Justice for Injured Workers: NDP Tables Meredith Act to Overhaul WSIB

QUEEN’S PARK – NDP shadow minister for Seniors & Accessibility/WSIB & Injured Workers, MPP Lise Vaugeois (Thunder Bay – Superior North), has tabled Bill 86, an act to restore the Meredith Act (Fair Compensation for Injured Workers) with co-sponsors MPP Jamie West (Sudbury) and MPP Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls), a bill aimed at ensuring a strong and robust support system for injured workers:

“The new bill is the result of years of collaboration with Injured Worker Support Groups and represents a comprehensive overhaul of the Workers Safety Insurance Act. The 2025 Act restores basic principles enshrined by Sir William Meredith in 1915. Premiums are paid by employers and in exchange for giving up the right to sue an employer, a worker made ill or injured on the job will receive compensation for as long as the injury lasts, ensuring that the injury does not cause the worker to become a financial burden on their family or on the public.

“The new Act restores compensation levels; removes age discriminatory practices; eliminates the practice of deducting support based on jobs and wages that do not exist; and requires 50% Injured Worker representation on the WSIB’s Board of Governors. The new Act puts the well-being and recovery of injured workers first and I’m honoured to bring forward the voices of injured workers by introducing the Meredith Act (Fair Compensation for Injured Workers), 2025.”

ADDITIONAL QUOTES:

“We are so happy to see the introduction of the Meredith Act by MPP Lise Vaugeois. We've been working hand and hand with MPP Vaugeois for the last two or three years to bring about an act that restores the principles and the intentions of a workers compensation system first started in 1915. Over the last 30 or 40 years, we've seen a deterioration at the WSIB in terms of its commitment to providing support for workers with severe life altering injuries and diseases. We need to reset the system, so it's really there for workers when they need it most.”

Steve Mantis, Chair, Research Action Committee, Ontario Network of Injured Workers Group

“This proposed legislation does what previous laws have not done enough of: It listens to injured workers. It asks questions like "what do you need" and "how can we make it right" and lets injured workers answer the question themselves with the expertise that only lived experience can bring. It is a refreshing reminder that workers' compensation was built to give security to injured workers and their families, not to provide cheap insurance to the employers who injured them or made them sick.”

David Newberry, Community Legal Worker, IWC

This Bill is an extensive and meaningful plan to overhaul and improve our injured workers' compensation system. It is the culmination of true consultations and has been written in collaboration with experts, advocates, and injured workers. I am proud of all the work MPP Vaugeois has done to bring this bill to fruition and to offer a robust plan to improve the lives of workers in Ontario.

MPP Jamie West, Sudbury

“After 8 years of the Ford government it has left injured workers getting less and less help from the WSIB - the Ford government and the Liberals before them have made deep cuts. It’s already hard for injured workers to get the help they deserve. It's long overdue that Ontario fulfills it mandate to ensure adequate, fair compensation for injured workers. Passing this bill is the reset injured workers need to get the justice that has been denied."

MPP Wayne Gates, Niagara Falls