Canadian Underwriter

Category: Claims

Toll from Quebec and Ontario ice storms…so far

About 5,300 Hydro-Québec customers remain without power as of 11:30 a.m. Friday, following an ice storm that swept through Québec and parts of Ontario Wednesday and into Thursday, according to data from the utility. At the outage’s peak, 200,000 customers were without power.

Sidewalks and some roads remained ice covered in the province and Québec’s premier advised residents to stay at home if possible. Environment Canada issued an orange alert for the storm on Wednesday when 20 to 30 mm of ice accumulation were predicted. Southeastern Ontario communities affected by the ice storm experienced snow as a follow-up punch on Thursday, according to the Weather Network.

On the claims side, so far, so good, say adjusting firms contacted by Canadian Underwriter. Claims linked to the ice storms are described as “limited.”

For Ontario, Shannon Hoyt, ClaimsPro’s vice president for Central Canada, says recent claims activity has mainly been linked to recent warmer weather and resulting snow melt, as opposed to the ice storm itself.

“This past weekend brought rain to many areas in Ontario, melting the snow that has been accumulating for months,” she says. “We did experience a slightly elevated claims volume as a result, but not at catastrophic levels. The predicted ice storm for parts of Ontario did not cause any increase in volume.”

Related: Which is the most concerning type of insurance fraud?

And in Québec, recent claims reports are also linked to the March warming trend as opposed to the ice storm, says IndemniPro’s vice president for Québec, Sonia Ryme.

“The minor ice storm did not significantly impact us,” she tells CU. “We received some claims, but they were mostly related to the mild weather last weekend rather than the ice storm.”

Crawford also says claims, so far, appear light.

“While portions of Ontario and Quebec did experience the effects of this week’s weather, early indications suggest that the claims impact has been limited and our partners have not reported any significant increase in claim volume attributed to the event,” William Slade, Crawford’s vice president, National Property and Contractor Connection, tells us.

“As with all weather events, we expect claim activity to continue to develop over the coming days and we continue to monitor closely.”

Looking at catastrophe response, Christine Segaric, ClaimsPro’s director of Cat response, says the industry is monitoring the situation since impacts from ice storms can emerge following the event. So far, the storm hasn’t required any formal catastrophe deployment.

“With ice storms, the impacts don’t always show up immediately,” she tells CU. “Damage from falling branches or ice accumulation often becomes apparent once the ice begins to melt and homeowners start assessing their properties.”

She adds efforts are being made to ensure resources are available to insureds if they’re needed.

March 13, 2026
Jasper advocating for extensions on wildfire insurance claims

Jasper policyholders have just four months to file insurance claims for wildfire damages or initiate legal action against an insurer.

On Tuesday (March 10), after being informed that a blanket extension was not feasible, committee of the whole directed council to continue its advocacy efforts.

“I think we owe it to our community members to relieve them of one additional burden, if we can,” said Mayor Richard Ireland. “I am quite prepared to carry this battle further. I don’t think we should let it go.”

The Alberta Insurance Act sets the statutory limitation date of insurance claims at two years. As per council’s direction, the Municipality asked the Alberta government, through the Minister of Finance and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), to extend the deadline for claims related to the Jasper wildfire.

“A disaster of the scale of what occurred in Jasper can be quite complex from an insurance perspective, and claims can take quite some time to resolve,” said Michael Fark, Jasper’s Director of Recovery. “In some cases, some claims may remain open beyond the two-year statutory limit.”

The deadline for claims or claim disputes is two years after known losses occur—i.e. July 24, 2026, the two-year anniversary of the wildfire disaster. However this date may vary between policyholders, Fark advised.

While insurers are required to notify policyholders in writing of the statutory limitation period, Fark said a blanket extension would not be possible without amending provincial legislation. The IBC told The Jasper Local a blanket extension would likely be a violation of Canada’s Competition Act.

“Insurers are prohibited from agreeing with each other with respect to claims adjusting practices, whether or not to indemnify a type of claim, or the kind of service to be provided to a customer,” said IBC media relations manager Brett Weltman.

Voluntary extensions

Weltman said some residents have already received a voluntary extension in writing from their insurer. He said insurers review each claim on a case-by-case basis and may provide a voluntary extension in specific situations.

Ireland said he was aware of at least one insurer that has issued an exemption with no requirement that a policyholder had to file a request.

“People are already under significant stress, and it is not impossible for the industry to issue a blanket exemption,” he said.

