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WIIBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5.,1986 PAGE 17 Commentary:C Growing cost of worknien's compensation out o!, limne By TONY CARLSON Witb this nations abundance of water, it seldoni crosses our minds to ask how often we can go to the well. But that doesn't apply to taxes, althougb governments often seem to think they've got the Pacific Ocean at the- bottom of their revenue wells. Take Manitoba, for instance, where for the second straight year the Workers' Compensation Board bas hiked premiluns 20 percent on -average. No one is disputing the need for a program to protect the income of FROM PG.10 employees who are in- jured on the job. And eniployers, who foot 100 percent of the premiumn bill, are prepared 'to continue to support a fair plan. But there's the rub. What is a fair plan? It's a questfon that's arising in- several provinces other than Manitoba as WCB staff and employer groups struggle with a system that is getting deeper and deeper into the fiscal hole. In Manitoba, for in- stance, the WCB pr.ojec- ts an unfunded liability of $21 million by year end. Simply put, tbat's the amount of future 46% of homes without ta get door-to-door celivery Fenneli suggested the wbole town of Whtby and of Ajax should sign .a petition requesting it, wich he would present ta Cote. He promised to speak ta Michael Wilson, ministel-of finance, to see if a taxrebate would be possible for those who don't get door-to- door deivery, but are subsidizing those- who do. Following the meeting Fenneil said be believed there were otber alter- natives. to the cani- munlty mailbox. "I'm not convinced Ulat alternate-day dellvery wouldn't work. If mail is only delivered every other day, it's gat ta save money.". ,He sald if junk mail was so profitable for Canada Post postal au(horlties cauld make -IL mandatory to use the mail for it as tbey bad almedy done with utility companies. ?Although municipal palîticlans bave no con- trai over Canada Post, a federal responslbility, same had suggestions.ý Tam Edwards, ireglonafl councillor, noted 54 percent of households are -Oreceiving mail, and 46 percentare not. "«Your objective should be ta get to that 54 percent.. Tbe way ta resolve this is for this communlty ta get together witb ahl the other communities.. Otberwise the people recelving mail will be in the miniority and then nobody will get it. "Say, we want the policy cbanged. We're used to it (door-to-door delivery) and we want ta baldan toit." benefits promised to in- jured workers but not covered by present in- come. That will be an in- crease of more than $3 million since the end of 1984 'despite the buge premium hikes. In Ontario, despite a massive 34 percenf in- crease in assessment revenue, the WCB's un- funded liability jumped from $2 billion to $2.7 billion by the end of 1984. And the gaver- nment has just in- troduced legisiation to provide annual cost-of- living indexing of benefits which would boost the unfunded delivery Mayor Attersley predicted the demise of Canada Post. "We (Town of Whit- by) use a courier ser- vice. The crown cor- poration will disappear because private enter- prise will take over. " One questioner asked if the post office had to get municipal authorization before it could erect the com- munity boxes, and then- advised the mayor, "if so, don't give it to them, Bob." liability over the $5 billion mark. B.C.'s position has improved, with a -reduced unfunded liability and a freeze on premiums. But there is FROM PG. 1 room for improvement when three board mem- bers receive $25,000 luxury cars from this board. One of the reasons for the whopplng deficits is the length of -tîme the average worker stays on compensation. In 1980 in Manitoba, for example, the average ime on compensation was 13.4 days. By 1984 that bad risen to 22 days, an increase of 64 percent. on the surface at least, those figures seem to contradict wbat we commonly eall ad-- vances in medical care and tecluialogy. SEE -PG, 20 Attersley says council big enough tersley's motion. The mayor's motion directed management to study the matter fur- ther and ta inform the minister that he would receive their findings in ime to take the ap- propriate action before the 1988 municipal elec- ion. "I'm not opposed to getting an extra seat for Whitby," said Mayor Attersley yesterday. 'mr opposed to in- creasing the total nuni- ber of representatives on regional council. "I think there's a bet- ter way to have fair representation -on regional counchl without increasing the number of seats. We've got 30 members and a chair- man now. It's unwieldy. If we keep going the wav we're going we'll be 1l9. members by the year 2,000 I think it's been calculated." StilI, bath councillors Gerry Ernm and Tom Edwards expressed voncern that the mayor's motion could scuttle the extra seat ail together. If the original management commit- tee motion had been passed, Mr. Emm felt Whitby may have had a fourth regional rep even before 1988. "If the region had said yes the province would have thought they had the green light and we might hav e bad a by- election next year. As it is now I don't know what wll happen," said Mr. Emrn. So PON 63-96 p irýL rnfi iff 218 ARWOD E., . AJAXSHOPING ...Z CONTINUOUS COMPUER - REGISTER & DATA PROCESSING FORMS PULL. 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