The News Rundown

Alberta's overhaul of the auto insurance system continues. Here's how much Albertans could be paid out and the latest updates

Details of Alberta’s revamped car insurance system were revealed this week.
The new system is a care first auto insurance system which is a fancy way of getting as close as possible to no fault without actually doing that.
In a no fault system as it suggests fault is distributed evenly amongst all drivers.
In the care first model those with better driving records should have lower insurance rates.
But now the province is not providing the direct numbers they promised last fall on the matter. This is important because the new system launches on Jan 1, 2027.
Money received under the new system falls into recovery and income replacement.
All injure parties involved in a car accident with auto insurance will have access to all medical and rehabilitation they require. Cyclists and pedestrians will be included regardless of whether or not they have insurance.
Medical and rehabilitation benefits will be “unlimited for all reasonable and necessary expenses” until maximum medical recovery.
If personal care is needed the payout per month would be $6,781 maximum for catastrophic and $5,671 maximum for non catastrophic injuries.
Those who receive a permanent impairment would receive a lump sum up to $298,520 for catastrophic injuries and up to $189,055 for non-catastrophic injuries.
If someone dies however, a maximum of $10,308 will be paid out for the funeral and up to $4,310 per person for grief counselling.
Yep.
For income replacements overage would include income replacement of up to 90 per cent of net income up to the maximum annual gross income of $125,000 until age 65.
Those aged 65 or older would receive a “Retirement Income Benefit” which will provide “lifetime retirement income for individuals who have suffered a permanent disability,” according to the document. The benefit will be based on 70 per cent of the individual’s net income, minus other pension income received such as the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security payments and employment-based pensions.
These changes largely remove the right of Albertans to sue at fault drivers.
The insurance companies say reducing the amount of cases that can be sued for is important to lower costs in the system.
The important thing to note though is that if you compare this system to other provinces, there are way more limited rights to sue in a true no-fault system.
The benefits put out are also among some of the richest in the country.
But with that being said, it was promised that Albertans could still sue but in the newest report an at-fault driver can be sued if they're convicted of murder or a Criminal Code driving offence like hit and run or driving with a suspended license; convicted of provincial offences of impaired driving or failing to stop for a peace officer; or if a victims's out-of-pocket expenses exceed their insurance policy.
This means that distracted driving or ignoring a red light would no longer be grounds to sue in the new regime.
The $400 in promised savings is also absent in the newest report which was promised last fall for good drivers.
This raises the question: are Albertans on the hook for a $400 insurance rate hike?
The province says that “good drivers” can’t be hiked by more than 7.5% in one year.
Finance Minister Nate Horner says that if the cap was removed there could be premium increases by around $400/year.
He also admits that the rate cap is causing issues for the insurance providers in the current system and that the government may need to look at lifting the cap or raising it.
What this means is that if prices go up and go up more than were initially planned now, if everything goes to plan the price should come down when the new system comes into effect.
It remains to be seen whether or not the province will allow insurance to go up now rather than later.
But if prices don’t come down with the new system these changes to the system will be meaningless.
Supplementals:

