03) DEMONSTRATORS DEMAND PUBLIC AUTO INSURANCE

 

PV Ontario Bureau

 

BRAMPTON ‑ Over 60 demonstrators came out to Liberal MPP Linda Jeffrey's office Sept. 22 to demand the Ontario government bring in public auto insurance.

 

     Organized by the GTA West Club of the Communist Party, the demonstration heard from Surjit Sahota, Secretary of the Indo Canadian Workers Association and Liz Rowley, Leader of the CPC (Ontario). Sahota pointed out that Brampton had the highest car insurance rates in Canada. No fault insurance, introduced in 2010, did not lower rates. But it did dramatically lower coverage for injured drivers, many of whom have been forced to sue their insurance companies to get the benefits they need, and paid for.

 

     Liz Rowley said the sky‑high premiums and low coverage was all about profits. 

 

     "In 2012, insurance company profits were $4.4 billion, up 24% over 2011. Those profits came from the high premiums and slashed benefits that the McGuinty Liberals brought in with no fault insurance," she said. "Ontario's rates are higher than all other provinces because the insurance companies are allowed to build in a 12% profit on every single policy they write. Eliminate the greedy insurance companies, and Ontarians can have affordable public auto insurance ‑ which has been in place in BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec for more than 40 years. It's time the government got out of bed with the insurance companies and delivered public auto insurance. They're 40 years late and the public's paying the price."

 

     GTA West Club spokesperson Harinder Pal Singh Hundal told Punjabi media that the club wanted to build a broad ad hoc committee for public auto insurance, involving everyone in Brampton who was fed up with being fleeced.

 

     "We need to take united action now", he said, as demonstrators chanted "What do we want? Public insurance! When do we want it? NOW!" 

 

     In last spring's budget, in exchange for NDP support, the Liberals agreed to an NDP demand for a 15% reduction in auto insurance rates within 12 months. The Liberal minority government depends on NDP support to stay alive.

 

     In the interim, the Insurance Bureau of Canada unleashed a massive campaign to block the reduction, arguing that extensive insurance fraud by drivers, not profits, is driving sky‑high rates. The Tories are leading the attack in the Legislature.

 

     But it's not just Brampton. Ontario drivers pay the highest insurance rates in Canada. What's so special about Brampton, except than it's home to one of the largest South Asian communities in Canada ‑ a population the Tories recently attacked as job‑stealers?

 

     "The biggest fraudsters are the insurance companies", said Rowley, "aided and abetted by the Tories and the government."

 

     Premier Kathleen Wynne said in August that this "complex" problem can't be done in a year. In fact, estimates are that average rates, not all rates, will fall by 3% to 5% by January 2014. As Rowley said, "This could take five years, or maybe never".

 

     The Premier says she does not want to create a situation where people can't get insurance because the industry says "You're pushing us too hard, we just won't write insurance for certain parts of the population."

 

     "That's extortion" said Rowley, "and for that reason alone the government should move over to public insurance."

 

     Rowley praised Brampton NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh for his diligent work exposing the insurance companies' profiteering.

 

     "But the solution isn't a rate cut that will have to be fought and re‑fought every year," she argued. "The solution is public auto insurance ‑ a policy the NDP used to advocate, but has abandoned."       Citing a report from the right‑wing Fraser Institute which stated the average cost of auto insurance is $1,281 in Ontario with private insurance, and $642 in Quebec with public insurance, Rowley said the choice was clear.

 

     "We'll be back" she said, "and next time we'll be headed for Queen's Park. There's an election coming and a minority government that's flailing. The Liberals and NDP can help themselves by helping Ontario's nine million drivers."

 

(The above article is from the October 1-15, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)