The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is launching a National Commercial Insurance Task Force to determine how increased commercial insurance premiums are affecting Canadian companies and consumers.

The task force will bring together insurers, insurance brokers, local chambers of commerce, small businesses, trucking stakeholders and risk experts to examine the impacts of the hardening global market and develop recommendations to help keep insurance affordable and available across the country. The task force will examine ways to help consumers mitigate risk and manage costs.

Need to overcome problems

"We've heard from concerned parties across the country about challenges with finding affordable insurance and we want to know what can be done to overcome the problems," said Don Forgeron, president and CEO of IBC. "We strongly believe that if all stakeholders work together, we can find solutions to control costs and, ultimately, improve insurance availability."

The task force includes representatives from Canadian Condominium Institute, Canadian Trucking Alliance, Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Insurance Brokers Association of Canada, Risk and Insurance Management Society, IBC, the insurance industry and other stakeholders.

Task force to hold meetings in five Canadian cities

The task force will hold its inaugural meeting in Edmonton later this month, followed by meetings in Vancouver, Halifax, Toronto and Montreal in the coming months. Its report providing recommendations is due this fall.

IBC is already developing a Condominium Action Plan in Alberta. This will mean hiring a risk manager to help condominium corporations find reasonable insurance; providing education on insurance and the importance of risk management; providing the government with best practices from other jurisdictions and engaging insurers, stakeholders and government to help condo corporations face issues.