Nova Scotia brokers “optimistic” about government’s willingness to negotiate future of the auto cap

CLARIFICATION: The following piece is intended to clarify remarks attributed to IBANS president Ken Myers, as reported by Canadian Underwriter in an online item entitled, “Only a matter of time before Nova Scotia cap is scrapped, premier suggests to brokers.”

Nova Scotia brokers are more optimistic about negotiating the future of the province’s auto insurance cap than suggested in a recent online news item published by Canadian Underwriter, the president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Nova Scotia (IBANS) says.
Canadian Underwriter was covering remarks IBANS president Ken Myers presented to the 89th annual convention of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO).
Part of Myers’s short speech to brokers addressed the future of the province’s auto insurance cap. Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter won a provincial election in June 2009, and his campaign included a promise to remove the cap and replace it with a deductible. 
“When I was giving a summary of Nova Scotia related to the cap, I didn’t want to give the impression that we feel the cap will absolutely be abolished, nor is that necessarily the government’s position,” Myers said. “We are actually quite optimistic about the new government’s willingness to keep all options open, despite the notions in some circles to the contrary.”
Myers said he could see at least one scenario in which the government might agree to retain the auto insurance cap.
“For the cap to stay, we believe the Nova Scotia government is interested in determining which injury definitions are ‘unfair’ and making changes accordingly that would allow those injuries to fall outside the cap,” said Myers. “Doing so could maintain the cap and the product stability that is so important, while introducing some of the necessary changes the Premier feels are required.”
Whatever happens to the cap, Myers noted that both the provincial government and brokers “have a common interest, that being the Nova Scotia consumer,” and that brokers looked forward to offering continued input to the premier on the province’s auto insurance file.