The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba : environment, structure, and process
This thesis analyzes the environment, structure, and process of the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba. It examines the operation of this modern regulatory body with reference to the literature on regulation. Regulatory bodies are created in specific circumstances. They perform particular mandated functions within identifiable, external policy environments. The outputs of these bodies are also influenced by their internal administrative structures and dynamics of decision-making. The thesis begins with a brief examination of the history of workers compensation. Early common-law remedies available to workers injured in the course of their employment proved inadequate. The progress toward the development of no-fault compensation systems in common-law jurisdictions reflected a concern with these remedies. The Meredith Report, commissioned by the Ontario Government in the early 1900s, provided the blueprint for the subsequent implementation of provincial workers compensation legislation in Canada. The next chapter of the thesis examines the external policy environment of the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba. As a regulatory body, the W.C.B. operates within a policy community which includes both governmental and non-governmental actors and institutions. These interests have the potential to influence the outputs of the regulatory body through various points of contact. The thesis identifies and analyses the component features of the policy community of the W.C.B. of Manitoba. The outputs of modern regulatory bodies are also influenced by their internal administrative structures. The structure of Manitoba's W.C.B. mirrors those of other modern disability programs. Chapter 4 begins with a description of the structural elements of disability programs and their associated decision-making processes. These elements and decision-making processes within the W.C.B. of Manitoba are then discussed and their influence on program output examined. The conclusion of the thesis summarizes the chapters of the thesis. In ...