The provincial government is going to take a hard look at ICBC and change how the provincial insurer operates.
As one of his first actions as minister responsible for ICBC, David Eby requested that ICBC make public a 203-page report by the consulting firm Ernst & Young into financial problems at the insurance corporation. Subsequent to the minister’s request, ICBC released the full report yesterday, which is available online: www.icbc.com
“This report makes it clear that ICBC has been in crisis for years, something which the former Liberal government largely ignored,” Eby said in a press release. “Rather than addressing the serious issues facing the corporation, the BC Liberals used insurance fees as a rapidly growing hidden tax. Drivers have been paying the price.”
The new NDP government will consider recommendations made in the report that could reduce accidents, injuries, deaths and claim costs. Recent trends show the accident rate in B.C. is increasing with a 23 per cent increase in crashes between 2013 and 2016.
“However, I want to assure British Columbians that we are not considering photo radar or moving to a no-fault system for auto insurance,” said Eby. “There are some obvious solutions that we will look at. For example, the former Liberal government missed such basic ones, such as ensuring good drivers are rewarded while bad drivers pay more. We will focus on finding answers that put the corporation back on stable financial footing, while maintaining our number one priority of making rates affordable.”
