Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in support of Bill S-1001, An Act to authorize Gore Mutual Insurance Company to apply to be continued as a body corporate under the laws of the Province of Quebec. My speech will be very brief.

First of all, I would like to thank the sponsor of the bill, Senator Loffreda, for his explanations concerning the merits of his bill, which seeks to obtain Parliament’s approval for a merger between Gore Mutual, which is federally incorporated, and Beneva, which is incorporated in Quebec.

As my colleague pointed out, the merger will bring together two mutual insurance powerhouses with deep roots in their communities. It will foster innovation and sustainability in Canada’s financial services sector.

Having served as the president of Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada for several years, I recognize and believe in the importance of supporting and strengthening structures that reinvest in communities. Mutual insurance has been deeply established in this country for over 100 years. It plays a key role in the country’s insurance sector. What sets this model apart is the way in which it works: The people who are insured are also the owners of the insurance company. This structure fosters a common interest that benefits both the members and the organization.

In this respect, mutuals stand out from foreign or public insurers, as Senator Loffreda made clear in his speech at second reading. It is particularly important that Canada’s insurance sector remains strong, especially in an uncertain economic and diplomatic context and in the face of the challenges posed by climate change for which our communities must be well prepared.

Bill S-1001 reassures me about the direction these mutuals are taking. I would like to take a brief look back in time to show the extreme consequences that follow when a mutual company weakens to the point of demutualization. In the fall of 2021, the Economical Mutual Insurance Company demutualized.

A handful of individuals who had not helped create the fund or build its wealth over the past 100 years and more got rich for no good reason. I think that was unjust and unfair to a large number of Canadians.

Furthermore, the decision to convert to a stock company owned by a small group of shareholders gave them an immediate and disproportionate financial advantage.

The 700-odd shareholders received half a million dollars simply for being shareholders. They had not built anything up for the company over the many years of its existence.

They divvied up billions of dollars amongst themselves that should have been returned to the communities. At the time, I was incensed, and I wrote several times to the Minister of Finance to ask him to stop the demutualization from going through. Unfortunately, it went forward anyway. I think this was blatantly unfair to all Canadians who had purchased insurance policies from Economical.

The transition to a model where wealth is redistributed to a small number of individuals, in an endless quest for profit, saddens me. This is probably the biggest problem in our society today. People always want more money. When will it be too much? This is all the more regrettable given that the entity’s initial objective, which was to serve communities and ensure a fair distribution of wealth, was deeply laudable. This is what mutual companies and cooperatives are all about.

In light of the principles of fairness, it would have been preferable, in my view, for the Minister of Finance to reject demutualization in this particular case, in accordance with her discretionary powers under the Insurance Companies Act and the Mutual Property and Casualty Insurance Company with Non‑mutual Policyholders Conversion Regulations.

Quebec legislation favours a strong cooperative and mutual sector. Laws in Quebec have long regulated this sector.

It is only natural that the federal company Gore Mutual should seek to be governed by the laws of the province of Quebec, rather than continue to fall under the Insurance Companies Act. The steps taken in this case are reassuring, as they demonstrate a willingness to seize a business opportunity to strengthen and the company and preserve its viability, thereby mitigating the risk of it suffering a fate comparable to that of Economical.

We also know that the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions issued a notice of no objection about this merger and that the Insurance Bureau of Canada considers the merger to be beneficial to consumers.

Considering all these benefits and the support from the appropriate organizations for the merger of Gore Mutual Insurance Company and Beneva, the Senate should support this business decision to strengthen the company’s position by referring the bill to committee as soon as possible.

I invite you to support this legislative proposal to strengthen a business model that is beneficial to the communities and works in a sector that is essential to them, namely, insurance.