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VICTORIA — B.C.’s Auditor General should probe the worsening financial problems at the Insurance Corp. of B.C., says the Opposition NDP.

NDP critic Adrian Dix wrote to Auditor General Carol Bellringer on Monday, urging her to examine the government’s financial withdrawals from ICBC and the implications to ratepayers.

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ICBC released last week a hypothetical scenario that could see rates rise as much as 42 per cent by 2020, if the corporation can’t reduce claims and injury costs. That scenario, which the government described as “worst case” was built using revenue and investment assumptions dictated by the B.C. Utilities Commission, which ICBC said wasn’t an accurate or fair way to forecast its finances.

“More disconcerting than that, ICBC’s 42% forecast depends on $1.5 billion falling from the sky,” Dix wrote in his letter to Bellringer.

“Over the past few years, the Liberal government has scooped $2.6 billion from ICBC’s optional capital intended to pay for claims on the optional side of the business — $1.2 billion to government coffers and $1.4 billion to basic insurance capital.