Insurance Adjusters in Manitoba
are reminded that they need to have all of their mandatory
continuing education credit hours in place by June
30 in order to renew their license.
ILScorp is happy to offer hundreds of hours of courses
for insurance professionals in any position, so there
is plenty of choice for those who still need credit
hours.
To get started, visit ilscorp.com
or call us at 1-800-404-2211.
Live
Insurance Seminars at BCIT
Todd Hochban from West Coast Training is holding
several in-person courses in Vancouver for insurance
professionals at all levels. Below are the details:
CAIB IV June 15 - 19, 2009
Examination Registration Deadline: June 12
Examination Date: July 15
CAIB III June 22 - 26, 2009
Examination Registration Deadline: June 12
Examination Date: July 15
CAIB II August 24 - 28, 2009
Examination Registration Deadline: August 14
Examination Date: Sept. 16
For more information on these courses or to register,
visit West
Coast Training.
Can't attend? Don't forget ILScorp offers online CAIB
preparation courses, available from anywhere, at any
time. Check out our CAIB
preparation courses page for more information.
Industry
Briefs
Flaherty says cautious signs
of optimism that global economy on path to recovery
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says there are cautious
signs that Canada's economy has stabilized and that
the global economy is on the path to recovery.
And as the recovery takes hold, Canada will lead the
way, the minister said Monday.
Flaherty said Canada is in the best shape of any G7
country, despite a deficit that is expected to be "slightly
more than $50 billion" this fiscal year.
He said all of the measures in Canada's $115 billion
economic action plan to help Canadian households and
businesses are "in place and fully operational."
The finance minister made the comments on June 8 at
an appearance in Montreal.
--
Housing starts up in May
The annual rate of housing starts increased to 128,400
in May from 117,600 in April.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reports the increase
is broadly based, encompassing both single- and multiple-family
homes.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts
increased 11.1 per cent to 107,800 units in May.
Urban multiple starts increased 11.1 per cent to 60,900
units, while urban single starts also moved up by 11.1
per cent to 46,900 units in May.
May's seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts
increased 22 per cent in Ontario, 16.8 per cent in the
Prairies, 7.3 per cent in Atlantic Canada, and 3.3 per
cent in Quebec, while they fell five per cent in British
Columbia.
Rural starts were estimated at 20,600 in May.
IATA expects airline industry to increase to
$9 billion in 2009
The International Air Transport Association says the
airline industry is expected to lose US$9 billion in
2009.
IATA says the figure is nearly double the association's
March estimate of $4.7 billion. The group has also revised
its loss estimate for 2008 to $10.4 billion from $8.5
billion.
IATA represents 230 airline companies worldwide.
The group's chief Giovanni Bisignani says "the
ground has shifted" after the global economic meltdown.
He told IATA's annual meeting Monday that the industry's
future depends on a "drastic reshaping" of
the way it does business.
IATA says revenues will decline an unprecedented 15
per cent from $528 billion in 2008 to $448 billion in
2009.
--
Fiat won't walk away from Chrysler deal despite
U.S. court ruling
The Italian automaker Fiat says it won't walk away
from a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Chrysler
despite a U.S. Supreme Court stay on the sale.
Fiat has the legal right to walk away from the deal
if the sale is not completed by June 15.
But a spokesman for Fiat said Tuesday that the automaker
will stay on board despite the new delay.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision on Monday to hear a
challenge by a group of dealers could scuttle the sale,
but the delay could also only be temporary.
Justice Ruth Ginsburg could decide on her own to end
the stay, or ask the full court to decide.
If Fiat were to walk away, Chrysler would have little
option but to liquidate.
Industry Briefs courtesy of The Canadian Press.
Looking for even more industry news?
Check out ILSTV
today.
Happy birthday, ILSTV
ILSTV turns 1
Wow,
what a year it has been!
On June 16, 2008, ILSTV.com
was launched, giving insurance professionals across Canada
a free online news source with content that’s relevant
to them and their businesses.
To every viewer, whether you visit ILSTV.com daily or occasionally,
thank you very much for choosing ILSTV as your news source.
In the last year, ILSTV has brought you exclusive interviews,
breaking industry news and insurance headlines that matter
to you. We've added several new features, including text versions
of all of our newest stories and many of our archived stories.
We've created the ILSTV newsletter, in both daily and weekly
versions, so that if you are too busy to check the website
every day, you can receive updates directly to your inbox.
We've added an RSS feed so you can get the news right when
it is updated. And we've been tweeting our news on Twitter
so you can stay in the loop while on the go.
ILSTV is happy to be your free, online news source. Our stories
are updated daily, on every workday of the year.
Thank you again!
PS – Do you have comments or feedback about ILSTV or
a specific news story we aired? Let us know by emailing comments@ilstv.com
or calling our toll-free phone line at 1-877-709-2713.
Three new Life and A&S courses available now
Great news for Life and A&S Agents! ILScorp has added
three new video courses to the catalog.
The courses, each created by Qube Consulting's Ian Quigley,
provide great insight into the Canadian Employee Benefit market
while also giving you a chance to earn CE credits.
