Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'll begin. I'm the director of federal government relations for the Insurance Bureau of Canada. With me is my colleague, Robert Tremblay, our director of road safety and special projects.
I want to thank you and the committee members for inviting us here today.
It will probably be easier for everyone if I speak in English, and my colleague, Mr. Tremblay, will speak in French.
IBC is the national trade association for Canada's home, car, and business insurers. We provide employment for over 106,000 Canadians coast to coast. Our members paid over $6 billion in taxes last year to the three levels of government and paid out in excess of $20 billion to help Canadians rebuild their lives after tragic accidents.
We feel very strongly, Mr. Chairman, that our industry needs to be about far more than just taking in premiums and paying out claims. This is why, for a number of decades now, IBC has been at the forefront of road safety and injury prevention issues.
In fact, it was over a generation ago that the insurance industry began speaking out very loudly in support of a crackdown on impaired driving. As the committee members will know, that was a time when attitudes towards impaired driving were remarkably different than they are today. Great progress has been made, but as I'm certain we will hear today, a great deal more remains to be done.
We also led the charge on seat belt use, again at a time when attitudes towards seat belt use were worlds away from where they are today.
About a decade ago we began leading the campaign on graduated licensing at the provincial levels. That was very controversial at the time. It is now widely accepted as being good public policy. That has acted significantly to cut road deaths and injuries amongst the 16- to 19-year-old age group.
Some of you may know that we've been very actively involved in a campaign on issues surrounding driver distraction.
Over the last two years, other issues on which we have been active include medically at risk drivers, an issue on which we testified in front of a Senate committee last year, and the issue of driver fatigue.
Operation Red Nose--some of you may know of this--is very much a favourite charity of ours, one that we think delivers tremendous value to the over 100 communities in which it was active over this past year. It may well operate in some of your ridings.