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Off the Cluff: Aaron Sutherland

It's been called a "dumpster fire." One idea to fix it? Opening up BC's auto insurance industry to competition - just like everywhere else in Canada.

Since the early 1970s, every B.C. driver has been forced, by law, to purchase their auto insurance through the government-owned Insurance Corporation of British Columbia – ICBC. But ICBC is not aging particularly well. It is on pace to lose a billion dollars this year, and Attorney General David Eby has called it “a dumpster fire.” But crisis also brings opportunity.

At their recent policy convention, BC Liberal members voted to support opening up ICBC to competition; their leader, Andrew Wilkinson, even hinted at selling it off completely.

Aaron Sutherland is the Vice President of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, which represents private insurers across the country, and which supports opening up ICBC to competition. Aaron joined Rick in studio.

Rick Cluff is an award-winning journalist who hosted the popular CBC Radio Vancouver morning program “The Early Edition” from 1997 until his retirement in April of 2018.

He has conducted more than 50,000 interviews and asked more than half a million questions, of prime ministers, premiers, presidents and some of the world’s biggest sports and entertainment personalities.