Canada: Ontario Appoints Special Advisors to Review Workplace Safety & Insurance Board

The purpose of the WSIB review is to gather new information for the Government regarding the WSIB’s operations, and assess the WSIB’s operations against other workers’ compensation organizations and insurance industry best practices. The review will focus on three key areas of the WSIB’s operations:

• Financial oversight, including the sustainability of the WSIB insurance fund and controls over it;
• Administration, including the effectiveness of the current structure for WSIB governance and executive management; and
• Efficiency, in terms of the cost and effectiveness of the WSIB’s operations as compared to private sector insurers and workers’ compensation schemes in other jurisdictions.

The mandate of the WSIB review expressly excludes matters of claims adjudication and benefit levels as well as any examination of individual claims.

This announcement follows the Minister of Finance’s 2018 Fall Economic Statement, which indicated that the Government intended to review the WSIB’s operational efficiency and sustainability. The WSIB review complements a broader review of all provincial agencies by a Government task force. Linda Regner Dykeman and Sean Speer are the special advisors appointed to conduct the review. The special advisors were chosen based on their expertise in insurance strategy and public policy.

The WSIB review is already underway. It is expected to conclude at the end of 2019 with a report to the Minster of Labour. The Ontario Government is accepting submissions from the public as part of the review. The deadline for submissions is 26 July 2019. For more information, please visit www.ontario.ca/page/workplace-safety-and-insurance-board-operational-review