Tax reform a key goal for IBC in 2002

At the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s (IBC) annual meeting in Toronto, the industry’s representative body says reducing the tax burden on insurers will be front and center in its mandate for the coming year. Educating government about how easing this burden will help consumers will be the task, the IBC says.A new national road safety campaign and working with other stakeholders to mitigate the effects of natural disasters will also be on the agenda.The IBC also took the opportunity to review key initiatives in 2001, including the formation of a special task force to address terrorism coverage following the September 11 terrorist attacks. “As the respected voice of Canada’s p&c insurance industry, IBC formed a special task force of insurer and reinsurer representatives to develop a short-term response to the potential shortage of terrorism catastrophe reinsurance next year,” explains IBC chairman George Cooke. “The task force has been working very hard and has been engaged in discussions with the federal government.”Those discussions have not yet yielded a solution, but are continuing.Retiring IBC president George Anderson notes that the bureau also worked with government on auto insurance reform, and the cost burden being placed on insurers for health care. Both Ontario and Newfoundland are currently reviewing their auto insurance systems, with the IBC hoping for solutions to rate filing and health care cost issues to be addressed. The IBC is also campaigning for privatization of auto insurance in the B.C. market.