This week has been quiet for BC generally, but we do have the updated numbers of government spending and how much was spent by the NDP during the last fiscal year. British Columbia's final deficit for the fiscal year has come in at $7.3 billion, $564 million lower than the original projected number in Budget 2024.
The final deficit unveiled Thursday by Finance Minister Brenda Bailey is also about $1.8 billion lower than the most recent third-quarter forecast. But the province's public accounts also show a $23.7-billion increase in taxpayer-supported provincial debt, bringing the figure to $99.1 billion. That's an increase of more than 31 per cent.
Bailey defended the government's numbers, and said that B.C.'s taxpayer-supported debt-to-GDP ratio was still lower than most other provinces at 23.2 per cent, compared with 41.6 per cent in Ontario, 41.9 per cent in Quebec and similar to Alberta's 22.1 per cent. Still, total provincial debt reached $133.9 billion, up by $26.4 billion or 24.5 per cent. And regardless of the finance ministry's pretzel twisting, the deficit is still at $7.3 billion.
Bailey said: "Let's be clear, it's a $7.3 billion deficit, and I take that very seriously. We have a lot of work to do ahead of us to get back to a path to balance, and that's the work that we're engaged in now. While our work to improve our fiscal position is underway, it is clear that, despite challenging economic conditions, this government is making progress on the things that matter to British Columbians,"
The B.C. Conservatives' finance critic Peter Milobar said in a statement that the rising debt levels aren't being reflected in the level of support for the public, saying the government was "racking up record levels of debt while delivering the worst public services in a generation."
Milobar said: "This year alone, the NDP added $15.78 billion in new operating debt — and what do British Columbians have to show for it? ERs are still closing, schools are crumbling, and ferries can't run on time. David Eby isn't just borrowing more — he's making life more expensive for future generations while failing to fix anything today."
UBC's Sauder School of Business associate professor Thomas Davidoff said the public accounts match what's typically seen in an economic downturn where there's "more need and less revenue."
Greater Vancouver Board of Trade president Bridgitte Anderson also said she recently met Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon to express concerns about the "dire" situation faced by businesses in light of tariffs and trade uncertainty. The board launched a campaign in January to challenge the province to achieve three-per-cent annual economic growth.
While the government has been steadfastly pointing to revenue issues caused by trade disruptions and tariffs from US President Donald Trump's administration, data shows that BC has actually been weathering tariffs better than most Canadian jurisdictions.
Revenue issues actually could point to the NDP's more recent late investiture into BC's natural resources industry, as last week's story on LNG alluded to. While the NDP have been slow to put money into supporting natural resources in this province, it does seem to be something they are slowly turning around on.
Indeed it seems the government knows they have a spending problem, not a revenue problem, and also have a need to bring the budget back to balance, and have directed departments to find cost savings in light of that.
BC's Provincial Health Services Authority has quietly cut a total of 57 staff since May and 61 vacancies have been eliminated amid a government-ordered spending review and a previously unpublicized directive to balance its budget, internal memos show.
According to the documents, the cuts include “a number of people” at the BC Centre for Disease Control, nine people in finance and business operations, “several” in health systems intelligence, and PHSA’s chief strategy officer, Heather Findlay.
The memos reveal the Ministry of Health directed the health authority to balance its budget this fiscal year, separate from and before Health Minister Josie Osborne publicly launched a corporate-spending review in March.
An update that was posted on an internal portal on Wednesday said: “We are no longer in a period of budget growth. As a health authority, we are mandated to balance our budget to protect the long-term health of our organization and the communities we serve. Additional changes may follow, as the health authority review process unfolds and PHSA’s mandate is clarified.”
Amidst the health care cuts, the NDP face increasing pressure to live up to their election commitments on long-term care for seniors, child care for families, and safeguards for children in government care.
The most recent push came this week from the B.C. seniors advocate, Dan Levitt. He warned that seniors on the waiting list for long-term care facilities are clogging hospital beds and ER waiting rooms. The number of seniors on waiting lists for publicly funded long term care has tripled under the NDP, from 2,381 the year before they took office to 7,212 currently, Levitt reported.
Premier David Eby defended the government’s performance, saying the New Democrats had added 5,500 spaces since taking power. Yet Levitt provided a scorecard on NDP election promises. The party’s 2020 election platform promised 3,315 new beds and replacements for 1,755 others. To date, it has only delivered a fraction, 380 net new beds in all. The advocate identified the current shortfall at 2,000 beds.
Earlier this summer, the Coalition of Child Care Advocates lamented B.C.’s faltering progress on $10-a-day child care, a key promise in NDP election platforms going back to 2017.
Spokesperson Sharon Gregson said in June that: “In 2018, because of $10-a-day advocacy, B.C. became a national leader in child care. That progress has now stalled. With just three years remaining in the government’s 10-year plan, the province has flatlined provincial child care funding in the last two budgets, with no new provincial funds committed to achieving the promise of quality, universal $10-a-day child care by 2028.”
Joining Gregson in the call was former NDP MLA Katrina Chen, who served as the NDP’s minister of state for child care under Premier John Horgan. “We need to get child care back on track in B.C.,” she said.
Three weeks later came a survey from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives which found that B.C. had the most expensive child care in the country. Only 10 per cent of the province’s licensed spaces met the $10-a-day standard promised by the NDP.
Premier David Eby referred this week to the “fiscal challenges” facing his government, an understatement if ever there was one. The government is budgeting for an $11 billion deficit this year and shortfalls of $10 billion each of the next two years. Moreover, with the economy slowing and revenues faltering, the fiscal situation could get worse.
In his time as premier, Eby has failed to manage the budget or set realistic priorities, instead spending as if there were no limit. Now, when he’s run out of money, he faces the challenge of satisfying the expectations he and the New Democrats themselves have raised.
Supplementals:

