Workers’ Compensation Review Committee Named

Environment and Labour Minister David Morse has named the committee members who will review the Workers’ Compensation Act.

In making the announcement, Mr. Morse said the members represent a good cross-section of expertise, both locally and nationally.

The committee will be chaired by James Dorsey, a native of Prince Edward Island who now practises law and arbitration in British Columbia, where he is a former chair of the Workers’ Compensation Board.

The vice-chair will be Michael Power of Bridgewater, who was solicitor to the Select Committee on Workers’ Compensation in 1998-99.

"I am extremely pleased with the calibre of this committee and the broad range of experience that each of the members brings to this review," Mr. Morse said.

He said it is important to encourage stakeholders to have an opportunity for input and to keep the workers’ compensation system as up to date as possible.

Other committee members are: Carol MacCulloch, executive director of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia; Janet Hazelton, secretary-treasurer of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union; Robert Cook, president and CEO of the Nova Scotia Association of Health Organizations; Barb Lewis, president of the Cape Breton Injured Workers Association; Betty Jean Sutherland of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and Joe O’Brien, president-owner of Ski Martock.

"The legislature decided five years ago that there should be a review of the workers’ compensation system, and set out the date when this should occur," said Mr. Morse.

He noted that a similar task force in Newfoundland recently worked with labour, employers and injured workers, and all saw it as a very positive process.

"As a government, we want to ensure that assessment rates do not increase and that injured workers receive the benefits they need when they are injured at work," he said.