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Insurance Company Switches from Ontario to Quebec Laws

An Act to authorize Gore Mutual Insurance Company to apply to be continued as a body corporate under the laws of the Province of Quebec

Summary

  • Authorizes Gore Mutual Insurance Company to apply to continue as a corporation under Quebec law, despite restrictions in the federal Insurance Companies Act.
  • Once continued under Quebec law, the company will cease to be governed by the federal Insurance Companies Act.
  • Repeals historic special federal Acts related to the company upon continuance.
  • Responds to a policyholder-approved request and to the absence of a general mechanism allowing federally incorporated insurers to continue under provincial law.

Builder Assessment

Vote Yes

Overall, the bill modestly aligns with Build Canada’s tenets by removing a regulatory barrier and enabling corporate mobility and choice. Its impact is narrow and largely administrative, with no material effects on exports, taxes, or nationwide productivity.

  • Strengths: expands economic freedom; reduces a specific bureaucratic hurdle; cleans up outdated statutes.
  • Limits: one-off authorization; negligible macro impact; does not address productivity, exports, or tax reform.
  • To strengthen alignment: replace this private bill with a general, economy-wide framework allowing continuance between federal and provincial regimes (and vice versa) for all financial institutions; add reciprocal passporting to reduce duplicative oversight; include clear policyholder-protection and prudential standards to maintain stability while enabling mobility.

Question Period Cards

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Principles Analysis

Canada should aim to be the world's most prosperous country.

A firm-specific corporate law change has negligible macroeconomic impact on national wealth.

Promote economic freedom, ambition, and breaking from bureaucratic inertia (reduce red tape).

Removes a statutory barrier and enables corporate choice of jurisdiction, advancing regulatory competition and reducing red tape.

Drive national productivity and global competitiveness.

Any productivity gains are indirect and limited to one insurer; national effects are unclear.

Grow exports of Canadian products and resources.

No direct impact on exports or trade.

Encourage investment, innovation, and resource development.

Allows the firm to adopt a regulatory regime better suited to its strategy, which can support investment and innovation at the firm level.

Deliver better public services at lower cost (government efficiency).

Does not address public service delivery; repeal of obsolete Acts is a minor administrative cleanup.

Reform taxes to incentivize work, risk-taking, and innovation.

Contains no tax provisions.

Focus on large-scale prosperity, not incrementalism.

A one-off, company-specific measure with limited scope; it neither advances nor impedes large-scale prosperity.

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PartySenate
StatusAt second reading in the Senate
Last updatedJun 3, 2025
Parliament45