Mike Smyth: The politics of the NDP's no-fault ICBC insurance gambit - The Province | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Politics

Mike Smyth: The politics of the NDP's no-fault ICBC insurance gambit – The Province

Published

 on


B.C. Premier John Horgan won’t be troubled by the fact his political opponent Andrew Wilkiinson has come out against his latest move: no-fault insurance at ICBC.

Jason Payne / PNG files

Opinion: The B.C. premier has rolled the political dice with no-fault auto insurance. The Liberals came out against the idea. That won’t bother Horgan a bit

The move to no-fault auto insurance is one of the boldest by Premier John Horgan’s government to date and, so far, it’s working out just the way he wants.

Horgan said the stunning overhaul of ICBC is all about making sure people injured in car crashes get the medical care they need, while drivers get lower auto-insurance premiums.

But don’t kid yourself: There’s a lot of politics at play here. And you just have to look at the province’s electoral timetable to see it.

The new no-fault system removes the right of car-crash victims to hire a lawyer and sue ICBC for their pain and suffering, except in cases involving criminal conduct like drunk driving.

It’s devastating news for personal-injury lawyers, who say car-crash victims will now get less money than they could win in court.

“They will get nothing for their pain and suffering,” said John Rice, president of the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C.

“We’re talking about people whose lives have been changed forever by catastrophic injuries. Brain injuries. Spinal-cord injuries. Orthopaedic fractures, amputations and burns.

“These people are supposed to trust ICBC now to take care of them for the rest of their lives? No one should be forced to do that.”

It’s a strong argument for the lawyers to make, and you can bet they will make it forcefully as they fight the changes.

But while the government admits ICBC is not exactly the most beloved institution in B.C., they are betting that griping lawyers will receive even less sympathy from the public.

And it looks like the lawyers will have to fight this battle alone, as major organizations representing people injured in car crashes are, so far, backing the government.

As part of the dramatic overhaul, the government announced a new schedule of care benefits that will be paid out to accident victims.

It includes a maximum limit of $7.5 million for medical and rehabilitation services, and many new categories of care like travel-and-accommodation benefits, a caregiver indemnity, lump sums for students who miss school, grief counselling and more.

Medical and disability groups like what they see.

“We’re excited,” said Justina Loh, executive director of the Disability Alliance of B.C. “They’re including more categories and making sure people are fully supported.”


Personal-injury lawyers argue you’ll be at the mercy of ICBC if badly hurt in a crash under no-fault insurance. Their opposition doesn’t have many others taking their side, though, other than Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson.

PNG

The province’s top doctor also backed the government.

“These changes mean better coverage for patients who are injured in traffic accidents,” said Dr. Kathleen Ross, president of Doctors of B.C. “It provides more medical care and more enhanced support for our patients during recovery.”

Securing the backing of medical and disability groups is crucial to the government’s effort to promote these auto-insurance changes, the biggest in ICBC’s history.

It stands in stark contrast to the last time any government tried to introduce no-fault insurance in British Columbia.

That was in the 1990s under another NDP government. Back then, personal-injury lawyers teamed up with disability groups and doctors and forced the government to back down.

This time, the lawyers are on their own. I think they are in for a tough battle, especially if the government can deliver its promised cut to drivers’ insurance premiums.

And that’s where the politics comes in here for the New Democrats, who were worried that rising ICBC rates could drive votes to the B.C. Liberals.

But now the NDP has frozen basic auto-insurance rates for this year, while promising dramatic rate cuts next year.

The new no-fault insurance system — officially called “Enhanced Care” by the government — is scheduled to take effect in May of 2021.

The government says the new system will save so much money in legal costs that drivers will start to see premium cuts immediately.

“When you renew your Enhanced Care coverage policy after May 1, 2021, you will see the full benefit of the savings — an average of $400 or approximately 20 per cent compared to the previous year,” ICBC announced on its website.

What if you renew your insurance before the new system kicks in? No problem, the government says, because you will get a rebate cheque in the mail.

“Customers will receive a pro-rated refund on the portion of their existing insurance policy beyond May 1, 2021,” ICBC announced.

Imagine that! Drivers will be getting 20-per-cent rate cuts and rebate cheques in the mail as 2021 unfolds, all with an election looming in the fall of the year.

The political timing of the reforms look perfect to NDP strategists, who were privately thrilled when Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson came out against the no-fault system.

“No-fault insurance best serves ICBC management, not B.C. drivers,” Wilkinson declared on Twitter.

“I’m standing with B.C. drivers and accident victims after the NDP’s announcement that they’ll be abolishing the right of compensation for pain and suffering if you’re injured in a car accident.”

This is exactly the position the New Democrats hoped Wilkinson would take. They wanted him to go against no-fault so they could paint him as a puppet of the personal-injury lawyers.

As one NDP insider told me: “He took the bait!”

Now watch for the NDP to step on the accelerator.

Their Enhanced Care insurance system will no doubt feature prominently in this Tuesday’s throne speech. Then the government will introduce legislation to establish the new system, and they will be very happy if Wilkinson and the Liberals vote against it.

Now all they have to do is deliver those big ICBC rate cuts next year. If they can do that, Wilkinson and the Liberals might feel like they were snookered by Horgan.

msmyth@postmedia.com

twitter.com/MikeSmythNews


CLICK HERE to report a typo.

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Politics

‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

Published

 on

 

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

Published

 on

 

REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

Published

 on

 

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version