MEDIA RELEASE: "No-fault" Auto Insurance Scheme to be Scrapped

Freedom Party of Ontario

- MEDIA RELEASE -

For immediate release

"No-fault" Auto Insurance Scheme to be Scrapped

Freedom Party pledges the restoration of a fair system of auto insurance

March 10, 2011 Toronto - As we drive to work this morning, many of us are wondering how we are going to pay our auto insurance bills. The evidence from Ontario and other jurisdictions is now clear: the no-fault system Ontario adopted in 1990 leads to skyrocketing premiums, and dwindling benefits. A 2011 election plank released today by Freedom Party of Ontario says a Freedom government would follow the lead of over a dozen other North American jurisdictions by ending Ontario's failed experiment with no-fault auto insurance. A Freedom government would restore the pre-1990 full-tort system, under which an accident causes only the at-fault driver to suffer increased premiums.

The plank is being promoted with a new pre-election video advertisement, also released today, which is available here.

Click on the Image to Watch the Video

"It's time to admit that Ontario's experiment with the no-fault system of auto insurance has been a failure" says Freedom Party leader Paul McKeever. "It's time to restore a fair auto insurance system; a system in which accidents cause only the at-fault driver's premiums to increase. A Freedom government will end Ontario's no-fault auto insurance experiment, and restore full-tort auto insurance so that accident victims will no longer find their premiums increasing."

Backgrounder

No-fault auto insurance was introduced by the Liberals in 1990. In 1989, the Liberal government of the day was warned that the cost savings of the no-fault system could only be achieved by eroding the benefits received by claimants. It was warned that switching to no-fault would create a one-shot savings, rather than sustained savings. The Liberals went ahead with switching to no-fault anyway. The result: to this day, premiums continue to climb, and benefits continue to be cut in a constant effort to hold down premiums. In fact, in September of 2010, the McGuinty government cut key personal injury benefits in half: from a maximum of $100,000.00 plus assessment costs, to a maximum of $50,000.00 including assessment costs. Drivers are getting ever-decreasing coverage for ever-increasing auto-insurance premiums. Worse: drivers are increasingly afraid to make insurance claims, because they fear their premiums will increase.

For further details, contact:

Paul McKeever, Leader - Freedom Party of Ontario

e-mail: pmckeever@freedomparty.on.ca

Freedom Party has been releasing 2011 election planks since early October of 2010. A complete list of the planks released so far can be viewed here. Freedom Party has also released a number of pre-election video ads to promote its planks. They all can be viewed on Freedom Party's youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/fpontario .

Freedom Party of Ontario
240 Commissioners Road West
London, Ontario
CANADA N6J 1Y1

web: https://freedomparty.on.ca