Ontario auto battle heats up over public/private study

As Ontario heads into an early October election, auto insurance stands to be a key issue on the campaign trail. An early volley was thrown with the release of a study by The Fraser Institute, a conservative public policy organization advocating private market solutions.The study suggests drivers are safer under private auto insurance systems than public systems as seen in most Western provinces.The Fraser Institute says that public insurance provinces B.C., Manitoba and Saskatchewan have 18% more auto accident deaths per capita and 46% more hospital admissions. The cause, the Institute says, is that good drivers subsidize bad drivers under the public systems.It speculates that should Ontario move to a public auto system, it would face more deaths and injuries amongst young drivers.The Ontario New Democratic Party is advocating public auto insurance as part of its campaign pitch and says such a system is the remedy to rate increases seen over the past year. It says “the only provinces in Canada that have been spared sky-rocketing insurance rates are the provinces that have adopted public auto insurance programs”.The Conservatives are pushing for a “choice” system where drivers would choose less coverage and pay less, while the Liberals want an across-the-board forced rate decrease by private insurers.