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Scheer accused of breaking law, falsely claiming he was once an insurance broker

Sep 30, 2019 | 2:39 AM

OTTAWA — The Liberals are asking Saskatchewan’s insurance industry watchdogs to investigate Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer for allegedly falsely claiming he once worked as an insurance broker in that province.

Biographies of Scheer posted on the Conservative party’s current website and his past MP and leadership websites have repeatedly referred to the Conservative leader as a one-time insurance broker in Saskatchewan.

But the Globe and Mail reported on the weekend that it could find no evidence that Scheer ever received the accreditation necessary to practice as an insurance broker in the province.

Scheer clarified Saturday, saying: “I did receive my accreditation. I left the insurance office before the licensing process was finalized.”

However, the Liberals are pointing out that it’s illegal under the Saskatchewan Insurance Act for anyone without a licence to act as a broker or “hold himself out” to be a broker.

In a letter Sunday to Saskatchewan’s superintendent of insurance and the chair of the Insurance Councils of Saskatchewan, which regulates the industry, Liberal MP Marco Mendicino says Scheer “appears to have publicly and repeatedly misrepresented himself to Canadians by falsely claiming he was once an insurance broker in Saskatchewan.”

He provides numerous examples of Scheer being described as a one-time insurance broker.

“As the authorities responsible for enforcing the law and the rules, I urge you to investigate immediately and take appropriate action,” Mendicino writes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2019.

 

The Canadian Press