“IBC fully stands by our insured loss numbers and their attribution to escalating severe weather events driven by climate change,” wrote Craig Stewart, Insurance Bureau of Canada, in an Op-Ed published in the Financial Post newspaper
Note to Reader:
The opinion piece introduced below was written in response to an earlier article titled CBC admits it wrongly reported hyped-up insurance ‘climate risks’
Insurance claim costs are rising because severe weather is making flooding worse
“Since 2009, insurers have paid out an average of over $1 billion per year in claims, in contrast to the $400 million annually averaged through the 1990s,” wrote Craig Stewart, Vice-President for Federal Affairs with the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), in an opinion piece published in the Financial Post newspaper in February 2019.
“In 2018, insured losses from severe weather events across Canada totalled $1.9 billion, the fourth-highest amount of losses on record. Insured losses, on average, are caused by flooding more than any other single peril.
“IBC’s numbers actually understate the growing risk, as the Canadian insurance industry did not start insuring the single greatest peril for residences — overland flooding — until late 2015. Those residential losses had been entirely borne by Canadian governments and homeowners until that date.”
Craig Stewart leads national work on disaster resilience and climate change at the IBC – the industry association representing the property and casualty insurance industry in Canada. IBC’s members paid out $9.8 billion in property claims in 2016, primarily due to severe weather and wildfire.
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To read the complete article, download Counterpoint: Insurance claim costs are rising because severe weather is making flooding worse
Floods in Canada: On the Rise
Canadians are starting to get used to news stories about springtime flooding. Although flooding has and will always happen–it is a natural part of the water cycle, and it’s how the physical characteristics of rivers and streams are themselves formed–the frequency and intensity of floods are becoming more prolific.
Major flood events have been steadily increasing over the past century. According to the Canadian Disaster Database, the number of floods in Canada have been increasing every decade for the past century.
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Click on Floods in Canada: On the Rise
