By Cheryl Jahn

ICBC rates to be frozen

Dec 12, 2022 | 3:21 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – “Today, I’m pleased to announce that thanks to the reforms we made that have turned around our Crown Corporation, there will be no increases to ICBC’s overall basic rate for the next two years,” announced Premier David Eby. “This will help keep insurance affordable for British Columbians at a time when people are facing significant cost pressures. This marks five straight years in a row with no rate increases.”

“He’s really good at making announcements, you know?”

That was the reaction from the Public Safety critic to the announcement of an application to the BC Utilities Commission.

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Mike Morris says the Crown Corporation is projecting a deficit and the government is evidently planning to override the regulatory body, the BC Utilities Commission.

“He went and took that $395 million out of ICBC not too long ago to give everybody some rebates,” says Mike Morris, Public Safety Critic. “He has gone ahead and announced a freeze on rates for the next two years prior to BCUC even looking at the issue yet and coming over their determination.

He says this government has a track record of overriding Crown Corporations, dipping into ICBC to the tune of $395 millionto hand out rebates this summer and BC Hydro for $320 million to pay for the one-time, one hundred dollar bill credit to customers. But the Minister Responsible for the Crown Corportation applauds the move. “With its approval, drivers in British Columbia will continue to benefit from some of the lowest rates on vehicle insurance in the country,” says Mike Farnworth.

“And with this latest action, basic insurance rates will now be at their lowest level since 2014. This was validated as recently as last week with the release of an Ernst and Young report that found auto insurance in British Columbia is a more affordable province than in provinces with private insurance.

Mike Farnworth says the rate freeze will make BC a little more affordable. Not, says Morris.

“It’s not more affordable for everybody or we have the highest gas prices in North America. We have the highest home prices in Vancouver, probably in Canada. We have homelessness. We have our opiate crisis, we have our hospitals in crisis, all of those things,” says Morris. “And yet he concentrates on ICBC?”

And speaking of ICBC, he says he’s heard nothing but complaints about no-fault insurance and the so-called enhanced coverage for those injured in a crash.