[fredr123]

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...39026-sun.html

As evidence Alberta drivers will be forced to swallow a steep premium hike this fall mounts, a city injury lawyer says there are ways to stabilize insurance rates without slamming consumers.

Trimming insurers' skyrocketing profits is a good place to start, said Mark McCourt, a Calgary lawyer publicly spreading the message Albertans don't have to cough up more cash to balance insurance companies' books.

"On February 11, 2008, Statistics Canada reported that (Property and Casualty Insurance) in Canada profit in 2006 was $7.7 billion," he said.

"Compared to the $340 million earned by the industry in 2002, that's more than a 2,000 percent increase in four years."

But since the soft-injury cap was struck down, the province estimates rates will have to rise anywhere from $84 to $164 per policy this fall.