Automobile Insurance Advisory Committee

Input received

The committee engaged stakeholders and Albertans from February to March, 2020.

The committee reviewed your feedback on ways to provide long-term sustainability for Alberta’s automobile insurance system.

Outcomes

The committee explored options to reform Alberta’s automobile insurance system and made recommendations to government.

Recommendations of the committee were based on the following principles:

• a private sector delivery model for automobile insurance
• fair, accessible and affordable insurance for Albertans
• timely and appropriate outcomes when claims are made, such as meeting the treatment, care and compensation needs of those injured in a collision
• a viable and sustainable automobile insurance system

The committee delivered its final report and recommendations to the President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance in September 2020.

• Report on fundamental reform of the Alberta Automobile Insurance Compensation System

Next steps

We introduced short-term measures in October 2020 to help stabilize costs in the auto insurance system and make driver premiums more affordable.

COVID-19 has affected claims costs for all automobile insurance coverages that involve road usage (bodily injury, property damage, accident benefits and collision).

We have carefully reviewed the committee’s final report and will continue monitoring Alberta’s insurance market and assess the impact COVID-19 and recent legislative and regulatory changes have had on insurance rates.

Should further reforms be necessary, we are committed to making the necessary changes to ensure automobile insurance is fair, affordable and accessible for Albertans, and Alberta’s auto insurance system is sustainable.

Committee members

The 3-person committee included a consumer representative and insurance expert, as well as legal and medical experts.

Chris Daniel, Chair, Consumer representative and insurance industry expert

Chris Daniel began his career as a police officer in the United Kingdom, and then in Canada. After 11 years in law enforcement, he moved into the insurance industry in 1971 as an adjuster and an underwriting manager. He has over 35 years of experience in the insurance industry with the Commercial Union Assurance Company, Century Insurance Company, AON Reed Stenhouse, Monnex Insurance and TD Insurance He was also a director of the Insurance Brokers Association of Alberta and helped teach insurance licensing and qualification courses. He has served as a member of the Automobile Insurance Rate Board, and he served 2 terms as the consumer representative.

Shelley Miller, QC, Legal expert

Shelley Miller has 38 years of insurance law experience and was a member of the Insurance Law and Commercial Law Practice Groups at Dentons Canada LLP for 16 years. Her practice encompassed a broad range of insurance consulting activities to government bodies, trade associations, insurers and intermediaries, corporate and insurance regulatory advice. She also conducted automobile, commercial and professional liability defence litigation. She has been engaged in tort law reform and scheme design facilitation, and risk assessment and management. Previously, she participated in comprehensive auto insurance reviews for the Government of Alberta, the Council of the Atlantic Premiers, and the Government of New South Wales (Australia), among others.

She obtained her bachelor of arts in political economy from the University of Toronto in 1974 and her bachelor of laws from the University of Alberta in 1977.

Dr. Larry Ohlhauser, Medical community representative expert

Dr. Ohlhauser worked for 20 years at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, where he served as the organization’s registrar and CEO for 12 years. In 2001, he founded Ohlhauser & Associates, a management-consulting firm focused on the health sector and helps government institutions, large municipal organizations and private providers in healthcare deliver more efficient, customer-centric services that deliver better results. Dr. Ohlhauser has also served as the senior medical advisor to the assistant deputy minister of Financial Sector Regulation and Policy, within the department of Treasury Board and Finance and to the superintendent of insurance for the past 12 years.

He obtained his doctor of medicine from the University of Alberta in 1971.

News

• Relief for Alberta drivers (October 29, 2020)
• Auto insurance reform seeks public input (February 18, 2020)
• Advisory committee to address automobile insurance (December 18, 2019)