NDP, Tory MPPs push for lower auto insurance rates in Brampton

TheStar.com
Oct. 18, 2018
Robert Benzie

There is a renewed push at Queen’s Park to lower auto insurance rates in Brampton.

New Democrat MPP Gurratan Singh (Brampton East) and Progressive Conservative MPP Parm Gill (Milton) are touting separate private member’s bills Monday to tackle the inequity in rates.

New Democrat MPP Gurratan Singh (pictured) and Progressive Conservative MPP Parm Gill are tackling the issue of auto insurance rates in Brampton. Singh said he would be willing to work with Gill to help out motorists.

“Drivers in the Peel Region and other parts of the GTA pay significantly higher auto insurance rates than others in the same region, for no good reason,” said Singh, whose brother federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also championed the issue when he was an MPP.

“In the last year alone, my community of Brampton has seen premiums increase at a rate nearly five times higher than the provincial average,” said the rookie New Democrat.

“The average Brampton driver’s annual premiums are nearly $1,000 more than the average driver in much of Toronto,” he said.

Brampton has long been a more expensive locale to insure a car because insurance companies have more claims there.

In 2016, for example, the average claim per vehicle in Brampton was $2,268, considerably more than the provincial average of $1,316.

For every 100 vehicles in Brampton, there are 11.5 claims compared to an average of 9.3 for the rest of Ontario, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

As well, Peel Regional Police have warned that the city has been a hotbed of staged collisions that scofflaws used to defraud insurance companies by overstating the damage to their cars.

Singh would like to amend the Insurance Act to stop companies from charging GTA residents different insurance rates based on their postal code.

Instead, the Greater Toronto Area would be classified as a single geographic area.

Similarly, Gill’s bill would curb “postal code discrimination” on rates.

“Ontarians pay the highest auto insurance rates in the country,” said the newly elected Tory MPP, who was once a federal Conservative MP for Brampton.

“My bill, if passed, will ensure drivers will not be unfairly targeted based on where they live,” he said.

Singh said he would be willing to work with Gill on a bipartisan consensus to help motorists.

“I hope that the Conservatives are strong on this issue. This is something that affects all people,” he said.

Under questioning from Singh in the legislature, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli promised the Tories would at least consider Gill’s bill.

“The previous Liberal government, backed by the NDP, failed to deliver anything but stretch goals when it came to auto insurance rates,” Fedeli told the house.

“Our member from Milton’s bill, if passed, will end the unfair practice of discriminating against drivers simply based on where they live,” he said.