Finance committee  In the early 2000s, losses across Canada averaged around $400 million per year. There seems to have been an inflection point in 2009: in every year but one since 2009, the losses have surpassed a billion dollars. In 2019, the number was $1.3 billion in insured losses. The year be

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  We believe that in general, governments across the country, up until three years ago, were not taking the issue seriously enough, but we have seen that begin to change. Certainly over the past year, the commitments made in parts of the country and by the federal government to dea

Finance committee  To answer your question, we are actually pleased with the direction, but we're waiting for the federal budget to see whether the money will follow the words.

Finance committee  Yes. It's all in your platform, and it's all in a ministerial mandate letter somewhere.

Finance committee  You could use the exact same mechanism that you're using for energy efficiency. In fact, you could use the exact same home inspector and offer interest-free loans, for instance, or your cash incentive, for those people who wanted to either elevate their home if they're in a very

Finance committee  No, and it's important. Ms. Zvan actually referred to this. The expert panel touched on this. It's important to attract private sector investment to that as well. That's where the Canada Infrastructure Bank could potentially play a role. We believe that you could bring a fair am

Finance committee  Certainly. I will.

Finance committee  The earliest date we have figures for is around 1990. There was an average of $100 million a year in that decade, which rose to $400 million in the 2000s, and it's been over $1 billion each and every year except for one.

Finance committee  Yes, it was slightly above $2 billion in 2018.

Finance committee  We just know that it's escalating, getting worse and worse. It's difficult to know because what we're seeing is so dynamic.

Finance committee  Correct. Canada is becoming a more difficult and costly place to reinsure for insurers, so reinsurers are paying more in terms of reinsurance. Then, of course, that means average Canadians are paying more as well.

Finance committee  Typically, uninsured losses run at about $3 for every $1 insured, so a $1.3-billion loss was $5 billion for taxpayers last year.

Finance committee  That's correct.

Transport committee  Thank you, Honourable Chair. Good afternoon and thank you, committee members, for the invitation today. I coordinate work on disaster preparedness and climate change at the Insurance Bureau of Canada or IBC—your home, car and business insurers. As an industry, we are particular