David made the point that ICBC’s deficit numbers have not been substantiated by either the government’s own audit or ICBC’s financial statements. He explained that the caps in effect elsewhere in Canada are related only to minor injuries defined as soft tissue injuries, abrasions, and contusions. BC will be the only province in Canada that will include serious injuries like brain injury (concussion), whiplash associated disorders, chronic pain, psychological and psychiatric injuries all of which can be debilitating to car accident victims. Further, he expressed concerns about the lack of experience and expertise of civil resolution tribunal adjudicators who will be making critical decisions about whether someone’s injuries are minor. David clarified that the CRTs are not set up to provide hearings in the normal sense. Determinations will be made by online submission by civil servants with no independence from government (they are under Mr. Eby’s ministry) and whose decisions are insulated from review by the courts. This is highly problematic, particularly when the legislation puts a reverse onus on injured victims to prove their injuries are not minor.

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