NDP MPP Paul Miller today demanded that the Minister of Labour fire the WSIB Chair.

“The appalling behaviour of the Chair, spending the Board’s money on a reception at a swanky Ottawa restaurant, shows his blatant disregard for injured workers, many of whom don’t have enough money to buy one drink or one hors d’oeuvres at Hy’s,” said Miller.

“The Chair seems to think that he’s a recipient of Experience Rating dollars the way he spends his budget. He could easily have lobbied MPs and others in Ottawa during a meeting with very light refreshments at a fraction of the cost of this grandiose junket.”

At a time when injured workers are experiencing stress-related new injuries because of their treatment at the WSIB, the Chair’s actions prove his disconnect with the work of his board, added Miller.

“When injured workers can depend on the WSIB to support them and their claims and not treat them like pariahs; when the flawed Experience Rating program is replaced with a program that actually supports Workplace Health and Safety Programs; when injured workers are trained properly and can go back to work that they actually can do, maybe then the Chair of the WSIB can consider a reception, one to which real workers and their representatives are invited to discuss the real issues surrounding workplace injuries,” said Miller.