Net income is profit. We were only gouged by $198 million this year. $373 million last year. This is our own government owned and controlled corporation. Why aren't all of the NDP'ers yipping it up about the profits? The greedy Corporate Pigs? No, were supposed to feel better when it's our own government shafting us.

Every know anyone who received a $3,000,000 settlement from ICBC? So, why do you buy $3,000,000 of protection for yourself? How about $1,000,000?

Know anyone who still waiting to settle for less than $1,000,000 after 3 years? It's still a racket and we are the smucks. A special thank you goes out to all of the ICBC Lawyers. Your the best. Percy

Percy. If you think that 198 Million profit makes you fume. Get this.

ICBC has assets of 7.1 Billion dollars in investments. Yes 7.1 Billion at the end of 2004. Probably more now. Why would this company have so much of our money invested. They would probably tell you that the profits from the investments help keep down the cost of Insurance, however I kind of doubt that. I suspect that the profits are poured back into investments, and that there are a lot of high priced people on ICBC payrolls investing this money. This is a mugs game pure and simple, however I dont have any answers on how to stop it.

You always hear complaints about Alberta having a surplus of 9 Billion dollars, however you never hear a word about the huge surplus of ICBC, WCB, BCHydo,Vancr Airport Authority. These four entitys would probably have in excess of 20 Billions in **Investments**

"ICBC is a crown corporation and the sole shareholder is the Government of BC."

It isn't really a "company" in the conventional meaning of the word, is it?

Therefore, if the shareholder doesn't require any profit or dividend, shouldn't it be sufficient if at the end of the year it just breaks even?

I understand that ICBC is also in the "business" of upgrading and improving dangerous intersections, for instance.

Why doesn't ICBC stick to the insurance mandate and leave the other projects to those entities who are already collecting the taxes for them, like municipalities, provincial and federal governments?

Are we getting ripped off more than once by rates that are inflated to pay for road repairs?

Diplomat. Yes we are getting hosed by these Government owned Corporations. There is no reason in the world that ICBC should have 7 Billion dollars of our money invested, make 198 Million profit this year, and then ask for a 6.5% increase in basic Insurance because they had a bad year. The only reason they are into building roads, improving safety, and all the other things they do, is because they have a surplus of **cash** and they can go out and spend it. They alway say that they need to have a huge surplus in funds in case they get a really bad year and have to pay out more claims than they take in, in revenue, however this is just *BS*. The name of the game is to get the money and be a big shot investing it, rubbing shoulders with hot shots, getting big salaries, and skewing the taxpayer.

A case in point. The Vancouver Airport Authority, makes huge profits every year, and funnels a large portion of it back into infrastructure, which is part of their mandate, howeve they also have a large reserve fund. Somewhere in the area of $500 Million dollars or more.
In addition they have now convinced themselves that they are an authority on running Airports and have set up Companys to assist other Countries to run their Airports., I beleive they are in about 10 other Countries. I think that their endeavour in Jamaica went broke.

This type of thing goes on and on and will continue to do so until people wake up and demand some accountability.

However as long as people have a Job or some form of income, a TV set, and a hot dog, its not likely they will pay much attention.

Pal:"Diplomat. Yes we are getting hosed by these Government owned Corporations. "

Does that mean that an argument could be made not to have ownership of corporations in the hands of government?

Seems that when they are making money they go overboard, and when they don't make money they forever rely on the public purse to keep them going.

Diplomat. What we need is to have Crown Corp., such as BC Ferries, ICBC, WCB, BCHydro, etc; more accountable, and we need Government that is more accountable. This is easier said than done. Most people who are elected into Government have little or no experience, and therefore do very little to change things. Cabinet Ministers have some smarts, but even they are not up to speed on everything that goes on in Government. The Government as an example could set up a **Pool** of revenue to cover shortfalls for the above mentioned Crown Corps and they could all use it. This would decrease the amount of money being invested or held by these Corporations by Billions of dollars, however you will never see this happen. Most of the money that is invested by ICBC is in Federal, Provincial, Municipal, Regional, and other Bonds. In other words the Government itself uses this Money. They are not about to get rid of these cash cows.
The people who work for these Corporations, and for the Univesitys, and Hospital Boards, etc get themselves huge salarys and they are not about to entertain any ideas that would put these jobs in peril.

If you look at the Board of Directors of these various entitys you will see the same people on different boards. (All collecting money) When the NDP was in power there were NDP people on the Boards, when the Liberals got elected, as soon as the NDP term expired they appointed Liberals to the board. This is all done with taxpayers money, and I would suggest that 99.9% of the population of BC doesnt even know its happening. The name of the game is **Grab the Buck and run**

Insurance industry performance is not, nor can it be, measured on any single year. That's the nature of the beast... some years are better and some are worse, but over time you can identify averages and trends. As for the Noam Chomsky compatriots on this site, get over it... profit and political governance are not evils... just fodder for the tinfoil hat brigade.