小蓝视频

小蓝视频 Premier David Eby was in North Vancouver Monday morning at IC小蓝视频 headquarters to announce IC小蓝视频 will apply to freeze vehicle insurance rates for the next two years.

IC小蓝视频 will apply to the 小蓝视频 Utilities Commission for a freeze on basic insurance rates, the premier said, adding that would mean five years without an increase in basic IC小蓝视频 rates.

Eby didn’t say why he was making the announcement ahead of the utilities commission decision or whether he would move to overrule that decision if the rate freeze isn’t granted.

Car insurance key to affordability: premier

But he stressed making life ”more affordable” is a key priority of government.

The high cost of living in 小蓝视频 is an issue being talked about around the province, Eby said.

Having a vehicle is “incredibly important for many, many people across our province,” he said. “And the affordability of car insurance is a key part of owning a car.”

A rate freeze will help keep car insurance affordable “at a time when people are facing significant cost pressures,” said Eby.

Eby took time at Monday’s announcement to defend IC小蓝视频’s switch to no-fault insurance, a move which he shepherded in his previous role as 小蓝视频’s attorney general.

Eby defends no-fault insurance

Despite questions that some people have raised about whether the amounts being paid to people involved in serious crashes are adequate, Eby said under the new system, people are receiving payments faster, rather than waiting years for legal cases to grind through the courts.

“And then at the end of it, the lawyer would take a third of their award that was supposed to be money for them to get better,” he said.

Eby also took a swipe at the Liberals’ handling of IC小蓝视频,

“The government was using IC小蓝视频 as an ATM, pulling money out of the corporation to pretend that budgets were balanced,” while secretly recommending that assets be sold off, he said.

Previous government approach almost bankrupted IC小蓝视频, says Eby

“For many years government drew down these reserves to crisis levels,” he said.

That system “almost bankrupted IC小蓝视频,” he said, pointing to a year in which the Crown corporation lost almost $1 billion.

Eby said reserves are being built up again now.

But he also fielded questions on how the Crown corporation could afford to freeze rates when income is down and IC小蓝视频 is projected to lose $290 million this year.

IC小蓝视频 president Nicholas Jimenez said most of the projected loses are from “significant hits” to IC小蓝视频’s investment portfolio, but added “the core business is sound.”

“The bottom line is IC小蓝视频 needs to be self-supporting,” Eby said.

No update on IC小蓝视频 head office move off North Shore

In response to questions, Eby said there is no update on the Crown corporation’s plan to vacate the large North Vancouver building that serves as its headquarters. After occupying the waterfront building for more than 40 years,The move isn’t expected until 2025 at the earliest.

The key unanswered question so far is what will happen to the prime piece of real estate once IC小蓝视频 leaves.

Five years ago, a leaked report prepared by IC小蓝视频 at the direction of the previous Liberal government showed the Crown corporation had developed a business case for moving and selling the property at 151 West Esplanade, which has been in use since 1980.

Among the challenges noted in the report were “significant expenditures for maintenance and upgrades will be required over the next 10 to 20 years. This expenditure is estimated to be at approximately $184 million, with the majority of the costs required during the first 10 years of this period,” stated the business case, obtained by the News at the time.

Spending that kind of money on a building that is rarely more than half occupied doesn’t make sense, IC小蓝视频 concluded.

The IC小蓝视频 property was most recently assessed at $103.8 million – almost all of that in land value.

Eby said Monday there are “a number of bridges [that] have to be crossed before IC小蓝视频 headquarters is sold, including determining where IC小蓝视频 will be landing. Also, we have First Nations engagement and consultations as well as engagements with folks on the North Shore to make sure that this community that has served IC小蓝视频 for so long benefits from whatever ends up on this site.”

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