Poilievre says Carney's moving in the 'wrong direction,' pledges to 'legalize' pipelines

This week Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is eyeing a return to the House of Commons this fall with a fresh legislative agenda.
The Conservatives will table the Canadian Sovereignty Act this fall.
The Bill will repeal Bill C-69 or the impact assessment Act that has been called the no more pipelines bill.
Bill C-48 the west coast tanker ban.
The industrial carbon tax, and the oil and gas emission cap.
It will also do away with the single use plastics ban, EV sales mandate, and Bill that prevented energy companies from advertising.
The goal is to ensure that two pipelines, a LNG project, and a road to Ontario’s ring of Fire started by March 14, the one year anniversary of Mark Carney becoming Prime Minister.
Pierre Poilievre described the problem as a chicken and egg quagmire.
"The opponents of pipelines are using this very cleverly. They're saying: 'well we can't change the rules to allow a pipeline, because there's no pipeline proposed.' That's because the rules don't allow for pipelines to get built. So let's get rid of this chicken and egg distraction that the Liberals have imposed.”
He also rattled off a list of energy projects in many European countries that took months to go from plan to build, something that doesn’t happen in Canada.
This was clearly a shot across the bow at David Eby who recently has said he’s not opposed to a new pipeline but it didn’t matter because no private company had proposed building one.
Poilievre, continued, "I am calling on Prime Minister Carney to do what he promised, build at a scale we haven't seen in generations and work with Conservatives to restore Canada's sovereignty in the face of American threats.”
The Bill is being framed as one that will legalize pipelines in this country. This brought up the reality of building energy projects in Canada.
Poilievre’s most striking statement was, “some people are going to protest, maybe chain themselves to a tree, but we have to push through that if we’re ever going to get anything done. We can’t wait till everybody’s onside. I mean, there’s some people out there who don’t think Elvis is dead.”
The two pipelines would be one going to the west coast and one going east.
These would be enabled by axing C-69 and C-48.
The single use plastics ban is punitive and as we’ve talked about before on the podcast plastics are better for the environment assuming they aren’t thrown into a river.
The website Our World in Data details this by talking about the number of uses different bag types would have to go through before having as small of an environmental impact as a plastic bag.
By environmental impact we mean the amount of water used to produce them, the power, and land space required.
The need for Canada to build is predicated on growing the economy and diversifying away from the US and mitigating where we can American tariffs on Canadian goods.
The Conservative Trump strategy has not been telegraphed but the language on this was that Carney has been “bending over backwards for the President” and that we’ve got nothing in exchange for that.
A lot of the discussion has been focused on a repackaging of Conservative campaign ideas and while that’s one way of looking at it, this is the beginning of a negotiation between the Conservatives and Liberals.
The NDP in the midst of a leadership race won’t want to have anything to do with supporting new energy projects.
The Bloc Quebecois has been on record that there will be no pipeline project going east.
This means that for any energy project to be approved, it has to garner support from the Conservatives as we saw with Bill C-5.
While things like the plastic ban, environmental advertising censorship bill, and industrial carbon tax are huge asks, the two physical projects that are able to be enabled by C-5 are pipelines.
By making the question about energy it’s more likely that these projects could get approved.
And by having the last media cycles of the by-election campaign and discussion in September focusing around this, it moves energy to the front of the agenda.
The media has not made this connection yet that this could be part of a wider play.
Supplementals:

Firing Line

Black man given reduced sentence due to race, Quebec minister worries it sets bad precedent

