Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Toronto, ON (June 29, 2020) – The Ontario government has announced the creation of a new task force to improve provincial oversight of the towing industry. The task force will help develop a regulatory model to increase safety and enforcement, clarify protections for consumers and improve towing industry standards. It will also consider tougher penalties for offenders. “IBC applauds the Ontario government for taking action against criminal activity and violence in the towing industry,” said Kim Donaldson, Vice-President, Ontario, IBC. “Insurance fraud is a safety issue for consumers. Lives can be put at risk as a result of these criminal actions. Insurance fraud costs Canadians in higher insurance premiums, and strains our already burdened health care services, emergency services and court systems,” added Donaldson. The task force will review a number of topics related to the towing industry, which could include provincial oversight of safety, consumer protection, improved industry standards, training and background checks. As part of the review, the task force may consider opportunities for increased protections for consumers against the first-to-scene unethical business practices that lead to accident chasing, insurance savings through a crackdown on insurance fraud rings, and improved consumer choice for payments and repairs. The province...

Martha Porado | July 2, 2020 Organizations all over the world are pledging their commitments to anti-Black racism as global protests over the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others, move into their fifth week. While the outcomes of these numerous pledges remain to be seen, discussions on the topics of race and racism are being held in boardrooms and living rooms alike, adding to the chorus of voices chanting in the streets. For employers looking at more formally addressing issues of racism in the workplace, the first step is to listen, says Paula Allen, senior vice-president of research, analytics and innovation at Morneau Shepell Ltd. “It’s not just about moving forward. We can’t really move forward unless we understand what the current state is.” Read: OPB outlines commitment to stand against anti-Black, anti-Indigenous racism To many, the ongoing protests appear to be a tipping point, but she says it’s integral for organizations to remember the events that sparked them don’t represent a sudden change in the life of racialized communities, but rather the continuation of a longstanding pattern. “[The first week of protests] and the week prior is not different in the life of a Black person or the month prior or the year prior. So the...

Staff | July 2, 2020 More than three-quarters (79 per cent) of plan sponsors said they’re interested in their benefits providers sending targeted communications to plan members, according to the 2020 Sanofi Canada health-care survey. That’s up slightly from the amount who said the same in 2019 (74 per cent) and 2018 (64 per cent). However, slightly fewer (62 per cent) plan members said they’d consent to receive health-related information based on their personal use of benefits from the insurance company that manages their workplace benefits plan. In comparison, 65 per cent and 66 per cent said so in 2019 and 2018, respectively. But this number increases to 74 per cent among plan members who said they’re confident their personal information will be kept confidential. Read: Behavioural change a key component to managing chronic disease “Our role as insurers is evolving in terms of how we support the way plan members use their benefits,” said Julie Gaudry, senior director of group insurance at RBC Insurance and a member of the Sanofi Canada advisory board. “It could be through targeted communications or providing access to additional services to support their well-being. But we also need to evolve how plan members view us, so that they come to accept and...

By Martino Scheepens, Customer Success Manager, FRISS — The pandemic impacted the insurance industry in both predictable and unexpected ways. From the moment news of COVID-19 started spreading, insurance carriers knew there would be a significant business impact. Exactly what the impact would be was not immediately clear, and still leaves some room for guessing. Several months in, we can start to see how the pandemic has affected the industry and our customers. What’s happening? As FRISS supports carriers through all phases of the insurance lifecycle – from underwriting to claims and through the investigation process – we have deep insights into what’s happening across the globe. First, claims saw a sharp decline as the Coronavirus started hitting worldwide. For the most part, this came as no surprise. With fewer cars on the road, fewer accidents result in damage claims. There are fewer ways for people to hurt themselves if they never leave their homes. Workers’ comp claims decline when the workplace is nearly empty. This was an anticipated and completely logical result. As the world started to come alive after 3 months and “life as normal” began to resume, claims volume started trending back toward normal. This regional trend...

Staff | June 30, 2020 Nova Scotia’s Public Service Superannuation Plan reported a 98.5 per cent funded status as of Dec. 31, 2019 and said it will halt cost-of-living adjustments for retirees for the next five years. According to the plan’s 2020 funded health review, its funding policy prohibits indexing when the PSSP’s funded status is below 100 per cent. However, the Public Service Superannuation Plan Trustee Inc., which oversees the fund for N.S. government, university and municipal employees, decided not to adjust contribution rates, which it’s required to consider if the plan’s funded status is above 96 per cent but below 100 per cent. Read: OMERS Sponsors Corp. approves shared-risk indexing, other plan design changes This is the second funding health review conducted by the PSSPTI since the plan’s funding policy was updated to address a 69 per cent funded status and a $1.6-billion deficit at the end of 2009. In 2015, the plan’s funded status was 104.7 per cent and the cost-of-living increase was set at 0.85 per cent per year. The trustee also allocated $125 million of the plan’s funding surplus to a strategic reserve. In a press release, Ron Smith, the PSSPTI’s board chair, acknowledged that the lack of cost-of-living adjustments would be disappointing for retirees. “The plan’s funding policy was...

