PACICC Board adopts significant increases to coverage and benefits

Member Insurers and Provincial Regulators approve first changes since 2006

TORONTO, ON — The Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corporation (PACICC) held its 31st Annual General Meeting entirely via Zoom video-conferencing on April 9. At that meeting, Member Insurers were notified that proposed changes to coverage and benefits had received unanimous approval from Canada’s provinces and territories. Immediately after the AGM, the PACICC Board formally approved a resolution regarding these changes − which take effect immediately.

Says Glenn Gibson, Chair of the PACICC Board of Directors, “PACICC benefit limits were set in 1989, when we were first founded, and have only been adjusted a couple of times in the decades since. We undertook a comprehensive review of coverage and benefits as our Priority Issue for 2019. Our CEO, Alister Campbell and the PACICC team initiated a major research project to fully understand the scope of current coverage and the impact of inflation on our levels of consumer protection. They also undertook an exhaustive stakeholder consultation process with consumers, brokers, Member Insurers and with IBC, before tabling their final recommendations last Fall. We are gratified to see all of that hard work pay off in formal approval of these significant changes.”

Key changes to the PACICC Memorandum of Operation, approved by the PACICC Board, include:

Claims Limits

  • Personal Property limits increased to $500,000; Automobile and Commercial to $400,000
  • PACICC Board to review coverage limits within three years, and at least every five years thereafter

Return of Unearned Premium

  • Unearned premium amount increased to $2,500 (70% co-pay = $1,750 maximum payout)

Coverage Definitions

  • Schedule A revised based on the definitions contained in the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) Annual Return
  • CCIR classes of insurance divided into a new Schedule of Qualifying Policies which are covered, and another defined list of Insurance Policies which are not covered.

Says PACICC CEO Alister Campbell, “Our Board worked hard to strike a careful balance between policyholder protection and insurer obligation in this review process, deeply conscious that Canada still does not have the government-backed mechanism it needs to protect consumers from the systemic risk associated with a major earthquake. The strong support we received from Member Insurers and from Regulators is proof that our Board got that balance right.”

PACICC is the industry-funded, non-profit resolution authority for Canada’s Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance industry. PACICC’s mission is to protect eligible policyholders from undue financial loss in the event that a Member Insurer becomes insolvent. The Corporation works to minimize the costs of insurer insolvencies and seeks to maintain a high level of consumer and business confidence in Canada’s P&C insurance industry through the financial protection it provides to policyholders.