For many years,

Canadians—including me—have experienced the frustration of paying increasingly expensive insurance premiums while often feeling that we have limited choice, limited bargaining power and limited recourse when something goes wrong.

Insurance is not a luxury. Canadians need it to drive vehicles, protect their homes, operate businesses and safeguard their families. Every month, policyholders faithfully pay their premiums with the expectation that their insurance providers will treat them fairly and support them when they suffer a genuine loss.

Unfortunately, many consumers feel trapped in a concentrated and fragmented insurance marketplace where premiums can be unaffordable, policy terms are difficult to compare, claims decisions are not always adequately explained, and challenging a large insurance company can be costly and exhausting.

Canada does not currently operate as one fully harmonized insurance marketplace. Although many insurance companies operate in several provinces, they must comply with separate provincial and territorial licensing, regulatory and market requirements.

These requirements serve important purposes, including protecting policyholders and ensuring that insurers remain financially sound. However, unnecessary duplication and inconsistent requirements may also discourage qualified insurers and brokers from entering additional provincial markets.

When consumers have fewer meaningful choices, there is less competitive pressure on insurance companies to provide affordable premiums, better coverage, transparent claims handling and responsive customer service.

My concern about this issue has been strengthened by my own difficult experience disputing an automobile-insurance claim. After faithfully paying premiums, I found myself struggling to obtain clear, consistent and technically supported explanations from a large insurer.

My individual claim is not the subject of this petition, and I am not asking the public to decide that dispute. However, the experience showed me how powerless an individual consumer can feel when challenging a large financial institution. It demonstrated the need for greater consumer choice, transparent claims decisions and genuinely independent complaint-review processes.

We are not calling for the removal of necessary insurance regulation. We are calling for intelligent regulatory cooperation that maintains strong consumer protections while reducing unnecessary barriers to responsible competition.

We therefore call upon the Government of Canada and every provincial and territorial government to work together to establish a Canadian Insurance Competition and Consumer Choice Framework.

This framework should:

Create a streamlined, mutually recognized or “passport” licensing system that makes it easier for qualified insurers, agents and brokers to operate in multiple Canadian jurisdictions.
Reduce unnecessary regulatory duplication while maintaining strong solvency, licensing and consumer-protection requirements.
Establish consistent minimum national standards for policy disclosure, claims handling, written coverage decisions, complaint resolution and the fair treatment of customers.
Require insurers to give consumers clear written reasons, relevant policy provisions and supporting evidence when claims are denied or reduced.
Strengthen access to independent insurance complaint and ombudsman services so that individual consumers can challenge decisions without facing unreasonable costs.
Make it easier for Canadians to compare premiums, coverage, exclusions, claims-service records and complaint-handling performance.
Respect provincial public automobile-insurance systems and legitimate local risk requirements while removing barriers that are not reasonably necessary to protect consumers.
Require governments and regulators to publish an implementation timetable and report publicly on whether the reforms improve competition, affordability, service and consumer outcomes.
Greater competition cannot guarantee that every insurance premium will decrease. However, enabling more qualified providers to compete across provincial borders could expand consumer choice, encourage innovation, improve service and place downward pressure on insurance costs.

Canadians should not face unnecessary restrictions on their insurance choices simply because of the province or territory in which they live.

Please sign this petition if you believe Canadians deserve:

More insurance choices;
Fairer and more transparent claims handling;
Better customer service;
Stronger independent complaint mechanisms;
Greater accountability from insurance companies; and
A competitive insurance marketplace that puts policyholders first.
Together, we can call upon Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments to modernize our fragmented insurance marketplace and create a system that delivers meaningful choice, responsible competition and stronger protection for every Canadian consumer.