The Ontario government is launching a review of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to ensure the province’s employees and their families remain supported and protected in the workplace.
The review will be conducted by Linda Regner Dykeman and Sean Speer, special advisors who’ve been appointed based on their respective areas of expertise in insurance and public policy. Regner Dykeman, the head of MidCorp Canada, a division of Allianz Global, has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry.
Speer, a senior fellow in public policy at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, has research expertise in Canadian public administration and economic policy.
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The aim is for the review to provide the government with new information regarding the board’s operations and how it compares to industry best practices. Specifically, it will focus on:
- Financial oversight: sustainability of the WSIB insurance fund and controls over it;
- Administration: effectiveness of the current WSIB governance and executive management structure; and
- Efficiency: the cost-efficiency and effectiveness of operations, including comparisons to competing jurisdictions and private sector insurers.
“Ensuring the long-term sustainability of the WSIB will provide workers and their families with peace of mind, knowing if they are injured on the job or have a work-related illness, they will receive the benefits and services they are entitled to,” said Minister of Labour Laurie Scott. “Reviewing and improving the WSIB is one of the ways our government is ensuring that Ontario can continue to attract investment and create good jobs.”
A report resulting from the review is expected by the end of 2019.
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