Ontario’s minority Liberal Government is going to “compel” the province’s auto insurance companies to cut rates by an average of $200 per year over the next two years. Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa says premiums will drop 8 per cent in the next 12 months and a further 7 per cent the year after that. The measure’s were included in Sousa’s most recent budget as a means of securing NDP support to ensure the document’s passage. Sousa says the government plans to appoint a watch dog to make sure savings the industry reaped from regulatory changes introduced in 2010, are passed along to drivers.

Reaction to the idea is mixed. The Insurance Bureau of Canada says it will need to see even more reductions in costs before premiums can be cut. Lawyers who work with car accident victims are worried the industry is trying to protect its profits instead of passing along savings realized when payouts for catastrophic injuries were reduced three years ago.