Leaked document shows Conservatives will end no fault insurance
Lorne Doerkson said in the letter that if elected on Oct. 24, the Conservatives would bring in legislation to restore accident victims’ rights to sue under a new “hybrid system” designed to keep rates affordable, while protecting people.
The interim leader said in the letter that everything is on the table when it comes to auto-insurance, including private competition.
“One thing isn’t up for debate: people seriously hurt by reckless drivers deserve their day in an independent court, not just an online tribunal staffed by government appointees,” he said.
The Insurance Corporation of B.C. is Crown corporation that was established in the early 1970s. It has a monopoly on basic insurance but people can buy optional protection from private agencies.
The NDP government introduced the no-fault insurance system in 2021, that generally prevents car accident victims from suing, in response to what NDP Leader David Eby said was a “financial dumpster fire” at ICBC with losses in the billions.
Doerkson told reporters on Tuesday that the policy is needed to allow people with serious injuries to be properly compensated to manage their post-accident lives.
“Folks have found themselves in a place where they’ve been injured in such a bad way that it is life-altering, and they’re not receiving the supports that they need,” he said. “The reality is, I’m committed to making sure that insurance is affordable for British Columbians, but we need to address both sides of this.”
Eby said during an unrelated news conference that the letter leaked by the union representing ICBC workers shows that Doerkson is pursuing a hidden agenda.
“I am astonished that in a time when families, when drivers are struggling, that he would have a secret plan with trial lawyers to hand over the money from drivers to lawyers,” he said.
But Doerkson said no-fault insurance has been “very challenging” for the residents for multiple reasons.
“Obviously we have to provide affordable insurance coverage for all of our residents, but for those that have experienced catastrophic injury and potentially life-altering injury, this program has not supported them well,” he said at an unrelated news conference in Vancouver.
“And in so many cases, we need to improve that and we absolutely have to contemplate this insurance model.”
Doerkson said he had made “no promises” about the plan.
But in the Sept. 29 letter to the vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, and the presidents of the Law Society of B.C., the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., and the Canadian Bar Association, he said new legislation would be passed within a year of the Conservatives being elected.
“Accident victims will get back their right to recover for their serious injuries, and government will get out of the legal profession’s business.” the letter said.
B.C. can look to Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador, which “all have hybrid insurance models.
“We can learn from them and do better,” the letter said.
The NDP said in a statement that trial lawyers have been lobbying to end the no-fault system “that lowered car insurance rates for drivers and has kept them frozen for seven years.”
It describes the Trial Lawyers Association as “the organization representing personal injury lawyers who previously worked on ICBC cases.”
The Conservatives accused Eby of inventing numbers to scare drivers after Eby said that Doerkson’s plan signals a return to the “old style of car insurance” that promised a doubling of rates.”