Following the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in Wood Buffalo, the Alberta Superintendent of Insurance issued a formal notice, advising insurers to consider requests for voluntary extensions in good faith. Fark said the Municipality has requested a similar direction for Jasper and expected the Superintendent to issue this within the coming weeks. IBC confirmed this.

“It is likely [the Alberta Superintendent of Insurance] will issue some type of bulletin, similar to what was done in Fort McMurray,” Weltman said.

Ireland noted how insurers had voluntarily extended the deadline by one year for the 2016 Fort McMurray fire. Fark replied policyholders still had to request an extension in that case.

“The same rights are afforded to Jasper residents as were afforded those in Wood Buffalo,” Fark said.

IBC noted in Fort McMurray extensions were granted on a case by case basis.

Potential for misinterpretation

Coun. Kathleen Waxer shared the mayor’s concerns, since residents had varying levels of legal literacy, and there was potential for misinterpreting correspondence from insurers.

Coun. Laurie Rodger, who last week wanted to make it clear that households that have not yet closed their claim need to take proactive steps ahead of the two year deadline, asked if the Municipality should directly contact the insurance companies.

CAO Bill Given advised council to stick with political advocacy. Given said the MOJ should be “very cautious” about inserting itself in a relationship between a policyholder and insurer.

“That seems to start to increase risk to the municipality,” Given said.

Fark added that the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre (JRCC) did not have an exhaustive list of every insurance company with one or more policyholders in Jasper, and the Insurance Bureau of Canada was the organization best equipped to contact all the insurers.

The Municipality is strongly encouraging policyholders to review the status of their insurance claim and confirm the deadline with their insurer. If there is a chance their claim may not be resolved before then, they should request a voluntary extension in writing at least one month prior to the deadline. Any extension granted by the insurer should be provided in writing.

If policyholders wish to dispute a claim but were not granted an extension, they should file a statement of claim with the courts before the deadline. The IBC said that some claims might only need a few months extension, while others might require a full year extension or more.

March 13, 2026
Which is the most concerning type of insurance fraud?

Aviva Canada’s claims investigation data shows a staggering 400% increase in staged collisions from 2024 to 2025, underscoring how rapidly this type of fraud is escalating, a company spokesperson says.

A new cross-Canada survey conducted by Nanos for Aviva highlights Canadians’ concerns about insurance fraud. It found the number one concern is the growing frequency of staged vehicle collisions — deliberate on-street or on-highway crashes that can also be extremely dangerous for other drivers.

Released during Fraud Prevention Month, the online survey of 1,569 Canadians aged 25 or older used research commissioned by Aviva and was conducted between Jan. 23 and Jan. 27.

When asked about their top three threats when thinking about insurance, 13.8% of respondents pointed to deliberate vehicle collisions staged for fraud purposes, 11.7% cited vehicle repair-related fraud and 7.8% said unlicensed individuals posing as insurance brokers.

However, it also appears Canadians are not clear about the personal impacts of insurance fraud. When asked about their top three insurance threats, 13.3% said they were ‘unsure’ and 15.4% responded ‘none of the above.’

Still, nearly six in 10 (59%) of Canadians polled agree they are concerned about the cost of fraud in the insurance system because it pushes up the cost of their premiums.

Punishments are also seen as too weak, they say, with 43% believing current penalties for committing insurance fraud are not strong enough and only 16% saying punishments are adequate.

The survey also found about two in five Canadians (42%) say they are worried about becoming a victim of fraud, while only 19% are not worried.

Mandatory fraud reporting

In Ontario, the province’s insurance regulator is moving ahead with its auto insurance fraud reporting service this year, with hopes the initiative will go national, a Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) executive said Nov. 25 at KPMG’s 2025 Insurance Conference.

The service aims to establish a baseline for fraud in the industry, which can be difficult to pinpoint. Équité Association says it’s estimated insurance crime of all types costs Canada between $3 billion and $5 billion a year.

“Insurance fraud/insurance crime continues to be one of the single-largest cost drivers in the product today,” says Glen Padassery, executive vice president of policy and auto/insurance products at FSRA. “I’m talking about auto insurance, but also for property and casualty at large.”

It will be the first time in Canada that insurers will be mandated to start reporting all suspicious cases of fraud to FSRA or through a service provider.

