Weaver questions quick rejection of photo radar
‘Everything has to be on the table’ to get ICBC’s finances on track: Green leader
VICTORIA B.C. Green party Leader Andrew Weaver is questioning the NDP’s swift rejection of photo radar and no-fault insurance as possible solutions to the ICBC’s financial crisis.
Weaver said Thursday that Attorney General David Eby was too quick to rule out those options as a way to get the insurance corporation’s skyrocketing costs under control.
“I was a little disappointed when Mr. Eby started taking things off the table before he’d even taken a step back and looked at it fully,” Weaver said Thursday.
“This is a problem that grew under the B.C. Liberals. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the NDP on this. I would have thought it would be more prudent if Mr. Eby just said: ‘We’re going to get back to you on this,’ without saying, ‘We’re not going to do photo radar’ or ‘We’re not going to do no-fault insurance.’
“Everything has to be on the table.”
A report by accounting firm Ernst and Young, released last month, said the average driver could face a rate increase of 30 per cent by 2019 if trends continue and nothing is done to reform the system.
The review, commissioned by the former Liberal government, found that despite collecting higher premiums than other provinces, the Crown corporation is unable to cover the cost of claims.
The gap between the premiums collected and the claim costs is projected to increase to $1.1 billion annually by 2019 unless action is taken.
Eby said at the time that the government would fix the problems at the ICBC without establishing no-fault insurance or reviving the photo-radar program set up by an NDP government in the 1990s. He said no-fault insurance takes away people’s right to sue, while photo radar is viewed by many British Columbians as archaic and unfair.
He told reporters Thursday that he has asked a group of deputy ministers to advise the new NDP government on how to get the Crown corporation’s costs under control.
The team includes road safety and insurance experts as well as deputies from Eby’s ministry, the Public Safety and Solicitor General Ministry and the Ministry of Transportation.
“We have committed to British Columbians we will not have a 20 to 30 per cent rate increase as has been projected,” Eby said. “That means some serious changes for the corporation, and we’re moving ahead with that.
“We have a number of recommendations that we’re looking at to get the out-of-control costs under control at ICBC to ensure affordability for British Columbians when they go to renew their auto insurance in the province.”
The attorney general, who is also the minister responsible for the ICBC, said the government will adhere to the principle of fairness so that good drivers are paying less than those who drive up costs.
One of the government’s priorities will be making sure that people driving expensive luxury vehicles pay enough to cover the cost of administering their insurance, Eby said. “There are a number of other initiatives, related to road safety and the administration within ICBC, that we are looking at as well,” he said.
Eby has blamed ICBC’s problems, in part, on a 23 per cent spike in accidents since 2013 and the fact the former Liberal government was taking money from the ICBC in the form of dividends that the Crown corporation was unable to sustain.