Saskatchewan, Manitoba look into ceasing no fault accident benefits for thieves injured while driving stolen vehicles

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on Saskatchewan’s government to follow the stated intentions of the Manitoba government to stop paying no fault accident benefits to car thieves injured while driving stolen vehicles.
In a press release on Apr. 15, Manitoba attorney general Andrew Swan confirmed he will be “moving forward during this legislative session to close the door on Manitoba Public Insurance benefits for auto thieves.”
A petition in support of this move was introduced in the Manitoba legislature on Apr. 13. The petition calls for the province to “deny all MPI benefits to a person for injuries received in an accident if he or she is convicted of stealing a motor vehicle involved in the accident.”
The CTF is making the same appeal to Saskatchewan’s public auto insurer.
“Under no fault insurance, SGI [Saskatchewan Government Insurance] currently provides car thieves, who are injured in stolen cars, with cash benefits,” the CTF says in its Taxpayer-Friendly Election Platform. “This should be scrapped immediately.”
In an interview with PostMedia News, published in Saskatchewan’s Regina Leader-Post and the StarPhoenix, Tim McMillan, the minister responsible for SGI, said he has been seeking information about Saskatchewan’s policies under its no fault insurance plan.
Injured car thieves who go to jail are not eligible for income replacement, McMillan told PostMedia News. Also, he noted impaired drivers injured in a vehicle accident are not eligible for the “permanent impairment” benefit.
Nevertheless, he said he wants to look at whether further restrictions on benefits should be in place. Changing benefit eligibility would require legislative amendments.
There are probably three or four times a year when injured car thieves are eligible to receive insurance benefits, PostMedia News cites Earl Cameron, SGI’s vice-president of claims and salvage, as saying.