Maddie+T-G.

BC LOCAL NEWS =Province's raid on ICBC piggy bank 'disgusting'= Finance Minister Colin Hansen reveals details of his latest budget Tuesday in Victoria. Tom Fletcher/Black Press [|Buy Trail Rossland News Photos Online][|Email] [|Print] [|Letter to Editor] [|Share]**Kootenay / Rockies** Text   By Jeff Nagel - BC Local News
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Published: March 03, 2010 4:00 PM Updated: March 03, 2010 4:46 PM [|0 Comments] Motorists hoping for deeper cuts to ICBC auto insurance premiums may be out of luck. Victoria is raiding the public auto insurer's cash reserves, withdrawing $487 million this year to help reduce the provincial government deficit. "I think it's outrageous," said Consumers Association of Canada president Bruce Cran. "It's like stealing half a billion dollars from the motorists of B.C. who have been ICBC's most loyal customers." It's the first time the province has turned to the burgeoning ICBC reserves, which have now topped $3 billion as hefty annual profits continue to stack up, mainly from investments. The money is coming out of the optional insurance side of ICBC's business, where the corporation competes with private insurers. The withdrawal doesn't affect ICBC's basic insurance side – where it has a monopoly – because a separate pool of reserves covers those claims and ensures the stability of basic insurance premiums. But Cran said ICBC has built its immense nest egg by overcharging motorists and argued the money should have been used to cut optional rates further. "ICBC was never meant to be anything but a cooperative means of supplying decent coverage to automobile owners and drivers," he said. "It's quite disgusting." Maureen Bader, the B.C. director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, called it a "total tax grab on the part of the government." But she said it may also have the effect of making optional insurance rates more competitive for consumers. By hindering ICBC's ability to compete on optional rates, Bader said the move will strengthen private insurers and potentially open up more choice in the market. Finance minister Colin Hansen said ICBC is "over-capitalized" on its optional insurance side. "That is funding that should be transferred to the shareholder," he said. "And that is the province on behalf of the people of British Columbia." Hansen said the cash transfer will reduce the province's need to borrow and is in line with the need to ensure a level playing field between ICBC and private operators. Budget documents filed Tuesday show the province also intends to extract around $145 million annually from ICBC starting in 2011. ICBC has cut optional rates 17 per cent over the past five years, while holding basic rates largely steady.

Maddie T-G: This article covers a story about British Columbia using approximately $487 million to go towards the provincial government deficit.

The word "raiding" is coloured in red. The definition of raiding is to quickly and illicitly take something from. This author may be accusing Victoria of stealing.