Liquor fines influence B.C. auto insurance (January 01, 2006)

Provisions recently passed to B.C.’s impaired driving legislation allow the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) to refuse vehicle or trailer insurance to any driver who has an outstanding fine under the Liquor Control and Licensing Act.

The new provision reads that even if a driver was not driving but had been fined for an alchohol related offence, the ICBC can deny them insurance.

This initiative is an extension of an earlier proposal that prevents drivers with outstanding liquor fines from acquiring or renewing their driver’s licenses. n

‘Opt-in’ plan for securities regulator

A panel headed by former Imasco Ltd. chairman Purdy Crawford recently published a report recommending that Canadian provinces that want to form a national securities regulator should create one but provinces that aren’t in favour should be allowed to opt out.

Provinces forming a national agency will be able to reduce costs and improve enforcement, according to the report.

“(This would) reassure foreign investors that Canada is an attractive place in which to place risk capital,” the report says. “It will create consistent securities regulation and enforcement across Canada.”

A single securities regulator should be created to streamline the current 13 provincial and territorial agencies, Crawford says in the 23-page report, as Canada is the only industrialized nation without a single national regulator.

Provinces including Qubec and B.C. oppose the formation of a single regulator but under the ‘opt-in’ idea they could join the Canadian Securities Commission later.

“We expect that, over time, as the CSC establishes a regulatory track record and gains recognition in Canada and abroad, all Canadian jurisdictions will opt in,” the panel says in the report.

Each government involved in the formation of a securities regulator would have one vote for the selection of the board of directors and for adjudicators in a separate tribunal for hearings into rules violations, according to the proposed plan.

According to the report, a head office could be located in any one of Canada’s four largest provinces – Ontario, Qubec, British Columbia or Alberta. The report also calls for the creation of regional offices.