"The Psychology of Employee Benefits"
(1 credit hour) examines not only why employers offer non-cash
compensation, but how the societal trends towards benefits
and other non-cash compensation can impact a work environment.
In "How do they get that Price? Employee Benefit
Pricing" (2 credit hours), Quigley leads students
through the negotiations in price setting for Employee Benefits.
"Negotiations have changed," says Quigley. "It's
less about moving the case to an alternative insurance company
than it ever has been before. It's more about being able to
talk the language of the insurance company – how did
they get that price and do you agree or disagree with that
pricing?"
"Innovative Group Benefit Plans"
(1 credit hour) investigates recent trends in group benefit
plans, examining what Canadian employers are doing to push
the envelope in their offerings. Group Benefits started in
the mid-1800s – there’s no need to keep today's
benefits at 19th century levels.
The courses are included in the Annual Life Subscription.
If you do not have a subscription and would like to purchase
access to these courses individually, they are available for
a one-time fee of $100 each.
Do you have more than two people in your office who need to
earn CE credits? Contact us today about our group programs
and find out how you can save even more money!
Canadians get three day reprieve on paying annual taxes,
says institute
If paying taxes isn't your thing, then break out the noisemakers
and champagne.
The Fraser Institute says June 6 was tax-freedom day this
year, three days earlier than in 2008.
The think tank says that's the day the average Canadian family
would stop paying taxes, if they had sent each and every dollar
they earned since the beginning of the year directly to the
taxman.
The institute's director of fiscal studies, Niels Veldhuis,
says tax-freedom day gives Canadians an easy-to-understand,
accurate estimate of the total amount of taxes they pay to
all levels of government.
The institute calculates tax-freedom day by adding up all
of the taxes Canadians would pay to various levels of government.
They include income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, profit
taxes, health, social security and employment taxes, import
duties, licence fees, taxes on the consumption of alcohol
and tobacco, natural resource fees, fuel taxes, hospital taxes
and a host of other levies.
The think tank also calculates tax-freedom day provincially.
Here are the calculations for each province (the institute
did not provide separate calculations for the territories):
Soft tissue injuries without objective signs are some
of the most frequently litigated claims. One of the reasons
why is because credibility plays a vital role in these
claims and ICBC often challenges the credibility of Plaintiff’s
alleging such injuries.
Reasons for judgment were released on Friday by the BC
Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, dealing with just such
a claim. In Friday's case (Tayler
v. Loney) the Plaintiff was involved in a 2005 BC
Car Crash. Her injuries included soft tissue injury to
her neck and back. These injuries unfortunately continued
to linger for many years. By the time of trial the Plaintiff’s
pain was ongoing. ICBC’s response to this was that
the Plaintiff was no longer injured and was simply 'lying
to the court.'
Mr. Justice Grauer rejected ICBC's position and accepted
that she indeed did suffer injuries in the car crash which
continued to bother her to the time of trial. Damages
of $42,500 were awarded for the Plaintiff's non-pecuniary
loss (pain and suffering). Since ICBC put the Plaintiff's
credibility squarely in issue the court had to address
this head on. In doing so the court engaged in a thoughtful
discussion about credibility in ICBC injury claims where
there is no objective sign of injury. Mr. Justice Grauer
summarized and applied this area of law - click
here to read more.
Erik
Magraken is British Columbia ICBC injury claims and
class action lawyer. Erik is a partner with the British
Columbia personal injury law-firm MacIsaac & Company.
He restricts his practice exclusively to plaintiff-only
personal injury and class action claims.
Happy St-Jean-Baptiste Day
Happy St-Jean-Baptiste Day! June 24th marks the festive Fête
nationale du Québec for Quebecers and many French Canadians
and Americans across the continent.
The province's National Holiday celebrates its history with
many open-air celebrations throughout its towns and cities
with hundreds of thousands enjoying good weather, great food
and francophone music in the form of buskers and concerts.
A paid statutory holiday, it was cemented into the province's
heritage and culture when in 1908 Pope Pius X designated St
John the Baptist as the patron saint of French Canadians.
Holiday Hours
The
ILScorp office will be closed on Wednesday, July 1
in order to celebrate Canada Day. We will
be open again as usual on Thursday, July 2.
We hope that you have a great and safe Canada Day, wherever
you spend it.
As a reminder, as with all Statutory Holidays,
there will be no news updates on ILSTV on July 1, nor will
there be an issue of the ILSTV Daily Newsletter.
Did you know that the July 1 holiday was established in 1879
under the name "Dominion Day"?
It wasn't until the 50th anniversary of Confederation in 1917
that the first organized ceremonies were held. The new Centre
Block of the Parliament Buildings was the site of these celebrations
and was dedicated as a memorial to the Fathers of Confederation
and to the valor of Canadians fighting in the First World
War.
The next celebration wasn't until 1927 to mark the Diamond
Jubilee of Confederation. This celebration was marked by the
laying of the cornerstone of the Confederation Building on
Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa. The Carillon in the
Peace Tower was also inaugurated on this day.
Wow,
what a year it has been! 
The
ILScorp office will be closed on Wednesday, July 1
in order to celebrate Canada Day. We will
be open again as usual on Thursday, July 2.