Eby drinks ICBC’s Kool-Aid

Re: “Going lawyer-free against ICBC,” column, May 2.

Proposed changes to auto-accident compensation show the dark side of a government monopoly. Government makes the rules, and the result is an inferior, wishy-washy product designed to cheat the injured.

Because of dividends taken yearly by governments from ICBC, if not downright theft of extension insurance surpluses, Premier John Horgan’s government proposes massive reductions in compensation to badly injured vehicle occupants. Instead of an impartial judge deciding a case, Attorney General David Eby proposes a kangaroo system wherein one expert (perhaps a hitman for ICBC) will provide evidence, while an adjuster will provide ICBC’s slated side of a victim’s injury.

Forget privacy: ICBC can force your care-provider to give personal information about your injury. Lifetime chronic pain is a minor injury to anyone who does not suffer from it.

Eby has been drinking too much of the ICBC Kool-Aid. Perhaps had he been involved in personal-injury cases before becoming attorney general, he might see the folly of the proposed system.

It ain’t that simple, and it will be far from fair and even-handed. On the other hand, you might save ICBC money while providing a very inferior insurance product that no injured person will thank you for. F. Kenneth Walton, QC Barrister and solicitor Colwood