Have your say: Insurance task force consultation

Published November 16, 2020

With business operators facing skyrocketing insurance rates and a lack of affordable coverage, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) set up a National Commercial Insurance Task Force in February to identify solutions.

The mandate of the task force is to:

  • Educate and inform consumers, governments and stakeholders on the factors contributing to the current availability and affordability challenges with commercial insurance.
  • Learn from different industry partners, consumers and stakeholders with respect to their experiences related to challenges around insurance availability and affordability, as well as their current risk management practices or ability to implement sufficient risk management practices.
  • Based on the feedback, develop a report with recommendations that aim to improve insurance availability and affordability for industry partners, consumers and stakeholders.

The task force is now in the process of convening discussions to educate stakeholders on the insurance market challenges and factors contributing to unavailable or unaffordable insurance, and is consulting with stakeholders on their sector-specific challenges in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Restaurants Canada has been participating in these discussions, and is also continuing to raise industry concerns with public officials and regulators.

Hospitality discussion paper

In an effort to help mitigate concerns associated with the foodservice and hospitality sector, IBC has released a discussion paper seeking feedback on the following questions:

Insurance challenges

1. What are the insurance issues facing your members or business?

2. Have these issues emerged recently with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic or were your members/business experiencing this in the months prior?

Risk management and planning

3. What steps, if any, have you or your members taken to address these concerns? Do you or your members have risk management strategies in place? If yes, what do those strategies include? Do you have access to robust risk management tools and strategies?

4. Do you work with an insurance representative to develop an insurance strategy?

Education

5. What can the insurance industry – insurers and brokers – do to help business owners and commercial clients understand how their premiums are calculated and how their insurer views risk?

6. How can the insurance industry help business owners manage their risks?

Potential solutions

7. Are there solutions that could be implemented immediately and/or in the longer term to mitigate these issues in the future?

Feedback can be sent to: commercialtaskforce@ibc.ca

Industry resources

IBC has developed resources to assist business owners facing challenges associated with commercial insurance. This information can be found at: businessinsurancehelp.ca

Questions and concerns may also be directed to IBC’s Business Insurance Helpline at: 1-844-2ask-IBC

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