MHCC launches national mental health strategy • Ontario premier nominates Elizabeth Witmer to WSIB • Ontario labour minister releases statement on Arthurs Report • Ontario safety blitz for new, young workers
MHCC launches national mental health strategy
Toronto — The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) has released the country’s first mental health strategy.The strategy focuses on improving mental health and well-being for all Canadians and on creating a mental health system that can truly meet the needs of people of all ages living with mental health problems and illnesses and their families, said MHCC. Changing Directions, Changing Lives: The Mental Health Strategy for Canada draws on input from thousands of Canadians and puts forward the best possible balance of different perspectives and will enable everyone to contribute to the improvement of mental health outcomes, said MHCC. The report sets out six key strategic directions. Among them are promoting mental health across the lifespan in homes, schools and workplaces, preventing mental illness and suicide wherever possible and fostering recovery and well-being for people of all ages living with mental health problems and illnesses, and upholding their rights.
Ontario premier nominates Elizabeth Witmer to WSIB
Toronto — Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has nominated Elizabeth Witmer as chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). Witmer’s nomination came after current chair, Steve Mahoney, announced he would not be seeking a new term at the WSIB. Mahoney is expected to end his six-year term in May. Witmer, a former deputy premier, stepped down Friday as MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo following McGuinty’s nomination. A former Minister of Labour and Minister of Health, Witmer is exceptionally qualified to chair the WSIB, according to a statement from the McGuinty government. She has also served as Ontario’s Minister of Education, Minister of the Environment and Deputy Premier, and has a long history of service to her community and province. As chair of the WSIB, Witmer will be tasked to reduce the compensation board’s unfunded liability of more than $12 billion. In 2010, the Ontario government commissioned a report by the former dean of York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Harry Arthurs, to provide advice on dealing with the WSIB’s unfunded liability. The organization is now working to reduce the unfunded liability while protecting injured workers and ensuring the WSIB operates in a business-friendly manner. The WSIB is an agency of the Ontario government that provides disability benefits, monitors the quality of health care and assists in early, safe return to work for workers injured on the job, or who contract an occupational disease. It is entirely funded by employer premiums. The nomination is subject to review by the Standing Committee on Government Agencies.
Ontario labour minister releases statement on Arthurs Report
Toronto — The Arthurs Report, a funding review of Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), contains a series of recommendations designed to put Ontario’s workplace safety and insurance system on solid financial footing, said Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey. A financially stable workplace safety and insurance system is vital to the economic and social health of the province, said Jeffrey. The government will establish a new regulation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, to require the WSIB’s insurance fund to reach sufficiency of 60 per cent funding in 2017, 80 per cent funding in 2022 and 100 per cent funding by 2027. There will be an increase benefits to injured workers on partial disability by 0.5 per cent in 2013 and another 0.5 per cent in 2014, said Jeffrey.
Ontario safety blitz for new, young workers
Toronto — The Ontario Ministry of Labour is launching a four-month inspection safety blitz targeting workplaces where new and young workers are employed full-time or in summer jobs. The blitz started May 1. Health and safety inspectors from the Ministry of Labour will check that employers are complying with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, ensuring young workers: are protected by required safety measures, equipment and procedures to prevent injuries, have proper instructions, training and supervision on the job and meet minimum age requirements.