“And [in 2026], the new fraud reporting service will be up and active, and we’ll be getting all insurers to start reporting in Ontario,” Padassery says. “The hope is that you’re going to see this as a national initiative, and other jurisdictions will carry forward with that with us…”

March 12, 2026
Your clients’ rebuild costs rose nearly 25% in five years. What to do about it.

Residential reconstruction costs across Canada have increased almost 25% over five years, creating serious insurance-to-value implications for portfolios built on unreliable valuations with outdated or incomplete data, new data from Verisk Canada shows.

According to Verisk Canada’s Q1 2026 Reconstruction Cost Analysis Report, released on Feb. 25, residential rebuild costs increased 24.8% between January 2021 and January 2026, with a 12.4% increase over the past three years.

The persistent growth in reconstruction costs, combined with outdated replacement cost estimates, has exposed significant valuation gaps across many property portfolios, Greg McCutcheon, president of Verisk Canada, tells Canadian Underwriter.

“If you look at it over a five-year period, it’s been as high as 25% in inflation over this period of time, and that’s on an aggregate,” McCutcheon says. “On an individual-by-individual basis… you can have homes that can be underinsured by 80%, sometimes 100%, that we’ve seen in portfolios.”

Rebuild costs still elevated

While catastrophic losses were lower in 2025, the record severe weather season in 2024 forced the industry to confront the reality of replacement cost volatility in a post-pandemic construction environment.

“That year highlighted gaps in insurance-to-value on the residential side and what we call total insured value on the commercial side,” McCutcheon says. “We’ll never return back to pre-COVID construction costs as they were.”

One reason valuation gaps persist is that replacement cost estimates are often updated using standard inflation adjustments rather than current construction data.

“Historically, common practice may have been to use a 4-4.5% inflation guard, but recent upward cost pressures show that is insufficient,” McCutcheon says.

Also in the news: Why CISOs don’t trust cyber insurance — and how the industry can fix it

Instead, he recommends insurers and brokers update replacement cost estimates annually ahead of renewal, using current reconstruction data.

Annual updates also create an opportunity for brokers to ask policyholders about renovations, additions or other property changes that may significantly affect rebuild values.

“Some of the gaps were simply [because] the data that was previously used to derive replacement costs may not be up to date,” McCutcheon says.

Technology improving risk modelling

“The good news is we have better tools and data available to the industry than ever before,” McCutcheon adds.

Advances in property intelligence, including the use of aerial and streetscape imagery and other location-based data, give the industry far greater visibility into risk exposures across their portfolios, he says. These technologies allow insurers to analyze properties based not only on the building itself but also on surrounding environmental risks.

“We’re able to identify which buildings are more prone to risk based on where they’re located and what’s around them that could cause a problem,” McCutcheon says.

This type of portfolio-level analysis allows insurers and brokers to identify properties where valuations may be outdated or where risk exposures require mitigation.

Inspections and appraisals critical

Now, more than ever, onsite inspections and professional appraisals are essential to identify hidden exposures and protecting a book of business, McCutcheon says. “Risk mitigation has always been the best strategy.”

On the commercial side in particular, building owners have greater discretion in choosing policy limits, which can create additional exposure if replacement values are underestimated.

“If a loss occurs and the building owner has taken too big of a gamble in that calculation, they could find themselves facing significant financial pressures,” McCutcheon says. And so, making accurate valuations and updated appraisals are critical to ensuring commercial properties are insured-to-value, he adds.

March 12, 2026
Why CISOs don’t trust cyber insurance — and how the industry can fix it
Some chief information security officers (CISOs) don’t trust cyber insurers because historically it hasn’t felt like a partnership, but there are ways to rebuild trust, says Lindsey Maher, head of global cyber development at CFC.

“It’s common for a CISO to feel insurers reduce their very complex environments to checklists, speak a different language, or show up only at renewal or crisis — and subsequently, CISOs feel judged rather than supported,” Maher tells Canadian Underwriter. “The good news is the industry is shifting: the more we build transparency, context, and collaboration into the relationship, the faster that mistrust disappears.”

This mistrust isn’t new, it’s been there since the earliest days of the product, Maher says. “I entered the market in 2010 and feel fairly certain it predates that.”

It comes from two worlds that grew up separately: security teams built around engineering and threat response, and insurers built around risk transfer.

“For years we didn’t share the same language, the same data, or the same expectations, so CISOs often felt judged rather than supported,” she tells CU. “That legacy still lingers, but it’s changing fast.

