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Buildings are seen in floodwater following a major rain event in Halifax on Saturday, July 22, 2023. A long procession of intense thunderstorms have dumped record amounts of rain across a wide swath of Nova Scotia, causing flash flooding, road washouts and power outages
News CatastrophesClaimsClaims CanadaConstructionInsuranceRestoration

Months after request, Nova Scotia silent on possible buyout of flooded Halifax homes

January 24, 2024 Keith Doucette – The Canadian Press

HALIFAX – Frustration is building with a lack of a commitment from the Nova Scotia government to buy and demolish some of the Halifax area homes ravaged by massive flooding last July. Halifax Regional Council sent a letter on Oct.

Red pumpjack in Alberta
News ClaimsClaims CanadaInsuranceMarkets / CoveragesRestorationRisk

Alberta releases liability estimate for well cleanup

January 23, 2024 Bob Weber - The Canadian Press

Alberta’s oil and gas producers spent nearly $700 million in 2022 on cleaning up the hundreds of thousands of old wells that dot the province, the regulator’s first report on the extent of those liabilities indicates.  That’s 65 per cent

Repair team in a storm damaged building
News ClaimsClimate ChangeInsurance

How reconstruction companies are improving repair timelines

January 22, 2024 Alyssa Di Sabatino

A shortage of tradespeople isn’t making it easy for the restoration industry to recover from extended repair cycle times during the pandemic. While cycle times are starting to improve, frequent NatCats and a lack of qualified talent are stretching capacity

Car collision with damaged vehicles
News BrokersClaimsInsuranceMarkets / Coverages

How Ontario drivers have responded to DCPD opt-out option

January 22, 2024 by Alyssa DiSabatino

For all the discussion it provoked within brokerage circles, one of the Ontario government’s ideas for auto insurance reform appears to have fallen flat with drivers, albeit it’s only in the first month of the initiative. Thus far, Ontario brokerages

2014 fire at seniors' residence in L'Isle-Verte, Que.
News ClaimsClaims CanadaClimate ChangeInsuranceLegislation / Regulation

Decade after fatal fire, some Quebec seniors’ residences unable to install sprinklers

January 22, 2024 Pierre Saint-Arnaud – The Canadian Press

MONTREAL – Ten years after 32 people died in a fire that ripped through a residential complex for seniors in rural Quebec, around a quarter of all private seniors’ residences in the province are still struggling to comply with a

Drug and medicine bills concept. Medical debt, health care and treatment cost from Covid-19 disease, hospital expense, broke bankrupt man carrying giant medicine debt burden after cure from COVID-19.
News CatastrophesClaimsInsuranceLegislation / Regulation

Does Canada need a pandemic backstop, too?

January 19, 2024 by David Gambrill

Canada’s P&C insurance industry “dodged a bullet” when the courts didn’t automatically read pandemic coverage into business interruption losses, an insurance executive said at the Insurance Institute of Canada’s Industry Trends & Predictions 2024 webinar yesterday. Phil Cook, chairman of

Close-up of a book on a binary code abstract background.
News ClaimsClaims CanadaCommercial LinesInsuranceTechnology

Toronto Public Library gradually recovering from hack, more services back next month

January 19, 2024 Maan Alhmidi - The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Canada’s largest public library system is gradually restoring more of its services after an October cyberattack brought down its website and likely exposed sensitive employee information. The Toronto Public Library said customers will be able to see a

Ransomware attack
News ClaimsClaims CanadaCommercial LinesInsuranceMarkets / CoveragesTechnology

Toronto Zoo says staff personal info stolen in ransomware cyberattack

January 18, 2024 The Canadian Press

TORONTO – The Toronto Zoo says it believes personal information of its current, former and retired employees was stolen in a ransomware cyberattack first detected earlier this month. The zoo says the information includes past earnings information, social insurance numbers,

Burst pipe during freezing weather
News BrokersClaimsClaims CanadaInsurance

Brokerage sees nearly 200% increase in cold weather claims

January 18, 2024 by Jason Contant

With temperatures plummeting across Canada recently, one insurance brokerage has seen a 191% increase in cold weather-related claims in the early days of 2024 compared to 2023. “Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen almost three times as many

personal injury medical assessment
News ClaimsInsuranceLegalLegislation / Regulation

Why a court upheld a $175K personal injury award against Ontario Place

January 18, 2024 by David Gambrill

Ontario’s Court of Appeal has upheld a $175,000 damage award against Ontario Place in Toronto, finding that Ontario Place had blocked people’s access to the main exit and failed to erect barriers that would have prevented people from leaving the

Insurance companies are reaching a tipping point on NatCats
News BrokersCatastrophesClaimsInsurance

When will Canada’s insurers reach a tipping point over NatCats?

January 17, 2024 Philip Porado

If insurers’ recent response to drastic storm and fire losses recorded in many parts of the U.S. are any harbinger, some Canadian regions may soon grapple with a future in which standard market insurers simply walk away. It’s already happening

Man using interactive scale that shows low risk and high risk on each end
News BrokersClaimsCommercial LinesInsuranceMarkets / CoveragesRisk

Your Canadian clients’ top business risks in 2024

January 17, 2024 by Alyssa DiSabatino

Canada’s top three business risks show companies are widely, and primarily, worried about disruption to their operations, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer 2024.   Over half (57%) of respondents in Canada said business interruption was their number one risk,