The heart of British Columbia’s wine industry is reeling after suffering a litany of climate-related hits, resulting in two years of crop losses in the southern Interior. Record-breaking heat. Wildfires and smoke that repeatedly contaminated grapes. A destructive cold snap in 2022. Then, the hammer blow — another deep freeze this January that is estimated […]
By Alyssa DiSabatino | March 11, 2024
6 min read
With accident claims up sharply post-pandemic, transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber, Lyft and others are aggressively managing the insurance coverage they offer to gig drivers to ensure they have a handle on fraud. “You’re going to get some claims kicked out by the TNC [more frequently] because the person who’s adjusting that for the […]
By Phil | March 11, 2024
3 min read
Aviva Canada’s overall combined ratio for 2023 stood at 95.3% (undiscounted) but there was a difference between the year-end combined ratios for personal versus commercial lines. The insurer’s personal lines combined ratio (COR) last year came in at 99.5%, up 4.3 points from 95.2% in 2022. Commercial lines’ COR was 88% in 2023, down 2.9 […]
By Jason Contant | March 8, 2024
3 min read
Ontario’s insurance regulator is conducting a review of home insurance claims handling to help the industry identify the greatest risks for consumer harm. Initially announced in June 2023, the Home Insurance Thematic Review is on its way to being published, after which its findings will be shared with the P&C industry, representatives of the Financial […]
By Alyssa DiSabatino | March 8, 2024
2 min read
An RCMP investigation has revealed a possible privacy breach for thousands of employees who worked or work at a health authority in British Columbia’s Interior. Interior Health says police contacted them in January about finding a document during its investigation that contained everything from social insurance numbers to home addresses for about 20,000 people. The […]
By Jason Contant | March 8, 2024
1 min read
Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry is advised to establish a policy and train employees to comply with Bill 96, Quebec’s French language law, which calls for all policy contracts with clients in the province to be done in French first. Insurance providers “should have an overlaying company policy saying, ‘Here is how we, as […]
By Phil | March 7, 2024
4 min read
Mounties say they believe an attack on Edmonton City Hall in January was politically motivated, meaning it reaches the legal threshold for terrorism charges. Supt. Glenn Sells of the RCMP’s national security team said Tuesday that officers had seized an SKS assault-style rifle, three prohibited rifle magazines, about 150 rounds of ammunition and four gasoline-filled […]
By Jason Contant | March 7, 2024
2 min read
Aviva Canada ended 2023 with an undiscounted combined operating ratio (COR) of 95.3% and double-digit growth in gross written premiums, despite challenging market conditions that included increased weather-related losses and heightened auto theft. The undiscounted ratio for 2023 was up 1.6% from 2022. The personal lines combined ratio last year stood at 99.5%, while the […]
By Jason Contant | March 7, 2024
3 min read
Canadian home insurance policyholders should brace for price increases this year following a nearly 8% year-over-year increase since the beginning of the year, according to internal data from rate comparison site My Choice Financial. Canada’s home insurance landscape is poised for a significant shift, paralleling challenges and trends observed in the auto insurance sector, MyChoice said […]
By Jason Contant | March 6, 2024
3 min read
Late last year, Toronto’s police department wrapped an auto theft intervention, codenamed Project Stallion, that recovered 1,080 vehicles stolen citywide with a combined value of $59 million. That works out to just shy of $55,000 per vehicle. Auto theft is undeniably a key driver of rising insurance premiums. But behind splashy headlines about cars vanishing […]
By Phil | March 6, 2024
3 min read