The COVID-19 pandemic has already taken a heavy toll on music venues in Ontario, with many in Ottawa closing their doors for good.
For those who survived lockdowns and capacity restrictions, there is now a new threat: Many small and medium-sized venues are facing remarkably large increases in their premiums.
“Canadian Live Music Association,” Erin Benjamin, president and CEO of Canadian Live Music Association, said in an interview with CBC Radio all in a day.
“It’s not all that high, but it’s definitely higher than pre-pandemic amounts.”
Benjamin said many of these policies include terms that are “simply untenable,” such as serving alcohol only in plastic cups or closing by midnight. She said some places are giving up full insurance policies, putting them at risk of bankruptcy if something goes wrong and she ends up being sued.
Benjamin added that the music industry is not only dealing with this reality, but many other companies in the tourism and hospitality sector.
Danish Yosef, insurance broker and CEO of Toronto-based Zensurance, said the exorbitant rates were caused by a “perfect storm” of factors linked to the pandemic.
“Insurance companies tell us claims have gone up, while at the same time, lower [businesses] Being open, fewer in the pool pay to pay the claims afterwards. Then the few left will have to pay more.” all in a day.
“And some insurance companies are leaving the market entirely. So the supply of insurance is also shrinking.”
All in a day12:47Live music venues that have survived COVID may not be able to afford insurance premiums
Ottawa Center MPP Joel Harden, president of the Canadian Music Association Erin Benjamin, and Danesh Yousef, founder and CEO of Zensurance, put their heads together to see what they can do about the high insurance premiums threatening the city’s live music venues. 12:47
MPP send an open letter
Joel Harden, Ottawa NDP MPP Center, said it was “disappointing” to see major insurance companies in Ontario report billions of dollars in profits during the pandemic while brokers and open businesses “can’t get commercial insurance arrangements to meet their needs.”
Harden, whose ride contains several live music venues, said he wrote an open letter to Finance Minister Peter Bethlinvalve calling on the Ontario government to take “immediate action.”
Harden said all in a day The “semi-self-regulatory” insurance industry either needs to offer competitive plans or has to do so by the government in power.
The live music industry has been working on this for 20 months, right from the start [of the pandemic].– Erin Benjamin
“It’s a warning to the industry: If you don’t want to help brokers and small businesses, governments need to force them to act,” Harden said. The national party government.
For now, Benjamin said, the live music industry isn’t asking the boycott to step in and regulate commercial insurers, but rather to come up with some sort of solution.
She said her conversations with the Ford government suggest they understand their plight.
“What we really wish for is some help,” she said.
“The live music industry has been working on this for 20 months, since the beginning [of the pandemic] To try and find some solutions directly with the insurance industry. We didn’t succeed.”
