Lawyer Breaks Down the UCP’s ‘Care-First’ Insurance Plan — What Albertans Need to Know
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Summary
In this episode, I speak with Karimvir Lal, a lawyer and legislative researcher at James H. Brown and Associates, about the proposed change to Alberta's no-fault insurance policy introduced by the United Conservative Party of Alberta.
Transcript
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Hello, everyone. My name is Leah Mashett. I'm a reporter here at the Western Standard.
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And today my guest is Karimvir Lal. He's a lawyer at James H. Brown and Associates.
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And he's also he also used to be a legislative researcher at the Alberta Government Caucus,
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supporting elected officials in designing policy and legislation.
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Today, he's my guest because the Care First insurance policy resolution is being introduced at the UCP AGM,
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which is the last weekend of November. So he introduced his policy resolution.
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It's to amend the Care First system, which is supposed to be introduced in January 2027.
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So I wanted to talk to him more about that today. So thank you again, Karimvir, for joining us.
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And yeah, so my first question to you would be, why did you introduce this policy resolution?
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And why do you think it would be wise for the government to basically amend the policy?
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Sure. So I guess like my comment with that is I believe that the UCP in the past had passed a policy
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back in, I think, about 2022, 2023, basically saying that they didn't want to see no-fault insurance introduced into Alberta.
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Now, the exact wording of that policy that was passed back then referred to or directly referred to DCPD,
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which is direct compensation for property damage.
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And just generally, I figured that that resolution was a little bit too specific.
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Ultimately, I think that, you know, conservative members should support fault-based insurance
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just because that's consistent with, you know, conservative values of accountability and, you know, personal responsibility.
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So I don't think that the UCP members themselves support no-fault insurance.
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You know, they certainly don't support, you know, David Eby's style.
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And of course, David Eby is the premier who introduced no-fault insurance into BC.
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So I think that I figured that conservative members would likely be in favor of repealing no-fault insurance
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And I was pleased to see that that resolution will be debated at the upcoming AGF.
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Okay, so on that note, since it's going to be debated and everything,
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are you, you're, well, you're saying it's obviously a very important issue.
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That's why the party chose it to be voted on by the members.
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So do you think that most people will end up voting to basically amend the policy?
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And also, why do you think as well that the party even decided, well, most of the MLAs who voted for it
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to put in place the care-first system to begin with?
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So I certainly hope that UCP members would support it.
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You know, I think that it's the right thing to do.
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It's, you know, consistent with conservative values, in my opinion.
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Of course, like, you know, we'll see how the members vote this weekend.
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But in terms of, like, why the government considered this policy,
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I think the rationale was a little bit different back when, you know,
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the policy was first being introduced by the government.
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So when the government passed the legislation, which was, of course, earlier this year,
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sometime in the spring, sort of the trade-off that they had discussed was that government
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or, well, I guess consumers would save about $400 of their auto insurance.
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And in order to achieve those savings, the government would essentially restrict the ability
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for individuals to sue at-fault drivers to essentially those who are just victims of criminal offences.
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So that, I guess, as time has gone on, the insurance companies have been indicating
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that they don't believe that the government is going to achieve any sort of savings,
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given that under the no-fault system, they'll be giving, you know, more generous benefits
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So, and given that and given the propensity of, you know, no-fault systems to be vulnerable
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to things like fraud from, you know, bad actors and organized crime,
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I think that the policy rationale for introducing the no-fault system has changed quite substantially.
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So I'm hoping that, you know, if the government, you know, is so inclined
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that they take another look at this policy, because I think what they have currently
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So, yeah, so if most people vote to amend it, do you think, like,
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the government will start acting right away to potentially change it?
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Sure. So, I mean, of course, the wording of the policy resolution is to essentially
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repeal no-fault insurance. I think that, as you know, all policy resolutions that are
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passed of the UCPAGM are non-binding on the government. But what it instead would show is,
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I think, just the general will of the membership and how they feel about this particular issue.
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So, if the message from the members is very clear that they don't want to see, you know,
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no-fault insurance in Alberta, I would hope that the government, you know, considers that very
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carefully because, you know, it wouldn't be, you know, consistent with the wishes of their own
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members. But I mean, of course, how the government chooses to act on a, you know, policy resolution
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passed at the UCPAGM is ultimately up to cabinet.
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Well, on that note as well, say most members vote that they want to repeal it.
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Um, do you think that if the government doesn't repeal it, it's not going to be a good look for
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I would certainly think so. You know, I think that when it's very rare that you see a, like a UCP
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policy that's passed that's sort of like directly in opposition to what the government of the day is
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actually, um, you know, hoping to accomplish. Now, um, I think that if, if the government is, um, you
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know, takes this into consideration, they would see that, you know, the original policy trade-off
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that they made, um, no longer applies. So, it's potentially worth taking another look. The idea
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was always, well, we'll restrict your right to sue, uh, unless like there's a criminal offense and in
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return, everyone will save $400 on auto insurance, which, you know, I mean, um, I personally would
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disagree with that, but it's, it's a valid decision for the government to make. Obviously, affordability
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is the number one issue on, uh, a lot of folks' minds. But given the fact that there isn't going
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to be any savings associated with this new policy, um, I would think that the government should,
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you know, very strongly consider taking another look at it because essentially what they'll be doing
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is, you know, trading away folks' rights for nothing. Well, yeah. So also, since you're a
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lawyer, why don't you just go into maybe a bit about what you are most concerned about if CareFirst
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is actually passed? Sure. So, uh, of course, CareFirst is, is the government's branding for their
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privately run no-fault insurance system, um, which is somewhat unique in Canada, uh, given that it would
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be like the first privately run, um, no-fault auto insurance system. Um, Ontario sort of has a hybrid
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privately run model, but this would be, um, one where, uh, you can't sue for any circumstances other
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than if there's, um, the, the at-fault driver is a criminally convicted of something. So, very similar to
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what the policy is in British Columbia. Um, so British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan all have,
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uh, publicly run no-fault systems, uh, very similar to, um, the WCB in every province. Uh, one of the
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concerns that I would have, um, as a, uh, as a, as a lawyer who, you know, represents folks who are
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injured in, um, you know, various types of accidents, mishaps, you know, and malpractice,
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et cetera. Um, is that, you know, when you're, when you're, uh, dealing with private companies,
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um, ultimately, like, they're driven by their bottom lines and they're not necessarily motivated
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by, you know, uh, what makes, um, you know, what's best for Albertans. Um, so, for example,
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even though, say, the WCB is, um, you know, has lots of problems and, and, you know, lots of folks
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aren't happy with it. Um, it is somewhat accountable to the elected officials because it is a, you know,
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a government-run system. Um, when you're dealing with private insurance companies and they're
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basically saying, well, if you have a dispute with us, there's going to be, you know, no recourse
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and no meaningful way to dispute the decisions of a private company. I mean, uh, I, I think,
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I think the concern that you'll see is, is folks will, you know, get cut off and you won't really
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be able to keep them effectively accountable to ensure that, uh, people who needed most are getting
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adequately compensated. Hmm. Yeah. Well, I don't know this, all the questions I had for you. So
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thank you again for joining us, Karim Veer. We really appreciate it. Um, and if you guys liked this
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