Every year, thousands of Canadians experience financial losses due to severe weather. The losses to insurers and their policyholders and losses to governments and, by extension, taxpayers are escalating.
This paper considers the views of both the private and the public spheres of society, and focusses primarily on measures to transfer residential property risk from public sector disaster financial assistance programs, which are funded by the taxpayer, to private sector insurance solutions, which are primarily funded by the property owner.