Could the guaranteed annual income — once considered radical notion — now be an idea whose time has come?
The Dutch city of Utrecht recently announced it is starting an experiment to determine whether introducing a basic income produces a more effective society.
http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/5791777-time-for-a-guaranteed-annual-income-may-have-arrived/
Ontario’s Government continues to favour the insurance industry at the peril of the most helpless in our society http://victimsmatter.ca/
Whereas the Government’s most recent budget, including Bill 15, enacts amendments to the Insurance Act (Ontario) that discriminate against Ontario’s most injured accident victims by cutting their medical and care benefits by one (1) million dollars each;
TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2015 /CNW/ – As plans get underway for the 2015 Para Pan Am Games, a victims advocacy group is calling out the Premier for filling the pockets of insurance companies and neglecting the most disabled. Recently proposed cuts to accident benefits in Ontario will leave victims impoverished and without access to proper medical and rehabilitation benefits.
David Juurlink sees them daily — old and young, with strokes or pneumonia or broken bones or drug-related overdoses, accidents, constipation.
Their ailments and backgrounds and health conditions run the gamut. And they’re all on high doses of a drug five times more powerful than morphine.
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2015/2015onsc4267/2015onsc4267.html
El-Khodr v Lackie, 2015 ONSC 4766 (CanLII), http://canlii.ca/t/gkfmv COURT FILE NO.: 09-CV-43686 DATE: 20150728
[17] On January 1, 2015, the Insurance Act was amended through the inclusion of a new provision, s. 258.3(8.1), which provides that “[s]ubsection 128 (2) of the Courts of Justice Act does not apply in respect of the calculation of prejudgment interest for damages for non-pecuniary loss” in an action for loss or damage from bodily injury or death arising directly or indirectly from the use or operation of an automobile. Thus, the 5% interest rate under Rule 53.10no longer applies to amounts awarded for non-pecuniary damages for bodily injury or death caused by motor vehicle accidents. Rather, prejudgment interest for such amounts would be calculated the “usual” way pursuant to s. 127(1) of the CJA, i.e., the bank rate.
[18] Section 52(4) of the Legislation Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 21, Sch. F, codifies the common law presumption that procedural legislation applies immediately, not only to future proceedings, but to on-going or pending proceedings that relate to events that took place prior to the amendments.
52(4) The procedure established by the new or amended Act or regulation shall be followed, with necessary modifications, in proceedings in relation to matters that happened before the replacement or amendment.
Dealing another blow to Plaintiffs, on August 1, 2015, the amendments to Ontario Regulation 461/96, Court Proceedings for Automobile Accidents that Occur on or After November 1, 1996, came into effect. These amendments provide for an inflation-indexed deductible to apply to awards for pain and suffering and loss of care, guidance and companionship.
http://otlablog.com/further-erosion-of-plaintiffs-compensation/
Allstate posted its second quarter financials this week, and in doing so, revealed that its U.S. earnings suffered as the result of an “increased frequency and severity of auto accidents.”
http://www.insurancebusiness.ca/news/is-the-u-s–insurance-nightmare-coming-to-canada-194012.aspx
“That is a recommendation that certainly attracted a lot of attention, a lot of good discussion. We’ve certainly heard a number of different voices come forward with a number of different perspectives on it,” says Fred Headon.