by SHCA SHCA

WCB’s 2020–22 COVID-19 Cost Relief to Conclude This Month

For more than two years in 2020, through 2021 and through the first six months of 2022, the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) provided cost relief for employers with accepted COVID-19 claims. The WCB will conclude providing COVID-19 cost relief for employers with accepted COVID-19 workplace injuries that occur on or after July 1, 2022. Accepted COVID-19 workplace injuries that occur prior to July 1 are still eligible for cost relief.

“The WCB has worked to support employers and workers over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included covering all claim costs for accepted COVID-19 workplace injury claims in 2020, 2021 and the first six months of 2022,” said the WCB’s chair Gord Dobrowolsky. “As the pandemic has evolved, claims related to COVID-19 exposures in the workplace have started to taper off. At the same time, high vaccination rates and effective risk management by employers have helped to limit the time lost to COVID-19 and the resulting costs.”

The number of COVID-19 claims requiring workers to be away from work for more than 10 days has dropped significantly, from 41.9 per cent of claims in 2021 to 24.5 per cent of claims in the first part of 2022.

The WCB has implemented relief measures for employers and workers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, including providing cost relief for employers. For claims that occurred from 2020 to May 10, 2022, the WCB has provided more than $7.5 million in cost relief for COVID-19 injury claims. The cost relief is funded through the WCB’s occupational disease reserve as a temporary measure to aid Saskatchewan employers.

“While we will conclude the temporary cost relief measures for COVID-19 claims after two and a half years, employers and workers can still submit eligible COVID-19 workplace injury claims to the WCB,” says the WCB’s CEO Phillip Germain.

A worker may be entitled to WCB benefits if they contract COVID-19 and there is a confirmed link between the worker’s exposure and their employment. Based on WCB policy Injuries – Communicable Disease (POL 02/2010), the following conditions must be met:

  • There is confirmed exposure to the disease in the workplace
  • The time period that the illness is contracted is in close proximity to the confirmed workplace exposure
  • The nature of employment creates a greater risk of exposure for the worker than to the general population

“COVID-19 presented each one of us with challenges unique to our lifetimes over the past two years, affecting the way we conduct business in Saskatchewan,” said Germain. “Thank you to the workers, employers, employer associations and unions for your health and safety efforts. Together we can all help keep each workplace safe.”

Frequently asked questions for employers on COVID-19 workplace injury claims are available at wcbsask.com.

by SHCA SHCA

The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce Welcomes New CEO

The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce is pleased to welcome Prabha Ramaswamy as its new CEO. Ramaswamy is a champion of Saskatchewan business, a passionate community leader and organizational visionary.

Prabha Ramaswamy

“I look forward to collaborating with all our stakeholders to build the strongest business eco-system in Canada,” said Ramaswamy. “Saskatchewan has what the world needs and is well-positioned to be a leader – particularly at this juncture. Our continued growth will transform the business landscape and create opportunities to enhance competitiveness, and boost investments and trade. I have been a staunch champion of women-owned businesses and now I look ahead to advocating for all businesses in our province.”

The CEO of non-profit, membership-based organization Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan (WESK) since 2014, Ramaswamy has demonstrated a strong commitment to helping Saskatchewan realize its economic potential by driving change to close the gender entrepreneurship gap and the resulting gender economic gap in the province.

During her eight-year tenure at WESK, Ramaswamy launched several breakthrough programs to support the business community, including Matchstick, the first program in Western Canada to support Indigenous women entrepreneurs, and Charter Champions, the first charter designed to enhance the support of Saskatchewan’s women-owned businesses.

“Prabha brings to this role extensive experience in transforming organizations, advocating on behalf of the business community and leading with a strategic vision,” said Thomas Benjoe, chair of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. “We are confident that she will shape the future of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce as an organization and strengthen our network, voice, and province as a whole.”

Ramaswamy will assume her role on June 20, 2022.

by SHCA SHCA

SRC Celebrates 75 Years of Technology and Innovation

This year, the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is reaching a major milestone – 75 years of providing valuable research, development and demonstration to Saskatchewan industry and beyond. SRC is focused on providing services that support the province’s key economic sectors, such as mining, minerals, energy, oil and gas, agriculture and biotechnology, as well as meeting the environmental needs of industry.

