Insurance brokers throughout Southeastern Manitoba and their counterparts across the province says customers should be very concerned about a plan by Manitoba Public Insurance to bypass brokers and go directly to consumers with online internet service. Grant Wainikka is the Chief Executive Officer of the Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba, or IBAM. Wainikka says the MPI plan is fraught with problems because insurance is quite complex and consumers rely heavily on their brokers to sort it out.

IBAM CEO Grant Wainikka"Our research tells us that most Manitobans don't have a very thorough understanding of things like third party liability or maximum insurable value or things of this nature. It takes a professionally trained and licensed broker to make sure the decisions that Manitobans are making are the correct ones for them. Not only is insurance complex, but if you get it wrong, the implications of that could be catastrophic and life-changing for you, both from a personal injury side of things and from a financial or wealth management side of things."

Wainikka says brokers make only a three per cent commission on MPI work. At the same time, he notes the average compensation for MPI employees is $94,000 per year, more than double the average wage in the province. He says that makes it hard to believe MPI could do the work more cheaply than local brokers.

Wainika says there is good reason for customers to be worried about what MPI is planning to do.

"What Manitobans are being asked to accept and believe is that we should move this business from small business, local brokers, into a centralized bureaucracy and that somehow this is going to enhance service or reduce costs or increase choice. We know that none of those are true. From a local professional jobs perspective in small towns like Grunthal, like Niverville etc., this is greatly concerning because as you know, insurance brokers are a mainstay of Main Street Manitoba and MPI is putting this at risk."

Wainika notes IBAM is about to enter conciliation talks with Manitoba Public Insurance to try and come up with a better way forward.