A Quebec minister responsible for fighting racism is criticizing a ruling by a judge who reduced a convicted Black man’s sentence due to systemic discrimination.
For the first time in Quebec, a judge has considered a pre-sentencing report known as an Impact of Race and Culture Assessment (IRCA) to help determine the sentence for a Black offender.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Christopher Skeete said that someone’s race should not be a factor affecting sentencing for a crime.
“I question whether or not as a society this is exactly where we want to go,” the minister said. “Do we really want to formalize discrimination in the attribution of sentences for people who perpetrate crimes?”
Skeete was reacting to a Quebec court ruling by Judge Magali Lepage, who sentenced Frank Paris, 52, to a two-year sentence in late July, after he pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking cannabis and hashish.
Lepage said in her decision that after reading the IRCA, "the court decided to reduce the sentence, which should be 35 months, to 24 months."
The assessments, which consider the effects of poverty, marginalization, racism and social exclusion on Black offenders, have been used to help determine sentences in other provinces for years, but never in Quebec — until last week.
Paris’s lawyer, Andrew Galliano, said the Crown had initially pushed for a four-year sentence in a case heard in Longueuil, near Montreal. Because he got credit for time served, Paris has already been released.
The lawyer said he argued for a reduced sentence after submitting a report that described his client’s background as an intergenerational survivor of slavery.
Though he was raised in Montreal, Paris’s mother was from Nova Scotia, and he often spent his summers in a town in the central part of the Atlantic province, where “these traumas continue to be felt and experienced in the education, housing, employment, health and justice systems,” the report noted.
The report described how Paris faced racial discrimination multiple times, including an incident when he was wrongfully detained in a holding cell for immigrants despite being a Canadian citizen.
Galliano said this type of report is commonly used in criminal proceedings in provinces like Nova Scotia where the courts have recognized the impacts of systemic racism: “Quebec is far behind. And that’s what I pleaded to the judge.”
Skeete, who initially described the sentence on social media as a “sad first for Quebec,” said he wanted to initiate a public debate about the matter. The minister added he respects the independence of courts in Quebec.
Skeete said: “What we’re trying to do is to correct the historical wrong, but the problem is we’re creating new injustices, and we’re creating two types of citizens: one that is racialized and one that isn’t. The fight against racism has always been one about equality under the law, yet here, we’re actually well intentioned but creating inequality. I don’t think that creating more inequality is the solution to the problem.”
A similar type of pre-sentencing report for Indigenous offenders, called a Gladue report, has been commonly used in Canadian courts since a Supreme Court decision in 1999.
That decision obliges judges to use Gladue reports to consider systemic factors such as the history of residential schools, child welfare systems and colonization when sentencing all Indigenous offenders.
In a column Thursday, La Presse columnist Patrick Lagacé slammed the IRCA used in the Paris case, calling it "bull****."
Lagacé said the IRCA is littered with leaps of logic and assertions that aren't backed up by facts. He noted Paris told the IRCA's authors that he was a good student and never experienced any form of racism in primary or secondary school.
Lagacé also objected to the report's passive voice, noting that it says Paris "ended up getting involved in selling drugs" instead of saying "he sold drugs." Lagacé concludes that the report seems to remove most of Paris's personal responsibility for his crimes and blames them entirely on systemic factors.
This system being applied in Quebec is further showing that our Canadian justice system has not been accurately applied in a lot of cases lately. Two kinds of criminal sentencing based on people’s skin colour is not how we want to proceed as a country.
Supplementals:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pre-sentence-report-systemic-racism-1.7604302

Quote of the Week

"The opponents of pipelines are using this very cleverly. They're saying: 'well we can't change the rules to allow a pipeline, because there's no pipeline proposed.' That's because the rules don't allow for pipelines to get built. So let's get rid of this chicken and egg distraction that the Liberals have imposed.” - Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on the bottlenecks of Canada.

Word of the Week

fault - responsibility for an accident or misfortune.

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Show Data

Episode Title: Dollars and Sense
Teaser: Alberta’s car insurance system could see higher rates, the BC NDP has no money left for their promises, and Poilievre wants to legalize pipelines. Also, a Quebec court reduces a sentence because of the criminal’s skin colour.
Production Code: WC-430-2025-08-09
Recorded Date: August 9, 2025
Release Date: August 10, 2025
Duration: 1:02:09
Edit Notes: Pause before show end

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX