Canada has a flood insurance problem, and it has no government fix in sight. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), approximately 1.5 million high-risk Canadian households cannot obtain affordable flood coverage – roughly 10% of all households in the country. Despite federal commitments in Budgets 2023 and 2024, a national flood insurance program has not launched. As of June 2026, Public Safety Canada has not confirmed a delivery timeline.
Into that gap, Co-operators has built a significant position over the past decade. The Guelph-based financial services co-operative first launched its Comprehensive Water product in Alberta in 2015. It remains the only flood cover in Canada available across all risk levels, including storm surge. The product now covers over 745,000 Canadian households, farms and businesses, representing roughly half the number of high-risk households the IBC estimates are currently uninsured.
For brokers placing property risks in flood-exposed areas, that concentration of capacity in a single carrier is the most commercially relevant number in Co-operators' latest disclosure.
The placement pressure behind that figure is not abstract. According to Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), 2024 produced $8.5 billion in severe weather insured losses in Canada.
This is the first time that threshold had been crossed in Canadian history, and well above the previous record of $6 billion set in 2016 following the Fort McMurray wildfires. Flooding in Quebec and Ontario alone accounted for roughly $3.7 billion of those claims, according to IBC data.
Water damage is accelerating at the claims level too. Allstate Insurance Company of Canada reported in February 2026 that home insurance claims from external water sources rose 94% in 2025. Those sources include heavy rain, overland flooding, and sewer backup. External water damage accounted for nearly a quarter of all home insurance claims that year.
That trajectory is reshaping what brokers can place and where. In areas carriers classify as high-risk, overland water coverage may be capped, carry steep deductibles, or be unavailable entirely.
The growing scarcity of flood coverage options in Canada's property market makes the depth of a single carrier's capacity a direct brokerage consideration.
The flood coverage figure sits inside a broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure. Co-operators placed 11th in Corporate Knights' 2026 Best 50 Corporate Citizens ranking – its 17th straight year on the list and the top position among insurers globally.
Corporate Knights revised its methodology for 2026, using three equally weighted measures. These are sustainable investments, sustainable revenues, and sustainable revenue momentum. The third metric tracks growth in sustainable revenues over time.
On those metrics, Co-operators reported that 60.2% of its total investment portfolio – equivalent to $8.75 billion – is directed to impact and climate transition investments. That share has grown sharply: the insurer reported 52.6% in 2024, already ahead of its own near-term benchmark.
The co-operative also attributed 27.5% of total revenue as sustainable under the Corporate Knights Sustainable Economy Taxonomy (CKSET). Brokers seeking context on how Canadian insurers are deploying climate capital will find Co-operators' public disclosure one of the more detailed benchmarks available from a domestic carrier.
Co-operators was the first Canadian insurer to join the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, which targets net-zero portfolio alignment by 2050.
A federal flood insurance program – if and when it launches – would change the competitive picture materially. The IBC has proposed a federal reinsurance backstop through a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation subsidiary. It would extend affordable overland flood coverage to the 1.5 million households currently priced out of the private market. Until that structure is in place, Co-operators' Comprehensive Water product remains one of the few mechanisms in the market reaching the highest-risk tier.
A second resilience product, TomorrowStrong, allows eligible policyholders to access additional funds after a covered loss for upgrades including wind, hail, and fire-resistant solutions. Co-operators has also linked executive compensation to sustainability targets.
The federal flood program's unresolved timeline leaves that dynamic unchanged for now.
