Phillips calls for vehicle insurance rate cap

By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on November 11, 2022.

Shannon Phillips, NDP Finance Critic and MLA for Lethbridge-West, held a press conference Thursday calling for a freeze on premiums Albertans are paying for vehicle insurance.

Using data from the Superintendent of Insurance Annual Report, Phillips claims that companies are raking in more money than they have given back.

“According to the latest Superintendent of Insurance Annual Report, which is a Government of Alberta document, those companies operating here in Alberta collected $2.4 billion more in premiums in 2021 than they paid out in claims. That’s an 86 per cent increase in their margins year-over-year,” said Phillips. “$2.4 billion more that Albertans paid, and that they did not receive back in claims. That equates to $777 per vehicle in Alberta. That is obscene.”

Speaking to the history of lifting the cap, Phillips claims lobbyists have more control on politics than should be allowed.

“We know that for so long insurance industry lobbyists have had a direct line into the Premier’s office, and families have suffered as a result. When the UCP lifted the cap, the finance minister Travis Toews made that decision and he is still the finance minister. Some of us saw our premiums shoot up like a rocket to the tune of 30 per cent or more,” said Phillips. “That is the UCP way, they cave to high priced lobbyists, and now Albertans are paying the price.”

Asking for a solution, Phillips came forward with a request for Premier Danielle Smith. “Today I am here to call for an immediate fix. This is actually an easy one,” said Phillips. “Here’s a really quick tip on how to do this. It is time to stop penalizing Alberta families. It is time to stop padding profits of insurance companies that are not returning those profits into savings for Alberta drivers. We can put an immediate freeze on automobile insurance premiums. Danielle Smith has a choice to make, she can either overrule her finance minister who signed off on removing the cap in the first place, the guy who made that backroom deal with those insurance lobbyists. Or her only other choice is to cower to those same lobbyists and allow her finance minister to continue to sit in their pocket while you continue to pay.”

Hoping to see a change coming, Phillips would like to see a cap on these prices before election time rolls around in 2023.

“If Danielle Smith refuses to act, help is on the way, because we will,” said Phillips. “Inflationary growth is outpacing our wage growth here in Alberta by nearly four times. People are suffering and they are falling further and further behind. Albertans should not have to wait six months for Danielle Smith to get up the nerve to seek a mandate from Albertans in the general election. Albertans need help now.”

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