BC Liberal leadership candidate open to idea of privatizing ICBC

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – He was not interested in privatizing ICBC when he was in charge of the Crown corporation, but Todd Stone is more open to the idea now.

The former Transportation minister, who spent more than four years overseeing ICBC, says making the insurer more competitive is ‘interesting’.

“The corporation is going to need to continue to take a long, hard look at a wide range of potential initiatives that could be necessary in order to deal with the rising costs that are impacting pressure on rates. That is an interesting, potentially creative idea that I think is worthy of further analysis.”

Stone is responding to a Canadian Taxpayers Federation proposal aimed at turning ICBC into a co-op.

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“You know, it’s an interesting idea. My time at the corporation, I came across a tremendous number of hardworking professionals inside the corporation and a lot of stakeholders, whether they be lawyers or doctors, body shop owners, others –really all trying to do the right thing and do good by the drivers of BC.”

Last year, losses of more than half a billion dollars were recorded and the financial bleeding is expected to continue this year.

The NDP government is currently auditing ICBC with hopes of bringing costs down.

It will include complaints of body shops over-billing for collision repairs as far back as 2001.

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