While Prime Minister Mark Carney has “unequivocally” stated that Canada has no reason to finance new coal projects, the company he once chaired was tied to a business that denied benefits to sick coal miners.
The federal Conservatives launched a new website exposing Brookfield Asset Management and its ties to Rockwood Casualty Insurance, which allegedly profited off of underwriting or denying coverage to workers, to the benefit of coal companies.
In 2023, Carney’s offshore Brookfield Reinsurance, an insurance arm of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. operated outside of Canadian tax and regulation laws while situated in Bermuda. The company bought out Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. for $1.1 billion.
Argo Group was the parent company of Rockwood Casualty Insurance, which specialized in underwriting insurance, including those in mining and the coal industry. The company is involved in fighting several workers in lawsuits launched by coal miners who allege their lungs were injured due to their work.
Environmental groups have protested Argo Group due to its involvement in insuring fossil fuel projects. However, the company has backed out of deals due to the pressure.
“Despite Carney’s insistence on everyone else getting off coal with Rockwood, he was making money by denying black lung treatments and benefits to sick coal miners and their families,” Conservative candidate and former True North host Andrew Lawton said in an attack ad. “Carney and his Brookfield buddy Bruce Flatt saw the insurance business as a cash cow.”
The ad showcased interviews with two former coal miners who are fighting the Brookfield-owned insurance company for medical compensation.
Tony Kourianos, is 75 years old and can only breathe with the help of a tube. Kenneth Philips is 46 years old and has black lung disease. Both had their careers ended after being diagnosed with black lung, an inflammatory disease also known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis.”
Kourianos is fighting to get compensation for his wife once he passes away, while Philips has been fighting the company to pay the costs of the $14,000 a month medication he’s prescribed to treat the workplace-related illness.
“So I’ve been dealing with Rockwood over that whole time trying to get paid for it, and they finally just told me that they weren’t paying for it,” Philips said in the interview.
According to the video, Philips was allegedly completely cut off from coverage by the company in January.
“Another miner, Teddy Wright, died of pancreatic cancer that was hastened by his black lung. His widow, Josie, is still fighting Carney’s company to get her survivors’ benefits,” the Conservative website claimed.
“In a very tragic case, one of the insurance arms of Carney’s company, Brookfield, profited by denying the insurance claims of coal miners dying from black lung,” Poilievre said during a press conference with workers in Ottawa on Friday.
“These are workers who, by breathing in dust in the ground, became extremely sick, and when they went to get the insurance that they had paid for, they were denied by the company that does the insurance for Brookfield, they profited off that,” he said. “In fact, this company lost in court. The court found that the company was wrong.”
Despite losing in some cases, there are still several claims against Rockwood Insurance Company. Conservatives listed their names and showed their cases in the video: Billy Mullins, Dennis McCracken, Robert Lee, Truman Neeper, and Robert Rule.
“But hey, less money spent on these folks, the more Carney and Brookfield get to keep right?” Lawton said in the video.
Carney did not respond when True North asked if he was invested in the company when he placed his assets in a blind trust, continuing his policy of icing out independent media.
“Now Mr. Carney needs to tell us if he’s still invested in a company that abuses workers’ rights and denies coal miners and their widows the benefits that they deserve,” Poilievre said.
“Mark Carney will never stand up for the working people. He will only stand up for the millionaire and billionaire global elites.”