IBC emphasizes changed approach to government relations

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is taking a different approach to government relations (GR), IBC president and CEO Don Forgeron said in prepared remarks for a speech to IBC’s annual general meeting in Toronto.
“I’ve said it many times: Our greatest value to our members’ bottom line is through effective GR,” Forgeron said on Apr. 27. “This is how we affect the kind of positive legislative and regulatory change that builds stable insurance systems to the benefit of consumers and insurers.”
Forgeron said IBC has recently changed its approach to GR, becoming more focused on results and measuring progress.
“We have identified key relationships, establishing and building trust with each,” he said. “We have placed a premium on ensuring that we are properly resourced. And we have become very disciplined in ensuring we do all of this continually.”
In addition, Forgeron said IBC is underpinning its GR efforts with “a more robust public policy agenda.”
“This ‘new-school’ approach allows us to present solid, persuasive, fact-based arguments to governments that clearly illustrate the effects of any given policy on consumers,” Forgeron said.
Forgeron said the bureau’s new approach to GR would help the IBC confront the following five key issues:
•    auto reform;
•    water damage;
•    an “onerous tax system”;
•    an expanding regulatory burden; and
•    insurance crime and auto theft.