is allowed to force injured workers back to work against their and most importantly their doctor's safety & suitability concerns. In many cases injured workers suffered new work injuries. Some severe in nature. The WSIB has yet to ever be held accountable for this. the WSIB knows this. This is also know by Monte McNaughty and Doug Ford and why they hatched their plan to redirect funds to employers. All to make Ford look good.
Then Doug Ford and Monte McNaughty issued a press release. It simply stated that the WSIB would be
refunding $1.5 Billon to employers. Obviously, this press release was to coincide
with the up coming election to make Doug Ford look great in the eyes of all business.
What many do not know is that Ontario’s workers compensation law prevented Ontario’s WSIB to give such rebates back to employers. Well not surprisingly, Ontario’s conservative led Legislature created a Bill to amend the law to allow the WSIB to give all this money back to employers. So, to make it appear the Ontario conservative led Legislature was fair, they empowered a legislative committee to discuss the changes. Of course, they heard from countless employer lobbyists. Not surprisingly they were well paid. There were two injured worker groups. Once of which was composed of volunteers. I was one of the volunteers and had the opportunity to speak before the committee. I remembered one conservative MPP saying to me well uhm uhm… we increased the Office of the Workers Advisor's budget by $10 million. My reply was, great all you did was reduce the wait time of those injured workers who cannot afford paid representation from five years to three. Needless to say, it was a waste of my time. This is because the Conservative MPPs had made clear to me and others, they had already decided before hearing me or anyone else. Even though it was a waste of my time, I would still do it again. This is because our voice must be heard, even if they ignore us.
If we
don’t speak up, they will say we agree by our silence.
Ontario has a so-called surplus of monies and Doug Ford Monte McNaughty want to give it all back
to employers. This way employers will be really happy with Doug Ford and make sure he gets re-elected. Needless to say injured workers all know where this so called surplus came from...
In my social media posts on Twitter, I often joke by calling
Monte McNaughty the Sheriff of Nottingham
Monte McNaughty does the stealing for his master, Doug Ford!
Most importantly, they want to give the stolen monies to employers just before the election. To do this, the conservative led Legislature had to pass a Bill to change the law. After the hearings, not surprisingly, they did!
Then the Minister of Labour Monte McNaughty and Doug Ford
made their coveted press release. Not surprisingly it was covered in all the mediaoutlets. Last time I checked, it was well over 40. Then, I thought to myself, that is
some wicked press release!
The WSIB, then instituted an advertising campaign for the $1.5B rebate. It was in print ads and digital ads in newspaper, yes, print papers still exist. It was on prime-time television and radio and form what I can gather it was across the entire province. Now, many may say ok that is sort of okay as the WSIB is making business aware of the $1.5B rebate. However, does the WSIB not already have the contact information for all business who would get the $1.5B rebate? Obviously, one of the criteria was that a business had to pay into the system in order to get a rebate.
So, I ask you this, why did the WSIB not just send an
e-mail, or mail a letter
to employer's which they have their address for?
Is this not being fiscally irresponsible?
Also, when you think about the timing of the WSIB’s $1.5B
rebate, you realize it was solely politically motivated to get Doug Ford
re-elected.
So, a better question is…
How much did the WSIB spend on the advertising campaign for this $.5B rebate?
Think about the cost of implementing such an advertising campaign, in the major mainstream media outlets, often front page, in the costliest province in Canada, and to do it nonstop and across the entire province.
Well honest to goodness, I have no comprehension as to the cost. So, I decided to find out. On March 22, 2022, I had sent a freedom of information request to the WSIB. My request was simple. All I asked was the total amount spent on the $1.5B rebate advertising campaign. One would think it would be an easy question for the WSIB to answer. ESPECIALLY, when they have been mandated to be both financially responsible and do so in an accountable manner. Yet, they needed more time and in a letter to me they said so.
Click here to see the WSIB letter for time extension
Well after a considerable delay and not surprisingly, well after the election, the WSIB finally responded and provided me a host of documents, all of which I did not want or need. I just wanted to know the total amount spent on the $1.5B rebate advertising campaign. Here is the funny part….
They redacted all the dollar amounts!
Now I can see if I was asking about personal information. Maybe even expenses or wages, which are allowed to be disclosed. See for yourself here. However, I am left utterly puzzled and very concerned with why the WSIB redact dollar amounts?
Click here to obtain a copy of the decision letter & documents
The Individual did say they would attempt to get me the total
amounts,
which is what I asked for in the first place!
Click here to
Now let me add to the fun…
When Doug Ford was elected in 2018, he ordered the Ministry of Labour to
stop enforcing Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Doug Ford even went so far as to cut their budget which was not funded by taxpayers!
Now many did not realize the impact and the real reason why Doug Ford did this. In about the fall of 2021, I discovered a webpage on the Ministry of Labour’s website. It listed the number of convictions under the Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. This was done by year. From these numbers a clear observation was made that in 2018 before Doug Ford being elected conviction rates were about 900, then compared to 2020 where they dropped to less than 50. A more than 90% reduction. I had published these numbers on page 14, of the January edition of Injured@Work newsletter.
I was concerned with the startling numbers for two reason. First, this was a significant loss of revenue to the
province. Not a very smart financial move to say the least. Wait I thought he was a business man! Second, was that I realized
that one of the conditions for employers to qualify for the WSIB $1.5B rebate was
they could not have any convictions under the OHSA in the past two years.
I
know it is a NO WAY MOMEMT….
Now, here is the funniest part of all….
Just before the June 2022 election, a fellow injured worker
advocate Steve M., had e-mailed me and said Hey Paul where is that site with
the data on OHSA convictions. I first thought what? That old coot got the web
address wrong. So, I went and checked. Sure, enough the webpage was gone and in its
place was a under construction page. It said they are upgrading their site. YEAH
RIGHT! Crap and I thought Steve was an old coot...whoops!
I then sent an e-mail to the Ministry of Labour demanding
the conviction numbers. Instead, they sent me conviction numbers for 2020 and
2021. SERIOUSLY!
They have since "restored" the webpage and no surprise the 2017 numbers are gone.
Click here to see the Ministry Page
It is now clear to me that even though the WSIB is supposed to be "arms length" from the Government, the WSIB must be taking direct orders from the government. Moreover, they are acting without integrity, by conceivably influencing a provincial election! I did send a complaint to Ontario’s integrity commission but no surprise no response!
As Robin Hood would say... the fight for Nottingham continues LOL!
Every Legislative Assembly of every Province in this country is guilty of discrimination,negligences and torture. They are all aware of the gross negligences and let it continue! Human Rights says they hold government to account is not true! I made complaints and they said they don't have jurisdiction? Well I am part of a charter challenge and if the courts won't help we have no choice but making claims of torture.it is immoral and unjust what they do to people!
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