Ontario’s auto rates can come “down even further,” Ontario premier says

There remains room for Ontario’s auto rates to be lowered to a more “reasonable” rate, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has indicated to the media.

“Given the system that we inherited, we knew that the price of car insurance was a real pocketbook issue for our families,” McGuinty was quoted as telling a CP reporter in the London Free Press.

“We’re glad we made some progress and we’re looking forward to doing more. Insurance rates have come down by 14% (since 2003) and we think we can get them down even further.”

McGuinty promised, after being sworn in as premier in October 2003, that his government would declare an immediate freeze on car insurance rates. It’s a promise that hasn’t fallen off the radar screen, McGuinty told CP reporter Michael Oliveira.

Reporting on McGuinty’s remarks, daily newspapers frequently cited a recent study conducted by the Fraser Institute, which found the average premium in Ontario in 2005 was Cdn$1,347, down slightly from the average of Cdn$1,391 in 2004.

McGuinty is not reported to have made any firm commitments on how he would propose to lower rates. His comments come a few months after the provincial government in New Brunswick mandated a 13.5% cut in auto rates by March 2007.

“They are in a period now where they are enjoying some healthy profits, which is great,” the Free Press reports McGuinty as saying about insurers. “I’m not asking them to do this out of the goodness of their heart. They’re entitled to have a good return on the investment that they make.

“But at the same time, don’t charge us any more than is reasonable in the circumstances.”