PC MPPs Vote Down Ontario Liberal Motion for Agency Review of WSIB

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

5 November 2026

QUEEN'S PARK, ON — Progressive Conservative MPPs on the Standing Committee on Government Agencies today voted down an Ontario Liberal motion that would have required an agency review of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and that the President, Jeff Lang, appear as a witness before the committee.

Interim Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, MPP John Fraser, moved and spoke to the motion. MPP Stephanie Smyth, Permanent Member of the Standing Committee on Government Agencies, tabled and spoke to it.

In August, WSIB announced significant restructuring plans that involve permanently closing ten regional offices across the province, specifically in Northern and Southern/Central Ontario. This restructuring impacts over 700 jobs, with employees being forced to either relocate to Toronto or voluntarily depart. Many affected employees face significant barriers to relocation, including the challenge of uprooting their family, and as such only 100 have elected to relocate.

At the same time WSIB is cutting jobs, it is making new investments in AI-supported claims management tools, which raises important questions about the role technology may be playing in future staffing and service-delivery decisions. The service impacts have increased the number of unassigned claims thirty-fold, call wait times are over two hours, and WSIB is re-hiring summer students to assist with call volume.

Significant restructuring decisions affecting hundreds of workers and communities across Ontario are proceeding without transparent, publicly available evidence to support the change. To date, neither WSIB nor the government has publicly released the business case supporting the restructuring, regional service impact assessments, workforce analyses examining the loss of institutional knowledge, employee relocation projections, or analysis on the impact of AI on staffing and service delivery.

“We have a government that’s just hurting honest, hardworking people who are trying to serve honest, hardworking people who’ve been injured at work. That’s wrong, and Mr. Lang can take an hour of his time to answer their questions" said Fraser.

“Doug Ford’s government loves to say it is on the side of working people. But when it comes time to stand up for workers, injured Ontarian’s, and communities across this province, they seem to have a very different set of priorities

"It’s clear: workers and communities need transparency and accountability regarding the WSIB’s decision to close ten regional offices and lay off hundreds of workers. Wait times are reaching unheard-of levels while injured workers continue to wait for support. It’s unfortunate that instead of standing with WSIB workers, injured workers and the employers who employ them from communities across Ontario, the Ford government chose to block any attempt at answers from the WSIB. Workers and their communities deserve reliable and quick support."

- Harry Goslin, President of Ontario Compensation Employees Union