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Poor Fiscal Management
Billions in losses threaten future premium hikes; independent review of the WSIB needed
Toronto – Acting on behalf of its members, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is calling for a third party review of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), amid growing signs of financial mismanagement at 200 Front Street. The recently announced $3.34 billion in losses has pushed the WSIB’s unfunded liability (UFL) to approximately $12 billion, up from $5.6 billion in 2001.
Describing the WSIB’s reaction to questions about how they intend to reduce the UFL as “coy,” CFIB’s Ontario Director Satinder Chera adds that the inability to produce a plan of action means one of two things – a) one does not exist; or b) the WSIB is planning to simply pass on that burden onto businesses. “CFIB is concerned that its member businesses, required to purchase WSIB insurance by law, will continue to be used as a means of financial recourse unless an independent review of the WSIB is conducted to get at the root of their deepening problems.”
“Small business owners cannot simply raise their prices when faced with losses,” said Chera, explaining that “competition forces them to look to their own expenses and asses how to serve their customers without increasing prices.” He went on to say that “the WSIB, which wants to be considered an insurance company, should follow suit and avoid simply continuing to pick the pockets of hard working, law-abiding businesses to make up for their own financial shortcomings.”
CFIB also dismisses the WSIB’s claims that their losses were the result of the broader economic downturn, adding that the unfunded liability has been growing steadily for the better part of this decade.
“Not only was the WSIB’s losses on the rise prior to the current economic downturn, but even private insurers managed to achieve a return on their investments last year,” said Chera. “Based on this blatant mismanagement and monopolistic complacency we are calling for an independent review of the WSIB with the same sense of urgency and seriousness that was taken by the government in the cases of both e-Health Ontario and the OLG.”
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