News

To get an idea of the financial toll extreme weather is taking on this country’s agriculture industry, look no further than the government of Saskatchewan’s books.  The prairie province had forecast a more than $1 billion surplus for the fiscal…

British Columbia’s premier says a training and education centre for wildfire fighters will be established in response to recommendations by a task force that looked into last year’s catastrophic wildfires. David Eby says the centre at Thompson Rivers University in…

Ontario’s recent 2024 budget proposes expanded choice for auto insurance consumers by offering more optional accident benefit coverages, but that may wind up being a zero-sum game that sends clients down a slippery slope, suggests Adam Mitchell, CEO of Ontario…

Drivers working for rideshare companies, such as Lyft and Uber, have good access to information about additional insurance coverages they should be purchasing. But they don’t always buy those policies. “The Top 5 transportation network companies [or TNCs, as insurers…

Brokerage candidate shortages are one of the major drivers of M&A activity — but there’s still a way for small brokerages to compete in the talent war, one P&C recruitment expert tells CU.  As competition for talent upticks across Canada,…

Supporting an industry-wide effort to bring new talent into the Canadian property and casualty industry, the Insurance Institute of Canada today introduced its ‘Accelerated Competence Series,’ a program of five new learning modules for industry hires. “The Accelerated Competence Series…

One key element of creating a farm-specific MGA was the need to introduce proprietary technologies. Brokers of late have expressed concerns about the proliferation of new portals, which many see as a burden. “The first thing is acknowledging it is…

A spring storm across Quebec and Ontario on Thursday knocked out power to tens of thousands of customers, closed schools and blanketed the Montreal area with heavy, wet snow. In Quebec, more than 220,000 homes and businesses had no electricity…

The trend of insurers owning restoration firms and third-party vendors may not continue, particularly since controlling costs remains a priority for carriers, sources tell Canadian Underwriter.  It also looks like a national adjusting licensing standard or cross-provincial licensing will not…

A firefighter suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after witnessing the aftermath of a rental van attack killing 10 people in Toronto in April 2018 is not entitled to accident benefits, because he was not involved in an “accident,” an…

Commercial truck fleets trying to get more favourable insurance rates by only reporting the trucks on the road, and not the ones on their lots, might find themselves outwitted by the industry’s scrutiny, sources tell Canadian Underwriter.  But whether due…

Introduction of lithium-ion batteries has introduced new hazards into the everyday lives of Canadians due to their ability to catch fire spontaneously – a phenomenon known as ‘thermal runaway.’ What began as concerns about fires started by cell phone and…