I spent 35 years in the glass replacement industry and 19 of those were as an ICBC vendor. My association with ICBC ended in 2003 with the closing of my business. The current debacle is the result of the similar politics I witnessed with the change from Social Credit (an older variation of Liberal) to NDP in 1991.
If you recall, the NDP brought in ICBC in 1973 for the express purpose of offering everyone affordable compulsory auto insurance.Social Credit, who held power before Dave Barrett's NDP created ICBC and again after the NDP defeat in 1976, used ICBC as one of the worst examples of governance during their campaign to win the 1976 election promising to install private insurance. They did thus but only as a comprehensive option, leaving the compulsive part intact. Thereafter many clients discovered the initial coverage by private companies proved to be nowhere near as advantageous and consumer oriented as ICBC's design.
It must be noted that the Socreds did not shut down ICBC ,as promised during the '76 campaign, and for the next 14 years did not increase the rates as all other costs continued climbing. When the Socreds lost in 1991 to the NDP ,the insurance company was a mess. The NDP were forced to try and mitigate the problems advanced by the former government much as they face now.
I have never forgotten the two-year 28 per cent rate hikes we experienced with the NDP coming back into power then. The worst of it was how the people kept blaming Barrett's NDP when Social Credit was obviously the culprit. If Bennett and Vander Zalm had been honest enough to simply increase the rates by two per cent per year (a point less than cost of living) during their 14 years in leadership the 28 per cent increase would have never been necessary.
Our so-called Liberal governing histories are rife with all manner of selfish interest. Christy Clark's rise to power saw ICBC redirected from non-profit to pay the provincial coffers some $778 million over a three-year period and that amount alone would slash the current mess by 80 per cent.
Small wonder ICBC is in a state of disrepair. Much like business has done all over the world, it seems the way to profit is by spending the profits of a universal cash-cow to push private interest.
Dennis Ouellette
Prince George
