REGINA — The opposition NDP were hard at work Friday trying to get political mileage from SGI's proposed rate increases announced last week.
SGI is applying to the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel for rate increases for the Saskatchewan Auto Fund of 3.75 per cent starting in June and then another 3.75 per cent in 2027. But it was the details within SGI's application of hikes impacting work vehicles for farmers, businesses and other organizations that had the NDP most upset.
At a media event outside the legislature staged in front of a Dodge RAM, Opposition Leader Carla Beck and MLAs Hugh Gordon and Darcy Warrington blamed the hikes on the Sask Party's "18 years of mismanagement," in Beck's words.
Gordon pointed to cars and trucks facing an average rate hike of $48 this year, up to a maximum of $137. He noted work trucks will be hit hardest with an average increase of $96 per vehicle up to a maximum of $140.
"Cop cars aren't far behind with an average increase of $74 up to $110 per vehicle. They are even charging an extra $23 a year for hearses," said Gordon. "Despite what the minister might claim, these are hardly modest rate hikes. They aren't reasonable, and the people of Saskatchewan shouldn't be responsible for covering the cost of this government's mismanagement."
"I'm from the farm," said Warrington. "I drive a Dodge Ram 1500. I'm a dad and like many parents across this province with rural roots, I'm amongst the tens of thousands of folks who are going to see a rate increase to the truck that I drive from SGI."
He characterized the SGI rate increase as a "tax" and said Scott Moe has "never seen a tax he doesn't like."
"When it comes to what's happening in the next six months, we're going to see a truck tax, we're going to see a death tax, we're also going to see a tax on public safety."
When a reporter pointed out that a number of the increases were based on the Canadian Loss Experience Automobile Rating system (a national rating produced by the Insurance Bureau of Canada), Beck made it known the issue of rate hikes went beyond just SGI's proposed increase.
"Whether it's administrative, which in part, in large part these increases are, let's be clear about what's going on here," said Beck.
"This isn't just the SGI increase, this is the SaskPower increase, this is a SaskTel increase as well that I received an email about earlier this week. This is the municipal downloading. This is a government that blew their budget in a big way last spring and now you can almost see them scrambling to make up for it."
She accused the government of "looking under every couch cushion" for money, and said "unfortunately again, it's people in this province who already have their credit card bills from Christmas coming due, who already — unfortunately as we know — have their credit card with their groceries on it coming due, who are now facing another increase."
In a statement, the government dismissed the latest NDP attacks, saying it is "very hard to take the NDP seriously when they are so reckless with the facts."
They stated the Saskatchewan Auto Fund operates on a self-sustaining and break-even basis and does not produce a profit, nor does it provide any dividends to government. "This has resulted in cost of insurance remaining low for Saskatchewan drivers; in fact, general rates have not been increased for 10 years."
The government also notes that "every single vehicle class in Saskatchewan is being rebalanced in accordance with the costs to insure that class of vehicle with some even seeing reductions in the cost of their insurance."