Saskatchewan Research Council

Throughout its history, SRC has been a part of many important firsts for the province. In the 1970s, SRC was a leader in energy efficient housing research and its work formed the basis for the development of the R-2000 standard for energy efficient homes. In the 1980s, SRC played a large role assisting the Saskatchewan energy industry by enabling the implementation of horizontal wells in and the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery.

SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories’ ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited secure diamond laboratory was established in the early 2000s and is now the largest such facility in the world. SRC’s Rare Earth Processing Facility, supported with $31 million in funding from the Government of Saskatchewan, will be the first-of-its-kind in North America as it comes online early in 2023.

Today, SRC’s environmental remediation work in northern Saskatchewan also leads industry with its community engagement, project management and environmental practices, some of which have translated to other government programs like the Ministry of Energy and Resources’ Accelerated Site Closure Program (ASCP).

These are just a few examples of how SRC has pioneered initiatives that benefit Saskatchewan over the past 75 years. Going forward, SRC is strongly committed to continuing to create positive impacts for the province while it supports government and industry in new and emerging strategic areas including the energy transition and critical minerals.

SRC is Canada’s second largest research and technology organization. With nearly 300 employees, $137 million in annual revenue and 75 years of experience, SRC provides services and products to its 1,500 clients in 27 countries around the world.

For more information on SRC’s history, view our blog at https://src.nu/75atsrc.

by SHCA SHCA

Stronger Together Conference: See you in Waikiki!

The Western Canadian Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association (WCR&HCA) are heading to Waikiki, Feb. 5–9, 2023 for the Stronger Together Conference. Joined by hundreds of delegates from across Western Canada, the conference offers industry speakers, education and an array of networking events. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to connect!

Click here for more information about the conference; we hope to see SHCA members there! Interested in becoming a sponsor? Find out more.

WCRHCA Stonger Together Conference poster
by Shantel Lipp Shantel Lipp

Champions of Infrastructure

Shantel Lipp

Infrastructure needs its champions, and the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association is proud to be one of them. Recently, our chair and some of our board members had the opportunity to attend a dinner meeting in Saskatoon sponsored, in part, by the SHCA.

The Canada West Foundation, which released the Shovel Ready to Shovel Worthy report last month, was in Saskatchewan for its board meeting, bringing together those who understand what Western Canada offers the world. Trade infrastructure is how we make sure that what provinces like Saskatchewan produce can be transported from here to everywhere that buys what we sell. The SHCA champions for long-term investment into trade infrastructure through its relationships with the Western Canadian Roadbuilders as well as the Civil Infrastructure Council among others, such as the Canada West Foundation.

These relationships are how reports such as the Shovel Ready to Shovel Worthy report are produced and promoted. A report like that creates the narrative for industries like ours to have the conversation with elected officials, and industry leaders at all levels about working together to capitalize investment into trade corridors.

A report like Shovel Ready to Shovel Worthy is where compelling data is pulled together and presented to prove our case. A report with such data is at the core of our collaboration on coordinated campaigns that target the federal government to carve out explicit funds for trade-related infrastructure. The contents of the report will be discussed at meetings with Saskatchewan’s new Minister of Highways, Jeremy Cockrill, as well as the new chief of staff, Brayden Fox, who I am excited to work with going forward.

It is the focus of messages our industry and association send out to the public through radio, social media and publications to get people thinking about the value Saskatchewan’s trade infrastructure brings to our economy and the people of this province.

It is what we bring forward to conversations with groups such as the City of Regina, the City of Saskatoon, SUMA, SARM, the Saskatchewan Trucking Association and chambers of commerce. We encourage municipally elected officials, business owners and administration to recognize how trade benefits from this infrastructure and to echo our message about investment in it.

If you can’t move it, you can’t sell it. That’s a message that resonates with everyone. Between opportunity and crisis, Saskatchewan and Canada face a choice. We have opportunity but we need a plan to capitalize on it over the long term to rebuild this country’s trading reputation. Helping those who make decisions about funding trade infrastructure to recognize that opportunity and choose to support strategic investment that betters this country is why SHCA works with other champions.