Canadian Heritage Committee on July 27th, 2022

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

Sure.

We represent Hockey Canada in the marketplace. Basically, we are their broker. We place market insurance, not only in Canada but also worldwide, for Hockey Canada's needs. We will do assessments of what Hockey Canada requires with respect to coverage and then we will effectively put a marketing team into play, send them into the market to meet with insurers and place the coverage on their behalf.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

We found out today that Hockey Canada, since 1989, had nine settlements, worth $7.6 million. Most of it, $6.8 million, dealt with the Graham James incidents.

As a broker, you're looking for the best insurance deal.

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

Yes.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I would say rates would be going up when I look at Hockey Canada's past and looking to the future. You're a broker. You're looking for the best deal.

What can you tell me about the deals, if there are any now, for Hockey Canada given their situation, as we have heard, not only in the last two years but certainly in the last number of years as well?

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

When you say “deals”, what do you specifically mean by that?

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I mean deals on insurance. You're the one who's brokering Hockey Canada, so you're obviously looking for the best insurance packages at the least cost, I would think, to Hockey Canada.

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

Yes.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

When I look at the testimony here today and see that they have agreements in place and have paid out large sums of money, that tells me that their premiums would go up. Am I right in that assessment?

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

Not being involved in the business, as you can appreciate, and not being involved in the day-to-day management of the account, I will be as detailed as I can. I can tell you that we successfully renewed or extended the current program of Hockey Canada at the same terms and conditions as the previous year.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

When I see the national equity fund charging $16 a few years ago for registration for people who want to play, in Hockey Canada, and today it's over $23.50, I have a concern with that. I used to work part time as a volunteer for organizations raising money for kids who can't afford hockey or sport or whatever. When I looked at the records, and they were charging $16 out of this national equity fund back in 2013-14, and up until this June it was $23.50, I have a concern. Someone can say, well, that's only seven or eight dollars, but when you're dealing with non-profits raising money just to get the average kid involved in hockey—they have little or no opportunity unless it is non-profit—that really disturbs me.

Do you have any suggestions on that? The national equity fund caught everyone off guard. Did you know about the national equity fund and what they were doing with it?

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

I did not know personally about the equity fund, no, sir. Perhaps I can offer a general statement on that.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Go ahead.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Who is this person...?

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

We deal with thousands and thousands and thousands of clients right across Canada and internationally. It is not uncommon, sir, for a corporation to have a reserve fund or a fund for uninsured losses or claims that aren't recoverable. This—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much. I think you're going to have to expand on that through another question, Mr. Lorenzetti. The time is up.

I will now go to the second person from the Liberal Party, Anthony Housefather.

You have six minutes, please.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Lorenzetti, for being here. I want to make sure that we all understand that you've done nothing wrong. Nobody's accusing you of having done anything wrong. We appreciate your being here, very much.

You stated some things in your testimony that surprised me. Let me come to the claim that was made by the alleged victim here. When did Hockey Canada provide written notice of the receipt of the claim to the insurer AIG?

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

As to when we received the claim—again, as I said, I'm not involved in the day-to-day account—it would have been sometime in May 2022 that we would have received a copy of the claim, a copy of the writ, from their lawyers, and then we immediately passed.... We received this from Hockey Canada, obviously. Then, as the conduit to the insurance company, we would have sent this document off to AIG, their insurers.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Would this be under the sexual conduct liability policy or a different policy?

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

When we reviewed the writ, there were certainly elements of coverage that may apply under their policy, but there were certainly elements of coverage that would not apply under their policy. Not being a party to the contract, we decided we would send the claim off to AIG.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

A hundred percent; and did they send it off to general insurance as well? Did you send it to others or only to AIG under the sexual conduct policy?

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

AIG is the only insurer that's providing the sexual misconduct coverage, so we would only have sent it to AIG.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Then you introduced, Mr. Lorenzetti, in your testimony, something that Hockey Canada never said. You said that AIG approved them entering into the settlement. They have never testified to that. Are you certain that AIG did so?

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

No, AIG agreed to allow Hockey Canada to settle this claim internally, on their own.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Right, but what I'm saying is that they have never said that, so that's a new element. You said that they allowed Hockey Canada to do so based on the reasons given by Hockey Canada, which is that they were looking out for the interest of the victim.

[Barry F. Lorenzetti]

That's right.