Yellowknife (Jun 28/06) - The NWT Workers' Compensation Board will be under a magnifying glass today as federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser is grilled by MLAs.

Fraser is in Yellowknife to testify before the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight about her audit of the WCB.

In that audit, she identified a number of problems, from lack of clear roles for the minister, to no regular performance assessments and an undefined member mandate.

Fraser's report lists 35 recommendations on how to improve the board's overall operation. During the hearing, Fraser is expected to explain how her office arrived at its assessment.

"The board's relations with the minister responsible is less clear than the relationship of that most of the territories' other Crown corporations and public agencies have with their ministers," wrote Fraser in the report.

"For the (WCB) Governance council to fulfil its oversight role, its relationship with, and the board's relationship with the minister must be clear."

Charles Dent, minister responsible for the WCB, said his roles include appointing governance council and appeals tribunal board members, tabling the annual report in the legislative assembly and bringing forward changes or new legislation as appropriate.

"(The minister's role is) not something that has been formally laid out, I meet with the chair of the Governance Council on regular basis once every month or two and we discuss issues, concerns from politicians or from the street and what's happening with the board or their plans."

The Auditor General's review of the WCB also noted that, "It takes almost a year before a new appointee is sufficiently knowledgeable about the board's activities to make a meaningful contribution to discussions."

The report goes on to describe a need to outline specified skills for future members, appoint candidates with the best skill sets and increase ongoing training.

In addition to Fraser and Dent, WCB President David Clark, Vice President for WCB NWT operations Marie Wilson, WCB chief medical officer Dr. David King, WCB governance council chair Denny Rogers, WCB workers' advisor Colin Baile and WCB appeals tribunal chair Debora Simpson are also expected to testify.