Your insurance premiums are soaring. And soon, some will no longer be able to secure at all.
It is the brutal turn that takes shape in Quebec. Residential neighborhoods could become unavrantrable. Houses that can neither protect nor sell. Toxic assets for their owners.
On July 13, in Montreal, it was enough for an hour to flood everything. In Saint-Léonard, several residences were struck for a second, even a fourth time in a few years.
Municipal infrastructure, out of breath, no longer hold it as soon as a storm breaks out. The victims can no longer. And either insurers.
An invoice that derails
The figures are disturbing in the country. Last year, natural disasters cost insurers $ 8.5 billion. A record.
To this are added 24 billion not covered losses, paid by families, cities and governments. Result: a total invoice of 32.5 billion, according to the insurance office of Canada.
Since 2019, complaints for damage has exploded. Their frequency has more than doubled. Their cost jumped 485%. Unsurprisingly, the premiums follow. In 2024, Intact increased its prices by 9%. And other insurers do the same.
But the stake exceeds price increases.
Sell becomes a puzzle
More and more residential sectors are becoming at high risk. In Quebec, Desjardins now refuses to grant mortgage loans for the properties exposed to more than 5% flood risks.
It is a heavy trend. In the United States, insurers have completely abandoned certain states. What seemed unthinkable here could become our new reality.
For victims, it is not just a matter of water and mud. It is a loss of value. When a house is declared at risk, it must be mentioned when resale. Insurance is more difficult to obtain, sometimes even refused. And the price of the building falls.
We buy a refuge. We inherit a burden.
We know what to do
The solutions exist. But they are slow. Modernize infrastructure. Brake constructions in vulnerable areas. Inform populations at risk. In 2019, Justin Trudeau promised an affordable flooding national insurance program. Six years later, still nothing.
Canadians are already paying more than almost all G7 countries to ensure their homes. 1.23% of GDP is devoted to it, almost double the average, according to the CD Howe Institute.
And for families, the pressure is real. For the past five years, 10,000 GoFundme campaigns have been launched to repair damage caused by natural disasters. At this rate, home insurance will no longer be a right. It will be a luxury. A safety net that is tearing each other with each storm.
Perhaps it would be time to review our priorities. To draw on the famous green funds, for example. Not to finance Captain Morgan “carbon” rum or fins on Air Canada aircraft. But to accelerate the repair of urban infrastructure which date from another century.
On July 13, in Montreal, two police officers plunged under a submerged viaduct to release an 82 -year -old man stuck in his car. A rescue in extremis, in a sector that floods too often … without remedying it.
We are returned there. Recovering our elders in puddles that have become deadly.
