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While the McKinnon Report is the opening salvo in the brutal austerity and class war that's to come let's talk about something the UCP buried late on a Friday before the Labour Day long weekend - your car insurance rates going up (1/x) #ableg cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
This was strategically released late on a Friday with almost no comment from anyone. There was no economic impact analysis released and reporters have been too busy with the McKinnon report to follow up. We have no idea how much this will cost Albertans. #ableg
But make no mistake, everyone in Alberta will be paying more to private insurance companies to drive around as a result of letting the cap expire. And this is exactly what the private insurance companies wanted. The insurance industry lobbied extensively for this change.
How hard did insurance companies lobby government for this change? Between May 24 and Aug. 30 the insurance industry and their lobbyists met with government a dozen times. Just go to the lobbyist registry and search the word "insurance" albertalobbyistregistry.ca
What lobbyists were doing this work? Beyond the CEOs and higher-ups you had people like Nick Koolsbergen, Kenney's former chief of staff, lobbying for the Insurance Bureau of Canada and Jonathan Wescott, former ED of the Wildrose Party, for the Insurance Brokers of AB.
You also had longtime conservative hack lobbyists like Hal Danchilla and Chad Rogers plying their "trade" for Aviva Canada and Sun Life Financial respectively.
So the insurance industry got what they wanted. The cap brought in by the Alberta NDP to keep yearly increases to your automobile insurance rates at a reasonable level has expired and now the insurance industry can release their lobbyists on the Automobile Insurance Rate Board.
But ultimately what will this do for the cost of car insurance in Alberta? How much more money will car insurance companies make off of this? We have no idea. There was no economic analysis released. Absolutely shameful.
There is a very, very good chance folks will pay more in car insurance over the next 4 years than they would have paid under the ANDP carbon tax. So when Kenney and his cronies say they're making life more affordable for Albertans call bullshit – and bring up car insurance #ableg
