“It’s an overreach,” Nainesh Kotak on the Emergencies Act suspending trucker’s insurance

Last week the federal government enacted the Emergencies Act, and suspended the insurance of any truckers who were involved in the blockades. Disability and injury lawyer, Nainesh Kotak, tells us that driving an uninsured vehicle can have serious consequences.

Kotak says he thinks the Emergencies Act is an overreach. He says the Emergencies Act- which came out in 1988- is a last resort when local laws and procedures are not working.

“You really need to see subversion, foreign interference, violent threats and threats to overthrow the government,” said Kotak. “The difficulty in Ottawa is the initial allowing of 400 trucks to go in and zero enforcement for the first two weeks or so and then they’re going from zero to 10, escalating to massive enforcement using the act.”

Kotak says he personally thinks the threshold for when to use the Emergencies Act has now been lowered from this point forward.

“It’s very important to note that in Ontario, if you are convicted of driving without valid auto insurance, your insurance company may consider you a “high-risk” driver and charge you higher premiums or refuse to sell you insurance altogether,” said Kotak.

Kotak says there are other consequences of not having insurance on a vehicle.

According to Kotak Law, if you are injured or cause an injury to another person in an accident while driving an uninsured vehicle:

• You may not be entitled to receive income replacement and/or non-earner benefits;
• You may not be allowed to sue the at-fault driver for compensation as a result of injuries received in the accident.
• If you are found to be at fault for an accident causing injury or death to another person, you may be held personally responsible for his/her medical costs and other losses.