By Gerald
Enacting legislation providing presumptive status for firefighters, paramedics, police has opened up a Pandora’s Box by the idiots who enacted legislation and regulations which has resulted in providing differential treatment to these people without any scientific evidence to support the legislation which presumes only firefighters will get cancer when exposed to carcinogens such as benzene despite the fact that any one exposed to a carcinogen in the work place on a balance of probabilities has a greater risk than the general public who are comprised mainly of children and numerous seniors who are not in the work force which is the reference epidemiologists use when providing statistical information. Click on the following link for a follow up story: http://www.standard-freeholder
The following editorial also questions the validity and mentality of the elected clowns who provide preferential treatment to public servants whose jobs are far less dangerous then other jobs when it concerns heart attacks, PTSD, cancer than firefighters, police, paramedics, corrections officers and yet Nurses jobs based on factual evidence is far more apt to cause PTSD than a firefighter, policeman, prison guards, paramedic. Click on the following link: http://www.timescolonist.com/o
Questionably, how and when did the burden of proof shift from the “Board” to the worker when according to the WCA, no one other than the “Board” has any jurisdiction to investigate claims which in all cases are based on causation. According to Justice Bruce Millar in a Judicial Review that involved myself and my client, the workers compensation system is based on an inquiry system and workers have no burden of proof whatsoever. He was only echoing Dr. Terrance Ison’s expert explanation of how the system is supposed to work when adjudicating claims. In the present situation involving claims, workers are portrayed as the plaintiff in a civil suit against WCB and the Appeals Commission who represent the employer as the defendant who rarely if ever gets involved in a claim rather than a victim of an accident that more than likely was caused by the employer who cannot be sued for gross negligence or the Crown making no attempt to charge the employer under the criminal code and facing a lengthy term in prison.
Looking back on Bill 30, the whole thing is a farce and is nothing more than window dressing to appear to make the NDP look better than the previous Conservative Government who did more damage to workers than assist them to receive justice from a corrupt and uncaring workers compensation board whose only interest is protecting the accident fund to keep premiums lower than other provinces for economic reasons.
