INTERIM Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson made a secret deal with personal injury lawyers that would double car insurance rates, and then tried to lie about it when questioned by reporters, the BC NDP said on Tuesday.
“Lorne Doerkson says clearly in his secret letter that the BC Conservatives would make changes that would end up doubling car insurance rates,” said Mike Farnworth, BC NDP candidate for Port-Coquitlam. “It’s shocking that the BC Conservative interim Leader would make a backroom deal with the very people that have been lobbying on the issue for years, and then not admitting to it after he was caught.”
On Tuesday, MoveUP released a letter signed by Lorne Doerkson and sent one week ago to the BC Trial Lawyers association, the organization representing personal injury lawyers who previously worked on ICBC cases. When pressed about the contents of the letter multiple times by different journalists, Doerkson claimed “there’s been no promises made by me at all.”
However, this directly contradicts Doerkson’s own words in the secret letter: “In the first year of a new mandate, a Conservative government will bring in legislation.”
“Doerkson’s secret plan would double car insurance rates for people in BC, including in Surrey,” said Farnworth. “The BC Conservatives know people would be outraged by that – instead of telling them the truth about their plan, Lorne Doerkson is focused on keeping the truth from British Columbians through backroom deals.”
An Ernst & Young analysis shows that Alberta drivers pay twice as much for car insurance under the same system that Doerkson is proposing.
