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TORONTO – Ontario is making a regulatory change that will more easily allow auto insurance companies to provide breaks to their customers because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The change will allow insurance companies to provide auto insurance premium rebates to consumers for up to 12 months after the emergency has ended.

Finance Minister Rod Phillips says he will be watching to see companies’ responses.

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Phillips says Ontario isn’t dictating a certain percentage of rebate for companies to provide, but he says it needs to be “commensurate with the scale of duress that Ontario families are under.”

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He says some companies have already done this, and the province wants to make it as easy as possible for drivers to receive discounts because so few people are driving right now.

The NDP has called on the Ontario government to mandate a three-month, 50 per cent discount on auto insurance.