Auto Insurance Rebates

The Saskatchewan NDP Government is accusing Saskatchewan Party MLA Ken Cheveldayoff, the province’s opposition finance critic, of trying to use auto insurance rebates to finance a shortage in the province’s budget. They say that they are claiming that there is an overage of Cdn$100 million in auto insurance rebates, and that if that is the case, that it should not be used to balance the budget.

However, they say that the Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), which is a compulsory auto insurance program, actually is showing a deficit of $57 million because of the $100 million in rebates that they are promising. They say it was simply a political ploy, and now they are saying that those rebates can balance the budget, which does not seem to be true.

Cheveldayoff said that the government has had a 9% spending increase, and said that he did not intend to suggest that the rebates should be used in the manner of balancing the budget. He says he was simply trying to educate people about the increase in the government’s spending. He says it is the government that has put the Auto insurance Fund into an unhealthy place because of the increase in spending.

However, the whole point of the auto insurance fund is that it is “self sustaining” financially and therefore will operate only as a break even fund. There should not be any overages as eventually that amount will need to be paid out in car insurance claims.

Back to May 07 Archives