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Ralph Klein has gone and it is time to retire Ralph's World. Thanks to all of you who have supported this venture by contributing material and through your comments. It has been fun.

Should we get another blog underway? Let me know your thoughts by e-mailing me at johnnyslow@gmail.com.

John Slow
January 1, 2007

Sunday, November 02, 2003

Questions for Mr. Rob Renner MLA re Auto Insurance 

Dear Mr. Renner:

I am trying to understand the current automobile insurance situation which you are intimately involved with. While searching the government website related to this I came across a section entitled "How vehicle insurance rates are set in Alberta?" This article talked about the role of the Alberta Insurance Board (AIB) in approving compulsory automobile insurance rates in Alberta. The part that caught my eye was the statement "Premium levels are supposed to cover the cost of expected future claims. There is no component to recover past losses."

I went to the AIB website but as you can see, it is a little light on information and provides no e-mail address for contact. This is why I am hoping you will be able to answer my questions where are:

1. Automobile insurance premiums increased 50.1% from April 2002 to April 2003 in Alberta according to Statistics Canada. As this increase is expected to cover future claims and not to recover past losses, could you please tell me what documentation the insurance companies provided which projected that claims costs would rise 50.1% in the upcoming year.

2. Given that insurance company profits rose to $644 million dollars this year, up from $110 million last year, do you think there is any possibility that the AIB has confused the words "expected future claims" with the words "expected future profits".

3. As the AIB website does not indicate who sits on the Alberta Insurance Board, could you please tell me who does, what their affiliation is to the insurance industry, consumer agencies, or other groups and finally, how I might get in touch with these people to further understand their function.

Thank you in advance for considering my request.

Yours truly

John Slow

PS to Ralphsworld readers. I will post Mr. Renner's reply when I receive it.

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