“As an industry, we’re finally building the shared understanding and transparency that turns insurance from a checkbox into a genuine partner in resilience.”

Maher addressed the issue in a Feb. 25 LinkedIn post, Why CISO’s Distrust Cyber Insurance — and How to Fix It.

There can even be accusations that insurers are just looking for ways not to pay claims. “If you work in cyber insurance, you know the narrative simply isn’t true,” she writes in the post. “We’ve been transparent about our claims acceptance rate (now 99.4%), and we know many of our peers have similar numbers.

“Yet every week, another LinkedIn post goes viral accusing insurers of playing ‘gotcha’ with claims.”

The irony is that CISOs are the very people cyber insurers are trying to protect.

Sources of disconnect

The problem stems from several sources:

Cyber underwriters often pursue some of the toughest security certifications in the world just to speak the same language as CISOs — only to turn around and dictate what their security posture ‘should’ be. “That dynamic breeds tension, not trust,” Maher writes.

CISOs don’t hate controls; they hate when insurers evaluate them in a vacuum. ‘MFA everywhere’ sounds great — unless operational constraints or compensating controls achieve the same outcome. A company can have every control and still get breached, or have fewer controls and remain resilient. When insurers reduce complex environments to checklists, CISOs feel unheard and oversimplified, Maher says.

Cyber policies are complex and when read like legal puzzles, fear of hidden exclusions grows, Maher writes.

Claims can feel like negotiations not lifelines. The initial incident response time is a coveted award of who can respond the fastest and who can mitigate the quickest. “Followed by a lengthy and painful business interruption adjustment process that doesn’t line up.”

To rebuild trust, the insurance industry should shift from ‘checklist underwriting’ to ‘risk-based underwriting,’ Maher writes. “Binary yes/no questionnaires don’t reflect real‑world environments. Underwriting should be a qualitative dialogue — the kind only a human can have, especially in an era where AI threatens to automate everything else, including underwriting.”

The industry should also explain why a control matters and how it affects premiums. By sharing loss data and rewarding improvements, transparency can turn suspicion into collaboration.

“Cyber insurers should be shouting their claims acceptance rates from the rooftops!” Maher writes. “Yet every week, another LinkedIn post goes viral accusing insurers of playing ‘gotcha’ with claims.”

Policies need to be in plain language, rather than legalese, she says. For example, include explicit definitions of what’s meant by ‘as soon as reasonable,’ what constitutes a systemic event, and clear examples of what is and isn’t covered.

It’s also important to highlight the personal liability CISOs face. “Avoiding punitive language and offering clarity around protections can transform insurance from a threat into a safeguard.”

Integrating insurance with security improvements can help. The best insurers already offer bundled or discounted tools, shifting insurance from a passive risk transfer mechanism to an active security accelerator.

“For SMEs, this can be the reason they buy cyber insurance full stop,” writes Maher. “For CISOs at larger companies, it’s the way they differentiate between who they place their business with.”

She says cyber insurance and cybersecurity are two halves of the same mission: protecting organizations from existential digital threats.

“Yet somewhere along the way, we allowed miscommunication, complexity, and misaligned incentives to fracture that relationship…Something is fundamentally wrong if the very people we’re trying to protect feel alienated from us.

“And something powerful can happen when we fix that.”
March 11, 2026
How to protect private education providers

Managing risk while maintaining a healthy bottom line is a goal for brokers, underwriters and clients alike. The challenge is ensuring the right balance between what a client needs and may be able to do without — or have to go without when budgets are tight.

Education is no different. That said, schools have some unique risks. Among them, student and workplace safety and, in the context of many private schools, international travel.

“There tends to be a lot of off-campus activity with private schools,” says Jeannie Wiens, director of national programs for Westland Insurance Group. “Known as transformative learning opportunities, they often take place off campus including out of province.

“This requires us to work as a partner alongside our schools to mitigate and manage this type of risk. The goal is to keep our schools and students as safe as possible and not be a barrier to potential learning opportunities.”

Range of risk

Other risks in private schools are similar to exposures associated with public schools, which tend to self-insure or engage in province-wide reciprocal exchanges. Policies for private education entities typically consist of coverages such as abuse liability, business interruption, crime, commercial property, directors and officers coverage, and more.

No matter how customized the underwriting solution, Wiens says educators’ liability is paramount, so it is embedded into every policy on Westland’s exclusive school program.

