Our ICBC is just doing to well

Aug 10 2007 http://www.kelownacapnews.com/ EDITORIAL

ICBC has been around for so long now that most of us have forgotten why it was started in the first place. One of the new socialist era visions of the NDP government that ran B.C. from 1972 to ‘75 under then premier Dave Barrett, the Insurance Corporation of B.C. was supposed to serve us with more efficient and fair auto insurance rates. There was much debate about ICBC’s creation at the time because it pushed aside competition from private firms for vehicular insurance, creating a monopoly on basic auto coverage. While ICBC has had its ups and downs in the years since, no government that has followed the ‘72-75 NDP regime has ever chosen to dissolve the Crown corporation. Why? Because it is a cash cow, at the expense of those it was supposed to be serving—B.C. drivers.

These days, the bank account at ICBC is flush with revenue, as astute asset investment moves. For the first six months of this year, ICBC has recorded a $256 million profit, more than double the $110 million it made in the same period of 2006. So does that mean lower insurance rates? Absolutely not. This year’s rates have gone up 3.3 per cent this year to pay for a service, basic auto insurance, for which ICBC has no competition. While ICBC wants to build up a fiscal cushion for when times are not so fiscally flush or in particularly bad year for the cost of claims, how much is enough? From the concept on its inception, ICBC’s higher profits should translate into lower rates for drivers who don’t tax the system. Instead, rates go up with the constant cloud hanging over your head that if you are at fault in an accident, kiss your safe driving discount good-bye. And, we are forever told, it’s all our fault because we in B.C. are accident-prone drivers.