Manitoba Public Insurance takes great pride in its ability to mitigate risk and manage the corporation’s financial health for the benefit of its customers.

By remaining vigilant to emerging trends and taking decisive action, the corporation has, over the last 32 years, delivered on its pledge to provide comprehensive insurance coverage at an affordable price without sacrificing customer service.

In 2003, the corporation faced some significant challenges. Manitobans were involved in a record number of collisions, and the serious injuries caused by these crashes severely tested our financial planning. Yet, despite these unfortunate events, the company is even stronger today than it was last year. That’s quite an achievement for a company that has held the line on rates for five years and continues to offer the best insurance value in Canada.

One disturbing trend we’ve watched over the last decade is the growth in bodily injuries throughout Canada. During that time, the ratio of bodily injury claims to physical damage claims has tripled. In Manitoba, the number of injury claims increased two per cent in 2003 to 15,693. In particular, the number of brain injuries rose to 97 from 63 a year ago, which helped drive up claims costs more sharply. The most common factors in these crashes: speed and the failure to wear a seatbelt.

At Manitoba Public Insurance we believe our job is to educate motorists about these major road safety hazards and how they affect insurance rates. For example, we know that the average cost of one brain injury claim is equal to the annual premiums paid by about 3,300 Manitobans.

Following the significant increase in brain injury claims last year, we looked closely at the underlying cause of these crashes to determine if a new trend was developing. As a monopoly, we can identify new trends earlier since we collect and analyze all the injury data. In other jurisdictions, where the market is split among several insurers, trends take longer to spot because such data aren’t routinely pooled or shared.

When the rise in brain injury claims was thoroughly assessed, the evidence suggested the increase was an aberration rather than a new trend. This careful analysis is but one example of the constant alertness we have come to expect from our staff.

They responded again in January 2004 when Manitobans filed 25,616 claims—a new winter claims record. Front-line employees worked extra hours six days a week during this frigid month of multiple snowstorms to process customers’ claims as quickly as possible. Despite these demands on our staff, our customer satisfaction level actually increased slightly for that month. It was truly a team effort, as call centre and claims staff worked together to meet this challenge.

I’m very proud to be part of a company whose employees place such a high value on our commitment to Manitobans —a commitment that shines even brighter in the face of adversity.

Jack Zacharias
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

MANITOBA PUBLIC INSURANCE EXECUTIVE

Back row, from left
Clarke Campbell
Vice-President, Corporate Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
Marilyn McLaren
Vice-President, Corporate Insurance Operations
Barry Galenzoski
Vice-President,
Corporate Finance, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administration Officer
Charlie Rogers
Vice-President,
Human Resources

Middle row, from left
Wilf Bedard
Vice-President,
Corporate Claims
John Douglas
Vice-President,
Corporate Public Affairs
Kevin McCulloch
Vice-President,
Corporate Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Front
Jack Zacharias
President and Chief Executive Officer