Career colleges add a unique wrinkle to private education policies. Given the opportunities in college for practicum work, Wiens says workplaces are typically far more stringent when it comes to considering having a student on site. Health authorities, for example, may require professional liability insurance, even though students are not yet classified as professionals in their chosen fields.

Westland currently provides education coverage to close to 200 private schools and career colleges in Canada, almost all of them west of Ontario. Wiens says Ontario is a target market Westland intends to grow as part of their National Programs strategy.

Claims patterns

What are typical claims underwriters may see in private schools and colleges?

“Most of the claims we see are around employment practices liability,” says Wiens. “Employees feel they were wrongfully terminated or, in cases of faith-based schools, where people may sue for discrimination.”

These cases make up about half of all claims in the sector. The severity of the claims depends on individual circumstances. In one example Wiens shares, a claimant alleges wrongful dismissal costs of $11,000 in damages and legal costs. In another, the claimant sues for $100,000 in damages and $25,000 in legal fees.

The balance of claims is divided about equally between water losses versus everything else.

“Water claims are an especially big concern on the West Coast,” Wiens says. “Since COVID-19, we have learned so many meteorological terms. Atmospheric rivers to heat domes. Global warming has made bigger sways with the weather changes, and we are seeing more water claims for our private schools and colleges.”

Examples of the remaining 25% of claims include wrongful expulsion cases won and lost, and a third-party bodily injury when a parent fell in a school parking lot. Wiens also cites a class action lawsuit in which nursing students sued a private college for breach of contract and duty of care, a case with alleged damages in excess of $1.5 million.

With so many risks to consider, brokers need to have proactive conversations with prospective and existing clients. “Insurance is a partnership, not a transaction,” Wiens stresses. “Brokers need to have meaningful discussions throughout the year with clients and not just get in contact at renewal.

“Things can change. The more often we talk and connect, the better partners we will become, which in turn creates long-term loyalty for everyone involved.”

March 11, 2026
Winter storm bringing freezing rain, heavy snow sweeping into Ontario, Quebec

MONTREAL – A winter storm is sweeping across Central Canada and headed toward the Atlantic region, bringing a mix of heavy rain, freezing rain or significant snowfall depending on the region.

In Toronto, police said flooding had been reported in North York, East York, and Scarborough, and officers warned motorists to exercise caution while driving. Environment Canada said water will likely pool on roads and low-lying areas and asked residents to watch for washouts near rivers, creeks, and culverts.

Ontario’s power utility said about 32,652 customers were without electricity on Wednesday morning. The southern part of the province was forecast to receive between 20 to 40 millimetres of rain, possibly more in areas hit by thunderstorms. Areas further north, including Timmins, was expected to get between 10 to 20 centimetres of snow.

Southern Quebec, from the Outaouais region and up the St. Lawrence Valley to Quebec City, was forecast to receive between 20 to 30 mm of freezing rain from the storm, which could last up to 24 hours. Further north in Quebec, heavy snow is expected, with 20 to 30 cm forecast in Charlevoix, Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, and the Lower St. Lawrence, and up to 40 cm along the Côte-Nord.

The storm was forecast to move into New Brunswick Wednesday afternoon, bringing between 15 to 25 cm of snow and ice pellets in the northern half of the province, and up to 10 mm of freezing rain in the south.

Property damage, power outages possible

Environment Canada warned that the accumulating ice could disrupt travel, damage property, and cause power outages. As of about 10 a.m., Hydro-Québec had not yet reported any customers without electricity.

Montreal’s public transit agency said on social media that most buses were running on schedule Wednesday morning, but drivers were adjusting their driving to ensure passengers safety. The greater Montreal area’s REM light-rail network said it had adjusted operations and schedules and urged passengers to check service updates before travelling.

Quebec’s Transport Department asked people to postpone non-essential travel. “If you have to take the road, it’s really important to adjust your speed to the weather and road conditions,” department spokesperson Alexandra Houde said in an interview.

Many Quebec school boards cancelled classes on Wednesday in anticipation of the storm.

Air travel in the country is being disrupted as well. At Montreal and Quebec City airports, early morning flights departed normally, but dozens of later departures had been cancelled by mid-morning. Eric Forest, a spokesperson for Montréal Trudeau International Airport, said more than a third of flights scheduled for Wednesday had been cancelled.

Forest said airport “teams are on the job, clearing the runways and taxiways and de-icing the surfaces. We have begun spreading de-icing products on the runways.” Travellers are being advised to check flight schedules with their airline before heading to the airport and to allow extra time for travel.

