Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggested Thursday that car insurance rates based on postal codes will “come to an end.”
Ford made the remarks during a press conference highlighting his government’s promised gas tax cut, which is set to take effect Friday.
The premier was asked why the government wasn’t focusing more on high insurance rates, since gas prices may still increase overall in the coming months despite the temporary tax cut.
“I’m going to respectfully disagree with whoever says cutting the gas tax by 10 cents overall doesn’t affect and help the people of Ontario. It helps them in a massive, massive way,” Ford said.
“I know we’re working on a plan for insurance companies,” he continued.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s totally unfair to the people of Brampton or Scarborough that they’re going after these people based on their postal code. That’s going to come to an end real quickly.”
Ford said insurance companies must “treat people fairly right across the board.”
“Insurance companies are making tons of money and it’s coming out of the pockets of Ontarians. So we’re going to be all over them,” he said.
In the Progressive Conservative budget released in April, which doubled as a party platform for the June election, the government said they intended to propose changes that would allow for consumers to have “more options” when purchasing auto insurance.
But the proposal lacked specifics as to what exactly they have in mind.
“Ontario will be proceeding with additional measures to create choice, crack down on fraud and enhance fairness,” the document said in part.
New Democrats, meanwhile, have said they want “postal code discrimination,” which sees residents paying rates based on where they live, to come to an end.