Media Releases 2008

May 7, 2008

Insurance Bureau of Canada CEO to deliver keynote address at Atlantic Conference on Disaster Management: Stresses urgent need to adapt to climate change

Toronto, ON – Insurance Bureau of Canada is proud to be the lead sponsor of the 2nd Atlantic Conference on Disaster Management presented by the Canadian Red Cross. The conference, which attracts a variety of presenters involved in all aspects of emergency management, is taking place May 7-9 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The theme for this year's conference is No Turning Back: Exploring New Approaches to Emerging Threats.

Insurance Bureau of Canada will participate in the conference by hosting an information booth and promoting disaster preparedness and the Know Your Stuff home inventory software which is available for download free of charge at www.ibc.ca.

IBC President & CEO Mark Yakabuski will be a keynote speaker at the conference. His speech, Preparing for and Responding to Natural Disasters: The Insurance Industry’s Role and the Need for Partnership, will be delivered on Friday, May 9, and will highlight the urgent need to adapt to climate change in Canada.

Climate change brings a general warming of climate, but also more variable and severe weather events such as tornadoes, lightning, floods, winter storms, heat waves, sea surge, hurricanes, and drought.

“One of the most important issues confronting us today involves the immediate need to adapt to the effects of climate change in Canada,” said Yakabuski. “Severe weather events are occurring more frequently. We need to accept this reality and take positive action. That includes everyone from individual Canadian homeowners to senior government officials.”

Yakabuski will discuss the role failing infrastructure plays in turning nasty weather into a natural disaster. “The risks we face are getting bigger, more expensive, and harder to predict,” he added.
Insurance Bureau of Canada has identified adapting to climate change as one of its key strategic priorities. IBC continues to encourage governments to develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with the effects of increasingly frequent and severe weather events including the need to:

improve aging infrastructure;
strengthen building codes and build in climatic design values;
consider sweeping land use revisions; and,
improve disaster management.

Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national industry association representing Canada’s private home, car and business insurers. Its member companies represent nearly 95% of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. The P&C insurance industry employs over 104,000 Canadians, pays more than $6 billion in taxes to the federal and provincial governments, and has a total premium base of $35 billion.

To view news releases and information, visit the media section of IBC’s website at www.ibc.ca.

- 30 -

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:
Ellen Woodger, (416) 483-2358; or James Geuzebroek, (416) 362-2031 ext. 4364