OTTAWA – A rising concern with regard to the availability of insurance for private coverage will be accessible for certain Canadians in the future as rates increase due to climate change.
The situation could mean that the national Flood Insurance Program that is been developed to safeguard availability to reasonable overload flood coverage may have to include wild storms, wildfires, and hurricanes in rapid order.
Canada’s current inflation report figures indicates an increase in home insurance by 8.2% nationally in June, when compared with last year. An average increase of 10% in British Colombia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and close to 12% in Nova Scotia.
Inflation is to blame for some of the premium increase, however, the vice president of climate and federal affairs for the insurance bureau of Canada Craig Stewart, informed a big potion of the increase is due to global reinsurance organizations pushing up prices after re-evaluating Canada’s risk profile.
Majority of the companies that offer property insurance in Canada reverted and allocated certain risks associated with their policies to international companies known as reinsurers. In the event an individual makes a claim to a local insurance agent, that organization will intern cover certain expenses by purchasing insurance from a large global backer.
The premium for reinsurance last year increased between 25 and 100 percent, some of the increase had to be passed on to the customer, Stewart informed. Figures indicated that Canada is among the regions where the effect of climate change has impacted insurance risk the most.
The cost of personal property insurance averaged in excess of $7 billion annually in the last five years in Canada, comparing with the previous five years of $5.8 billion, figures reported last year by the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Extreme weather triggered roughly $3.1 billion in insured damages with no single significant event, and recorded the third worst year, the bureau informed.
Stewart stated, at present the significant effect is the rising premiums, but he said it is noticed that some businesses, mainly in the hospitality and tourism industry in certain parts of western Canada in recent years have not been able to renew their insurance.
