The Workers’ Compensation Board of 1914 represents a historic compromise between employers and workers. In a non-adversarial system, employers would be protected from lawsuits and injured workers would receive prompt benefits for as long as their disability lasted. However, beginning with the Mike Harris Conservative government, continued by the Ford government, these principles have been turned on their head, betraying at every turn workers injured or made ill on the job.

The WSIB now looks for every means to suppress claims. They call on doctors who have never met the worker to decide if an injury has taken place. They push people back to work against medical advice, resulting in further injury. They reduce supports based on phantom jobs. The Minister of Labour promises to increase wage-replacement rates but breaks his promise. They cut the cost-of-living allowance for injured workers. Then, incredibly, the government gives $1.2 billion to employers, money that injured workers and their families need and are entitled to. Now this government plans on reducing the time to appeal to one month.

These are crimes against all workers. Today, let us demand a return to the original purpose of workers’ compensation: respect and care for injured workers, and prompt benefits for as long as the disability lasts. Thank you. Merci. Meegwetch.