The storm is also affecting cultural events. A concert by the rock band Journey scheduled for Wednesday night at Montreal’s Bell Centre has been postponed to Friday, promoter Evenko said, citing weather-related travel disruptions.

Meteorologists say the system could resemble the major ice storm that hit parts of southern Quebec in April 2023, when some areas — including Montreal — received about 30 mm of freezing rain.

—with files from Kathryn Mannie in Toronto.

March 11, 2026
How U.S. hardening cyber insurance market affects other global markets

The U.S. cyber insurance industry is entering into a hardening market phase, which is impacting other markets outside Canada’s southern neighbour, a CFC cyber expert said last week during a webinar.

It’s difficult to talk about the cyber market as if it’s one cohesive ecosystem anymore, says James Burns, CFC’s global head of cyber. The industry has matured and developed into distinct markets in each territory in which CFC operates, including the United Kingdom, U.S., Canada and Australia, among others.

“But there is a definite distinction to be made between what’s happening, I think, in the U.S. market and what’s happening outside of the U.S. market,” Burns says during CFC’s webinar, The inside cyber scoop: What brokers need to know in 2026. “What’s happening there [in the U.S.] is directly affecting what’s happening in the rest of the world.”

For one, the U.S. market is still hyper-competitive, Burns says. He says he’s heard 200 insurers or MGAs are providing cyber insurance in the U.S., but “based on the feedback that I’ve had, I think the true number is more like 80 markets that the U.S. brokers are actively using in a meaningful way.

“But that’s still incredibly high, and it’s created sustained downward pressure on cyber rates for two-and-a-half years now,” Burns adds. “At the same time, cyber loss activity has ticked up, which means that U.S. cyber portfolios have been getting less and less profitable, to the point now where the U.S. market as a whole has likely moved into unprofitable territory.”

Burns says the industry has started to see rates rise in the U.S., particularly for more established markets with large renewal books. At the same time, there’s been an abundance of capacity competing for new business. “So, we’re not quite in hard market territory yet, but there’s lots of people who sense that that’s coming.”

Moving into other territories

How does this dynamic impact non-U.S. markets?

Insurers and MGAs that have been playing in the U.S. market have been actively moving into other territories, particularly in the U.K., Australia and Europe, Burns says.

“And they’ve been doing that to access new markets where pricing has been less driven down by the hyper-competitive environment that we’ve seen in the U.S.,” he says. “And the irony of that, of course, is that those markets are now becoming more competitive, and they’re starting to soften at a slightly quicker rate as well.”

The upside is that cyber books in the U.K., Australia and Europe are generally more profitable, and those markets also have lower cyber penetration rates, particularly in the small- and medium-sized enterprise space. The same could be said of the Canadian cyber market. “The product is becoming more accessible to non-buyers, because the price point has been decreasing, and what we have seen is that this is helping to drive growth, drive demand,” Burns says.

He identifies three trends most influencing cyber market pricing right now: capacity, competition and claims.

Reinsurance capacity is at an all-time high. Over the past few years, that has fuelled new cyber MGAs, new Lloyd’s syndicates writing cyber (or new cyber teams within existing Lloyd’s syndicates), and new cyber teams at insurers who weren’t previously writing cyber, Burns says.

The greater the availability of capacity or supply, the greater the downward pressure on pricing. Abundant reinsurance capacity also means there are more reinsurance products onto which cyber insurers can transfer perceived systemic event exposure, Burns says.

Since there’s abundant capacity supplying competitive players, more markets are offering cyber insurance than a few years ago. These markets compete with each other to win business, which has driven new product innovations and improvements to services available within the cyber policy. “But it’s also driven down price, and it’s one of the biggest influences that we are seeing on pricing — those competition levels,” Burns says.

A counterbalance to this is claims: cyber claims activity has increased over the past year. “In the U.S., where it’s starting to lead to a response through rate rises, but also outside of the U.S., where I think it acts as a bit of a break on rate softening that we’re seeing in other, more profitable territories.”

March 10, 2026
Major ice storm headed to southern Quebec

Environment Canada says a “potentially critical” ice storm is heading for southern Quebec starting Wednesday.

According to a special weather statement, the region can expect 20 to 30 millimetres of freezing rain over 24 hours.

The storm could “paralyze” transportation, the weather agency says.

It adds the accumulation of ice can increase the risk of breaking tree branches and cause prolonged power outages.

