Finance Minister Pat Nelson says the rollback will ensure Alberta drivers are paying rates that are comparable with the ones paid by motorists in other western provinces.

Bruce Cran, the president of the Consumers' Association of Canada, says it will take more than a five per cent cut to put Alberta on equal footing.

"Should I die laughing, it's absolutely an insult to even suggest that," he says. "Albertans are paying, by far, the highest rates in Western Canada and they are also among the highest in Canada."

Cran says rates would have to go down by much more than five per cent to make Alberta comparable to provinces with public auto insurance systems.

"British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are substantially less," he says. "And if you want to look at a place like Lloydminster on the border, some people have a choice of taking either. You'll find that people in that area would give you some pretty horrified looks if you suggested five per cent was going to make a difference."

The New Democrat's Brian Mason is also saying five per cent will do little to help drivers.

"This is a joke," he says. "This five per cent comes on the heals of an increase of over 40 per cent in the last couple of years. They locked in the highest insurance rates in Western Canada."

Mason says the five per cent is even less significant on closer examination, because it only affects certain components of car insurance, such as personal liability.

A spokesperson for the car insurance industry confirms that the five per cent is actually only about two per cent off your total insurance bill.

That reduction is expected to come into effect in the fall.

Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan government is releasing a study Wednesday that shows people in Alberta are paying a high cost for things such as car insurance, electricity and natural gas.

The study compared those living in rural, urban and northern communities and found that no matter where Albertans live, they pay more than people in other western provinces for utilities and car insurance.

(Story reprinted in part from www.cbc.ca)

Consumers' Association Calls On Alberta Government To Return To The Drawing Board on Auto Insurance May 25, 2004 - Press Release

(Picture Courtesy of FreeFoto.com)