Three industry insiders give their views on this contentious issue.
Vincent Boulanger (Insurance broker, 2e Chance assurance.com): 
“The number of hours we have to complete is enough, but the way continuing education is organized needs to change. I think it’s more about making money than education. Many courses don’t offer the information you need in your day-to-day business.
For example, many brokers don’t know much about the products that are important to the industry, such as errors and omissions, and liability. That’s the kind of information a lot of brokers need.
There are a lot of challenges facing the industry. To tackle these, brokers in every province should take the same courses. I think customers will benefit because their brokers will be well-educated.”
Kirby Wallis (Insurance broker, Wallis Agencies ): 
“There’s such a broad scope of roles in the industry and for some of those roles, the eight hours required in Manitoba is sufficient, but for others that’s a little low. But there’s no maximum of hours you can do in a year; I’m sure there are some brokers who do more than the requirement.
The industry has changed so rapidly over the past few years. I think it’s definitely up to the broker to keep pace with the industry, and continuing education is going to be a pretty important part of that for brokers moving forward, especially with how fast the industry changes.”
Gail Lawson (Owner/broker, Oxbow Agencies ): 
“I do think continuing-education hours are definitely important in keeping up to date with industry changes.
I think current hour requirements are sufficient. And there’s such a wide variety of courses, brokers can find something specific to their needs.
It’s important to find courses covering new products coming into the industry, but you need to refresh yourself as well. The current course offerings, at least in Saskatchewan, do offer this mix of new information and refreshers. And, with online courses, continuing education is more convenient and cost-effective.
If you can go to a course and take away one thing then it was worth while.”
Discontinuing education?
Continuing education (CE) is, of course, important. Brokers need to keep abreast of industry changes to properly advise clients on the best insurance products for them. But are the current CE requirements doing the trick? Many brokers say yes, but argue continuing education should be more about quality than quantity. Some industry players would like to see more product-specific courses. Others believe there’s a need for specialized programs depending on the particular line of insurance. Either way, brokers need to research programs that can better their businesses. What’s more, online study options have made hitting those required hours – or even exceeding them – much easier for brokers and agents.
