Preface

• Author: Denis Boivin
• Pages: 23-25

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PR EFAC E

Insurance is ever ywhere in Canadian society: health, employment, t rans-

portation, commerce, industry, and communications are all sectors of

activity affected by in surance. Whether public or private, compulsory

or voluntary, insurance touches everyone on a daily basi s. It touches

adults, children, governments, associations, part nerships, and corpor-

ations. We enjoy activities that could not occur without insurance; we

take chances that could not be accepted without insurance; we make

purchases th at but for insurance could not be rationalized; and we

pursue professions, businesse s, ventures, and relationships th at would

become too costly in the absence of insurance. Where there are risks,

there is a need for insurance — and one cannot live in the twenty-f‌irst

century without encountering r isk day in and day out.

The ubiquity of insurance comes at a cost. This price is paid by all

Canadian s and not only by those who hold insurance policies. Every

year, Canadian policyholders pay bill ions of dollars in premiums to

private insurance companie s. The f‌igure is high, but it does not include

the taxes, levie s, and fees that are collected on a regular basis to fund

public insurance schemes such as he alth care, workers’ compensa-

tion, and employment insurance. Nor does the sum tot al of premiums

include the costs of publicly funded automobile insurance in Briti sh

Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Québec. Moreover, there are

indirect costs associated with insurance. Consumers respond to pricing

in a number of ways, a truism that applies equally to the insurance

marketplace. Some abstain from purchasing insura nce and modify