In today’s federal budget, the government took another step forward to partner with the country’s property and casualty (P&C) insurers to continue developing Canada’s first low-cost national flood insurance program for households at high-risk of flooding. In response, Celyeste Power, President and CEO, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), issued the following statement:
“Today’s commitment by the federal government will help ensure that over 1.5 million homeowners at high risk of flooding will have access to affordable insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program when it’s launched next year.
This is the single most important step Canada can take to better protect homeowners across the country from the financial risks of climate change that they are already facing.
Our industry is ready to support the government in the operationalization of this critical program. We have been working in concert with federal and provincial governments over the past seven years to design a program that suits Canada’s particular geography and housing market. Canada’s P&C insurance industry and the federal government have already begun working to rapidly scale and start delivering the program in 2025. However, the needed conversations between federal and provincial governments have yet to take place. Without the required federal and provincial funding arrangement, Canadians at the highest risk of flooding will not be adequately protected.
The new program would provide financial protection to high-risk households, while reducing disaster costs to federal and provincial government treasuries. Rather than responding with disaster financial assistance in the aftermath of catastrophes, this program would be a proactive, cost-effective approach to managing the financial toll when disasters strike. Program eligibility requirements should discourage further building in floodplains while incenting protection for those who already live in them – a critical requirement absent from the just announced federal housing plan to build 3.87 million new homes.
We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Public Safety Canada and Finance Canada to deliver on our joint vision that, as of 2025, households across the country will have access to flood insurance seamlessly through their existing home insurance policy, offered by the same brokers or agents homeowners rely on today.
IBC and its members are eager to continue partnering with the federal, provincial and territorial governments to establish the country’s first low-cost national flood insurance program to protect high-risk households for the 2025 flood season and onwards.”
