‘They have it wrong’
Glace Bay MLA Geoff MacLellan and disabled coal miners disagree on Ottawa’s position regarding compensation
SYDNEY — A group of former Cape Breton coal miners and the Liberal cabinet minister who represents many of them are at odds over a Workers’ Compensation Board issue that affects the income of permanently disabled DEVCO workers.
Earlier this week, Cape Breton Regional Municipality council agreed to help the miners in their fight to retain WCB benefits for members who were deemed unable to work due to injury or illness attributed to their time underground. About two-dozen former miners, who donned helmets and headlamps, showed up at Tuesday’s regional council meeting at city hall in Sydney to show their support for a resolution put forth by councillors Kendra Coombes and Clarence Prince, who respectively represent the former coal mining towns of New Waterford and Sydney Mines.
The motion, which was unanimously passed by council, requested that the CBRM call on the provincial government to amend the Workers’ Compensation Act to allow former Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO) workers to continue to receive benefits after they turn 65, with the stipulation that those funds are provided by the federal government
Group spokesperson Bobby Gillis said the disabled workers, their wives and widows stop receiving the WC benefits at age 65 when they begin collecting Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits, which can be much lower as many of the miners were unable to work and thus had significantly reduced pensionable earnings compared to colleagues who were able to continue working. He also noted that disabled miners were paid Workers’ Compensation benefits for life prior to 1990. Gill said he’s stymied as to why the province has yet to move on the matter as the miners believe that Ottawa has already agreed to fund the after65 benefits for the estimated 120 (as of 2016) permanently impaired coal
miners.
“It’s just unfortunate that this is still happening, especially since the federal government is on board and will pay,” he said, adding that the province would even be paid an 18.5 per cent administration fee for issuing the benefits.
“Now I can’t get a hold of them (provincial government), they won’t answer my questions, they won’t answer my calls — we have to keep this alive.”
Gillis said the miners are becoming very frustrated because they had already received letters of support from high-ranking government members, including Premier Stephen McNeil and local Liberal MLAs and cabinet ministers Derek Mombourquette and Geoff MacLellan, the latter of whom he was especially critical.
But MacLellan, whose father and grandfather were coal miners, fired back on Wednesday by saying he is upset and hurt over the miners’ allegations that he is holding up the process. And the Glace Bay MLA went on to say that the miners are presenting a misunderstanding of the situation.
“They have it wrong, if it was that simple it would have been done long ago — I was in the conversation with the federal bureaucrat who said hypothetically that if the province changes its (WCB) legislation that they would have to act,” said MacLellan, who added that any amendments to the WCB Act could not be limited to just one group and that such changes would inevitably cost the province billions of dollars.
“We were not told that the money is sitting there waiting for the miners — if it was we would be pursuing it with every tool that we have, so if the federal government wants to confirm that the money is there then we will get it to the miners.”
MacLellan, who also said he met with the miners group last week, said there is nothing the province can do on the matter until it gets some direction from the federal government.
“I am disappointed that the DEVCO miners who are affected by this have been led to believe that this money is sitting there,” he said.
“It is my hope that through this media coverage that the federal government can respond and tell us that the money is in fact earmarked and what would be the best way to get it in the hands of the miners.”
Following council’s Tuesday approval of the motion calling on the province to accommodate the demands of the former miners, Mayor Cecil Clarke said it was an issue that needs more attention.
“This is also a public education piece about the situation people face and its economic impact in our local community that is struggling as well,” said Clarke, whose final words on the matter were met with a standing ovation from the gathered miners.