Staff | June 30, 2020 The majority of U.S.-based defined contribution pension plan sponsors said they haven’t felt the need to pause or reduce contributions during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey by the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association. While 86 per cent of respondents said they aren’t considering suspending matching employer contributions, just eight per cent said they already have. Meanwhile, 92 per cent said they aren’t considering reducing those contributions, with just three per cent saying they’ve done so. No plan sponsors said they’ve reduced or suspended non-matching employer contributions, with only a few (eight per cent and six per cent, respectively) considering either option. Read: Could coronavirus delay DC plan members’ expected retirements? A small amount (13 per cent) of plan sponsors said they’ve laid off employees as a measure to deal with the impacts of the pandemic, while the same amount said they’ve actually increased hiring in certain departments. Half (50 per cent) said they’ve implemented a company-wide hiring freeze and 38 per cent said they’ve reduced workers’ hours in specific departments. As far as plan member activity around investments, the survey also found 12 per cent of plan sponsors said they’ve observed a decrease in allocations to equity. Ten per cent saw...

Martha Porado and Kelsey Rolfe | June 30, 2020 Employers across Canada were forced to adjust their Pride celebrations in June as the coronavirus pandemic necessitated social distancing and most traditional parades and events were cancelled. “[The coronavirus] forced us to think about how to still create these communities we’re trying to build,” says Meryem Benslimane, equity education advisor at McGill University in Montreal. This year, the university took all of its Pride events online, including its recurring Tea for T event, which is normally a community dinner for transgender, two-spirit, non-binary and gender-questioning students, staff and faculty. In addition to holding the event online during Pride month, the university hosted a Tea for T on the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia in May. Read: What employer participation in Pride means to employees “That gathering is so important and brings together students, staff and faculty, so [students] can see that there are staff and faculty who are trans,” says Benslimane. “And what we’ve seen is an amazing mentorship relationship between staff, faculty and the students.” With many of its employees working remotely before the pandemic, Ceridian HCM Inc. was already no stranger to hosting virtual Pride events. But this year was the first without an in-person component. “In the past,...

Staff  | June 30, 2020 While 67 per cent of Canadian plan members described their level of knowledge about a possible national pharmacare program as low or medium, 27 per cent said they don’t know anything at all about it, according to the 2020 Sanofi Canada health-care survey. Among plan sponsor respondents, 73 per cent described their level of knowledge as medium or low, with 13 per cent reporting not knowing anything at all about pharmacare. Employers with fewer than 50 employees were more likely (23 per cent) to have no knowledge. And just 14 per cent of all plan sponsors reported a high knowledge level. “If pharmacare were defined as the federal government taking on coverage for drugs for rare disease, you would have every employer and probably every insurer saying, ‘Let’s get that done.’ That’s a win for everyone,” said Chris Bonnett, a principal at H3 Consulting and an advisory board member. “As an industry, we can do more to tackle the tough first steps. We can’t wait on government. Plan sponsors should not be stuck in the middle, nor should patients.” Read: What are the implications of pharmacare reform for private drug plans? More than half (59 per cent) of plan members...

Staff | June 30, 2020 A new report by a U.K.-based think tank is suggesting public policy should shift to allow pension plan investments to help bolster the country’s infrastructure needs. The report, by the Social Market Foundation, urged the government to foster the growth of fewer, but larger, pensions funds, with the scale to make major infrastructure investments. “Learning from Australia and Canada, the U.K. should pursue a strategy of creating large ‘superfunds’ able to invest in large illiquid assets. Pension scheme charging rules should be reformed to allow funds of sufficient size to pay management fees for infrastructure investments.” Also looking to Canada’s system, the report said the U.K. should establish a project bond market where investors allocating towards infrastructure would sell bonds. Read: CPPIB issues Euro-denominated green bonds It also suggested that British politicians take on the role of actively shaping public opinion on the role of infrastructure and normalizing the idea of these projects making a profit. “Stronger arguments for the local benefit of infrastructure — and a public willingness to take on local doubts — would help allay investors’ concerns about risk. Ministers should also explain why private profit from public infrastructure is not a flaw of policy but a necessary condition...

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press | June 29, 2020 The Supreme Court of Canada has cleared the way for Uber drivers to take the next step in their fight to be recognized as employees. In a ruling Friday, the high court upheld an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that opened the door to a possible class-action suit aimed at securing a minimum wage, vacation pay and other benefits for drivers. The man behind the planned class action, David Heller, is a Toronto driver for UberEats, a service that delivers food from restaurants to customers at home. He argues that Uber drivers are employees, which entitles them to protections under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act. Read: Uber Black drivers fight for unionization at labour board hearing Uber, a global company that operates in more than 600 cities, has been present in Ontario for eight years. To become an Uber driver, Heller had to accept the terms of the firm’s standard services agreement. Ontario’s highest court said a clause in the agreement that requires all disputes to go through arbitration in the Netherlands was an unfair bargain and amounted to contracting out of an employment standard. Heller earns about $400 to $600 a week before paying taxes and expenses,...