Meteorologist Giselle Dookhie says the freezing rain is expected to start Tuesday overnight into Wednesday.

“The last time I’ve seen any freezing events like this it was like back in 2023,” she told The Canadian Press. “What makes this event a concern is the extended period of freezing rain.”

Hydro-Québec says it is monitoring the situation and will prepare over the next couple of days.

The weather is expected to remain cold in the days following the storm, which will complicate and delay the full return to normal services.

Cleanup of felled trees could be slow, Dookhie added, with blowing snow and winds in the forecast.

Though the south of the province will be hit hardest, all of Quebec and parts of Atlantic Canada will be affected by the storm, she said.

The Lac-Saint-Jean and surrounding areas to the north will have more snowy conditions, with up to 40 centimetres of snow expected.

“The system really does translate east and it’s going to start affecting the Maritimes and then going up along the Quebec lower North shore,” said Dookhie.

The Eastern Townships, where snowpack is still high from a recent snowfall, could see localized flooding, Dookhie says.

Environment Canada will issue more weather warnings in the coming days.

March 10, 2026
Tips for brokers selling cyber insurance

Understanding a client’s specific cyber exposure — and raising cyber insurance throughout the policy term — can go a long way in helping sell the product, an industry professional said last week during a webinar.

“The brokers…[that] keep growing year over year don’t wait to have the discussion about the need for cyber insurance at the renewal period, which I think is very tempting to be fair,” says Kelly McGuinness, cyber, tech and professional liability development leader for CFC in Canada. “Oftentimes brokers are dealing with hundreds of clients, and they don’t have the time necessarily to talk to them mid-term about the potential exposures that exist.

“But I found that brokers who have the conversation throughout the policy term for their other coverage find a lot of success when they bring up the conversation around cyber insurance.”

McGuiness made her comments during the CFC webinar, The inside cyber scoop: What brokers need to know in 2026. She was responding to a question from webinar host Lindsey Maher, CFC’s head of global cyber development, about what differentiates the brokers McGuiness works with who are “consistently winning cyber deals, from those who struggle.”

Another tip is to not overcomplicate selling cyber insurance, McGuiness says. “If brokers take the time to know what the client’s exposures are from a cyber perspective, and walk them through a claim situation for their specific company, they help to make what’s perceived to be intangible risk a little bit more tangible.”

This means becoming an expert in specific industry verticals, she says. For example, if a client works in construction, it would be a good start for brokers to understand the general cyber exposures for construction companies, learn the claims examples and then roll that out in the industry vertical before moving to the next one.

And given that almost all Canadian businesses are small- to medium-sized enterprises (with 90%-to-95% falling below $250 million in revenue), no opportunity is too small for brokers, McGuiness says. “You have to get into the weeds and make sure that no opportunity is too small to actually take on.”

It’s also important to work collaboratively with underwriters to get a better understanding of cyber risks and the expectations underwriters have from company to company and risk to risk, McGuiness says. “Picking up the phone and talking to an underwriter is one of the most efficient ways to actually learn and then regurgitate that information back to the client.”

Lastly, brokers should be “coverage focused, not price focused,” she says. This means focusing on the value of the coverage, emphasizing what’s important to the client and how shortfalls of some policies won’t cover them in the event of a claim, versus focusing on pricing changes year over year.

AI-enabled attacks

Some clients may not realize how easy it’s become for cybercriminals to target an organization, particularly with AI-enabled attacks.

Another webinar speaker says when he started more than 20 years ago as an ethical hacker, it used to take months or even years to identify an attack path for an organization.

Jason Hart, managing director of CFC’s Proactive Cyber and Global Security Services, says he first had to identify all the employees within the organization, the attack surface, internet-connected devices and associated processes. Then he had to bring the people, technology and processes together to look for weaknesses or potential areas of attack.

“What if I was to tell you now I could do that in five milliseconds using a simple tool [such] as ChatGPT?” Hart asks.

Anybody could ask ChatGPT about a company’s attack surface, domain name system or external assets. The AI tool can also tell if the company has the right encryption certificates and other configuration settings. Then ask it about all the employees at an organization and their interests.

“Now I have all that you can [say]…‘Could you create a phishing email for some X number of employees?’ Craft a phishing email and it would send it and all of that done…in two minutes,” Hart says. “It’s just an evolution. AI is building on top of ways that hackers have gained access to an organization over time.”

March 9, 2026