Ontario PC Party wants more time to consider auto insurance reform bill

Ontario’s ruling Liberals are trying to pass an omnibus bill intended to reduce auto insurance claims costs, but Progressive Conservative politicians suggested this week that a time allocation motion on Bill 15 will limit opportunity for input from stakeholders such as towing and storage companies.

On Tuesday, Jim Bradley, deputy government house leader and Liberal MPP for St Catharines, introduced the time allocation motion on Bill 15. That bill, if passed into law, would – among other things – require tow and storage providers to publish their rates, accept credit card payments and provide itemized invoices before receiving payment.

Bill 15 also proposes to reduce the time period — currently at 60 days — that a storage firm can hold a vehicle and accumulate storage charges without giving notice to the vehicle owner and still be able to claim a lien for the storage costs.

“Reducing the 60-day time period would cut down on abusive practices by some storers and would remove the associated costs from the auto insurance system,” Laura Albanese, parliamentary assistant to Finance Minister Charles Sousa, said Oct. 21 when she introduced Bill 15 for second reading.

Bradley’s time allocation bill proposed to have the Standing Committee on General Government hold four hours of public hearings Nov. 5, to limit witnesses’ remarks to five minutes and to have witnesses heard on a first-come first-served basis. The committee will then have until Nov. 18 to present the bill (with or without amendments) to the Legislature for third reading. The legislature would then have two hours to debate the bill on third reading.

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Steve Clark, PC MPP for Leeds-Grenville, suggested the government is not giving people in the towing and storage industries enough opportunity to air their concerns.

“These men and women are small business people and, with all due respect to the people who want to govern by telephone and by Skype, I think it would be a great opportunity for us to take this bill on the road, to try to engage the approximate 1,200 tow truck and vehicle storage operators in Ontario to hear what they have to say,” Clark said Tuesday at Queen’s Park. “Some 16 or 17 people over four hours: to me, it’s not enough. It’s not enough. I am insulted that I would be asked for my opinion and then the government just goes ahead and does their business.”

Laurie Scott, PC MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, spoke Monday in favour of addressing insurance fraud but expressed concerns about the time allocation bill.

“I say we need more tools to fight insurance fraud so all our premiums come down and people can be treated fairly across the province,” Scott said. “I do want to mention, from tow truck drivers, certainly in my area – there are parts of the bill that penalize the good-acting, good tow truck companies that I have in my area. They should not be penalized under this bill. They need an opportunity to voice their concerns.”

Bill 15 includes provisions from previous bills that died on the order paper when last June’s election was called. It proposes to have the auto insurance claim dispute resolution system handled by the Ministry of the Attorney General’s licence appeal tribunal instead of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO).

“We are also proposing to amend the Highway Traffic Act to include tow trucks in the province’s existing commercial vehicle operator’s registration system,” Albanase said Oct. 21. “The new legislation would allow us to set qualifications and standards governing the operation and the use of tow trucks, including driver certification and training requirements, and prescribe penalties to violators. This would help improve road safety through monitoring and enforcement, another important consumer protection measure.”

Albanese added that Bill 15 also proposes changes to agent and adjuster disciplinary hearings.

Read more: Ontario government plans to move auto insurance dispute resolution system out of FSCO

If Bill 15 is passed, she said, FSCO “would have the authority to revoke or immediately suspend the licences of agents and adjusters who act improperly and put the public at risk,” she said. “Bill 15 would also align the process for these disciplinary hearings with modern principles of procedural fairness, including replacing the 90-year-old advisory board system with the existing Financial Services Tribunal.

If passed, these amendments would help combat fraud and protect consumers by building on previous changes Ontario has made to expand and modernize FSCO’s investigation and enforcement authority, particularly in the area of fraud prevention.”

Bill 15 also proposes to reduce the prejudgment interest rate for non-pecuniary loss for auto accident victims.

“The current prejudgment interest rate on damages for non-pecuniary loss in a personal injury action is set at 5% per year,” Albanese said Oct. 21. “Meanwhile, the prejudgment interest rate for most other damages is based on Bank of Canada interest rates and calculated quarterly. Currently this rate is 1.3% per year. The 5%-per-year prejudgment interest rate for damages for non-pecuniary loss in a personal injury action increases the cost of bodily injury claims in the auto insurance system, which drives up costs for all consumers. This rate has not been adjusted since 1990.”

In his time allocation motion, Bradley proposed a deadline for written submission of 6:00 pm Nov. 5.

The legislative committee would meet Nov. 17 and would have until 4:00 pm to conduct clause-by-clause consideration of Bill 15. At that time, “amendments which have not yet been moved shall be deemed to have been moved, and the Chair of the committee shall interrupt the proceedings and shall, without further debate or amendment, put every question necessary to dispose of all remaining sections of the bill and any amendments thereto,” Bradley said in his motion. If the committee were to fail to report the bill to the full legislature Nov. 18, “the bill shall be deemed to be passed by the committee and shall be deemed to be reported to and received by the House,” Bradley proposed.

“Although it is our government’s preference to allow bills to process through the normal course, these types of motions are from time to time necessary, especially when there are bills from the last Parliament that Ontarians are counting on us to pass,” he said in the legislature.