Industry committee  I think the best way is to give a very brief scenario and show you why we support this. Here's a scenario that we've run into several times. We have a left-turn situation in front of what seems to be an innocent vehicle. The other vehicle turns in front, and there's a collision

Justice committee  Thank you for that question. Yes, there are. You know, when we talk about the 10% to 15%, which is an estimate, and I think a very conservative one, of reaching $3 billion a year representing insurance fraud, you're correct; that doesn't take into consideration other areas where

Justice committee  Yes, I can. First of all, in what we were talking about here—they're conservative numbers—we estimate fraud is costing Canadians at least $3 billion because it's passed on to them in premiums. The project I'm talking about, only one project out of an average of 30 big ones a year

Justice committee  Actually, the 10% to 15% is considered an extremely conservative number by us. In Canada there really hasn't been an effective substantial study of the full impact of fraud. I know Statistics Canada has been working with us and many other large organizations, banking and so on, t

Justice committee  So far, we're not seeing that other section being used enough, naming organizations formally as criminal organizations.

Justice committee  Absolutely. That was one project that involved many cases. We have 160 alleged that we're working on now, plus the initial 41. That's all just one project, the same participants, in staged auto collisions.

Justice committee  It's all organized.

Justice committee  Yes. It's all organized. There is a key ringleader or key ringleaders who are involving other participants in playing a role, who are then linked to service suppliers, as I say, to body shops, paralegals, rehab clinics, and it just goes on and on. We're seeing identity theft and

Justice committee  There are further charges being brought and the key individuals have actually recently been charged with conspiracy. It is very rare for the police to actually lay the charge in “conspiracy”. This is actually the first time we've convinced local police to lay the charge of conspi

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national trade association that represents Canada's home, car, and business insurers. As a national trade association, we have an investigative services division that has a staff of 59, of which I am the head. Our te

Justice committee  Yes. A lot of the health care costs that we're talking about there are emergency response units, ambulances going to the scene, and medical treatment at the hospital for immediate emergency treatment. That's part of what we're looking at for the significant costs that build into

Justice committee  It's a decision that's made by each independent insurer, but generally speaking, most insurers do provide a discount when they know that an approved electronic immobilizer is installed. As you know from Transport Canada, there are two types. There's the national standard of Canad

Justice committee  We don't have anything specific measuring that, but we do feel it has played in a significant reduction between 2006 and 2007, that 9% reduction. Sure, there are some other things, such as police units concentrating on those who are repeat offenders and putting pressure on them,

Justice committee  I would say that the bait car program is one of many steps taken to try to make it more difficult to steal cars and, obviously, to catch those involved. But as you know, in B.C., the car thieves are very clever, and as they see a certain area with bait cars, they do have a tenden

Justice committee  Yes, section 353--