Currently under long-established tort law principles, Albertans injured by careless drivers have the FREEdom to recover 100% full and fair compensation for their pain and suffering and other losses from negligent motorists’ insurers.
But insurance lobbyists have a “reverse Robin Hood” scam in mind: they want the provincial government to seize legal rights from Albertans and hand the confiscated rights to insurers so that auto insurance companies can turn around and SELL these freedoms back to any Albertan willing and able to PAY an extra steep premium to restore them. To add insult to injury, the insurance lobby is peddling this sick scam by slapping a “Choice” label on it. We kid you not: the proposed “made-in-Alberta solution” for Albertans wanting to recover their expropriated freedoms would be that they could “choose” to pay the ransom. Of course, no ransom, no recovery. Some choice. As the Premier of Alberta might exclaim, “You honestly can’t make this stuff up!” Jason Kenney is a visionary leader. Four years ago today, Mr. Kenney announced his intention to leave federal politics in order to wage an ambitious campaign to merge the Alberta PC and Wildrose parties and lead a united Conservative party to victory in the 2019 provincial election. Promise made, promise kept. In the spirit of servant leadership, Premier Kenney has vowed to represent the interests of severely normal Albertans over those of the primarily Eastern-based, multi-billion dollar insurance industry. Last month, after it was confirmed in the Alberta Legislative Assembly that auto insurers who have been pleading poverty and begging for government assistance are in fact amassing hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, our Premier stood up in the Legislature and assured Albertans that “We, unlike the NDP, will not bail out big insurance.” On behalf of vulnerable Albertans left in chronic pain due to reckless drivers, we extend our sincere thanks to the Honourable Premier for this solemn promise to ordinary Albertans. Injury claims are falling, insurance rates are rising, provincial corporate tax rates dropped by 20% this month, and auto insurance corporations are raking in massive profits, yet continue to demand a bailout, lobbying the Alberta government for more unfair, unnecessary, unconservative regulatory intervention that would revictimize victims -- kick Albertans when they’re already down -- to further pad insurer profit margins. Our UCP government has a choice: to reward the insurance lobby’s chicanery, or to stand up for the age-old traditional legal rights of ordinary Albertans. We can rest assured by Premier Kenney that our Alberta government will make the right choice.