Ontario legislative committee beginning public hearings on auto insurance

The Ontario legislative assembly’s Standing Committee on General Government is conducting a study of auto insurance in the province, similar to a review it began last year that was stopped short because of prorogation.

The committee will be looking at the insurance industry’s practices and trends, and will develop recommendations for making rates more affordable, notes an announcement of the undertaking from committee chair and MPP Bas Balkissoon.

The committee had been conducting a similar review last May, but the process was halted when the legislature was prorogued.

Information from the hearings held in 2012 are public record, and transcripts from those hearings are available on the Ontario legislature’s website.

Now, the committee is beginning the review again, and is once more inviting feedback. The hearings will likely include presentations from key stakeholders such as the Financial Services Commission of Ontario.

The committee will hold public hearings for the latest review in Toronto on April 15 and April 17. People who are interested in making an oral presentation on either of those days must contact the clerk of the committee, Trevor Day, by noon on April 12.

Others who do not want to make a presentation but want to comment on the study can send in written submissions to the clerk using the address: Room 1405, Whitney Block, Queen’s Park, Toronto ON  M7A 1A2.