New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath accused the minority Liberal governmentof siding with the insurance companies during a campaign stop in east-end Toronto, saying insurance companies have cut payouts by billions of dollars over the past several years but motorists have seen little benefit by way of lower premiums.
“The Liberals are more interested in keeping the insurance companies happy than they are in bringing down rates for drivers,” said Horwath. “People are not seeing a significant reduction in their auto insurance rates. Some people are seeing their rates go up.”
Rate levels have been a perennial issue in Ontario for more than a decade, with successive governments promising to lower them.
Horwath said the Liberals pledged in the 2013 budget to cut rates by 15 per cent but that hasn't happened because they didn't have the political will to follow through.
“This is one of the reasons why I was not able to in good conscience support that (2014) budget,” she said.
An NDP government, if elected on June 12, would be serious about seeing rates come down by an “achievable” 15 per cent, she said.
Although “achievable,” Horwath was less clear on how that benchmark could be achieved under an NDP government.
“I won't do what the Liberals have done,” she said, “which is change the rules around auto insurance to give the insurance companies a break so that their payouts are $2 billion less each and every year and then not force those savings to go back to the consumer.” (continued.)
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The insurance industry has been struggling to meet the 15 per cent targets – targets many have suggested won’t be met without passage of Bill 171.
The Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates bill is integral to meeting an August 2015 deadline, the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario has stated on several occasions.
One insurer that has been reducing rates before the 15 per cent target was announced, The Co-operators General Insurance Company – stated in its first quarter results that the “further mandated rate decreases effective July 1, of 5.3 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively… cannot be sustained or actuarially justified.”
Voters are listening to all sides of the debate, although the NDP is alleging some of those Ontarians are now grappling with premium hikes and not reductions – 15 per cent of otherwise.
Horwath said she believes money is already owed to drivers for changes the Liberal government made in 2010.
An NDP government, she said, would force insurance companies to pass on any rate reductions to motorists immediately, adding the current delay of three to six months on rate changes should not occur.
“If the government makes a change to get the rates down, then that rate change should happen immediately.” (continued.)
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Rates have come down an average of close to six per cent since August 2013, according to Ministry of Finance figures.
Still, the
Insurance Bureau of Canada says the current system is “simply not working.”
In a statement, the Liberals pointed out that some voters have told Horwath their insurance rates have come down.
“Like a lot of things Andrea Horwath says, her auto insurance rhetoric sounds good, it just isn't true,” the party said in a statement.
