Your Comments: Western Financial Group, distracted driving and drugged driving

Thanks to our viewers, it has been another great week at ILSTV. We’ve received some interesting comments from viewers and want to know more about what you think. Share your comments here, on an individual story, or by calling our toll-free comments line at 1-877-703-2713.

Here are a few of this week’s comments of the week.

ILSTV spoke to Renate Mueller, President of AMAC Consultants, Canada’s largest insurance industry M&A consulting firm about the acquisition of Western Financial Group by Desjardins.

Here’s what Wayne Kehl had to say:

Clearly, WFG has a desire to expand in a big way into the financial sector while the insurers who backed them have a greater interest in underwriting than in the brokerage side of the business. Insurers have traditionally done poorly on the direct-sales side in Western Canada so it does not surprise me that those who invested in WFG were not standing in line to buy it out. Desjardins on the other other hand, has a desire to move into Western Canada with an aggressive partner with multiple offices and they found it in WFG. This seems like a natural marriage…the insurers who backed WFG can go back to underwriting and Desjardins can spread their wings in Western Canada. The wild west is an interesting marketplace and I hope Desjardins is up to the challenge. The folks already here will not give up market-share easily….

A guest post by Cst. Tim Schewe (Ret.) questioned BC’s Graduated Licensing Program requirement that a driver must have zero blood alcohol when driving, but there are no “zero drug” rules. Here’s what our reader Spencer had to say:

What about prescribed medicine? There are some heavy prescribed drugs in which people ignore such cold and flu medicine lots of people take them and get behind a wheel even though the warning labels advise not to drive or operate heavy machinery and people will still do so.

And, distracted driving continues to be a hot topic. Reader Peter Warwick chimed in on Alberta’s recent distracted driving law:

In my opinion, and having used work cell phones while driving (60, 000 km/year) since they invented them, the distraction is the conversation you are having. This is no different than talking to someone sitting beside you. You are driving on autopilot, while your mind is concentrating on what you are saying.
I can’t text and drive, I think that is dangerous, but no amount of enforcement will stop it. Instead of running around dispensing tickets, lay additional charges when it is a factor in an accident. That is also a deterrent, is it not?

This begs the question:

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Do you agree or disagree with our commenters? Please do share your thoughts and comments on these stories, or any other. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

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