Auto insurance cap reform not a priority for new Nova Scotia government

Nova Scotia’s new government has indicated it does not consider amendments to the province’s auto insurance system to be a key priority, although it will conduct a review of the system in the future, says Bill Adams, Insurance Bureau of Canada’s vice president of the Atlantic Region.
The New Democrat Party won Nova Scotia’s provincial election on June 9 with a landslide 45.3% of the vote.
During his campaign, premier-elect Darrell Dexter said he believed the province’s Cdn$2,500 cap on minor injuries was too broad. He said he would prefer a deductible high enough that only people with major injuries would proceed with a claim.
Adams says IBC will gladly work with the new government to address any and all issues it has relative to the insurance industry.
But, Adams continues, “We believe that auto insurance is not on the mind of Nova Scotians.”
He pointed to a recent poll IBC conducted that found auto insurance failed to rank as a pressing issue with the Nova Scotia public.
“Back in the days prior to the implementation of the cap, auto insurance was second in the minds of Nova Scotians only to health care as their Number 1 issue,” Adams says. “In recent polling it’s statistically zero. Fewer than zero per cent of Nova Scotians come up with auto insurance in a long list that they have.”
When Dexter does decide to proceed with his review of the system, Adams says the IBC “will do some actuarial work to bring information to the NDP government’s table that would help it to make informed decisions in the best interest of Nova Scotia drivers.”