The B.C. Conservatives are planning major changes to British Columbia’s no-fault auto insurance system if elected on Oct. 24.
In a letter to insurance executives and legal associations dated Sept. 29 and released publicly by the MoveUP union, Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson promised to introduce legislation within the first year of a Conservative government that would allow some accident victims to sue under a proposed hybrid insurance system.
The letter said “everything’s on the table,” including allowing private competition in auto insurance.
Doerkson also pledges to repeal the 2024 Legal Professions Act, which establishes a single regulator for licensed legal professions. He said the NDP government has chipped away at the independence of the legal profession.
The NDP government introduced the no-fault system in 2021 as the insurer faced significant financial pressures.
ICBC said the previous system, requiring a victim to sue the person who caused the crash, often led to high legal costs and delayed settlements.
It says the new “Enhanced Care” system means any B.C. resident injured in a crash is entitled to care and recovery benefits, no matter who is at fault, and benefits can be delivered sooner.
Those who ICBC finds to be at fault for the crash can still be subject to higher premiums and other penalties.
The system has led to lower rates for drivers and delivered a financial rebound for ICBC, but the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C. and other critics say it limits the rights of people with serious injuries to seek fair compensation.
Doerkson told reporters on Wednesday it’s important that auto insurance rates remain affordable, but he said accident victims should receive proper compensation for major injuries and deaths.
“My intention to communicate with that letter was that we need a new path forward on insurance,” he said.
He said the Conservatives would introduce limits on litigation and the costs that lawyers would be able to charge in such cases.
Doerkson also brushed off allegations that the letter was intended as a closed-door deal with lawyers and insurance companies.
“The reality is that letter went to a thousand people or more, and it was certainly not meant to be a private letter,” he said.
B.C. NDP Leader David Eby, who was the minister responsible for ICBC when the Enhanced Care system was introduced, criticized the proposal as “disgraceful.”
Eby told reporters Wednesday he believed the proposal would double insurance rates and leave British Columbians vulnerable to the interests of trial lawyers and private insurance companies.
A 2022 Ernst & Young analysis of insurance costs found that drivers in Alberta, where auto insurance is privately delivered, were on average paying more than double what B.C. drivers were paying.
