History

The Surety Association of Canada was formed by a group of companies who believed that the surety industry needed a voice that was independent of its cousins in the insurance industry. Until that the Insurance Bureau of Canada had assumed the role of industry advocate for suretyship on behalf of its member firms. This was not an ideal arrangement for two reasons:

The IBC was not representative of the surety industry as some of the largest writers of surety bonds were not members. In fact the bureau represented less than 50 % of the surety writers from coast to coast.
The uniqueness of the surety product and the differing market conditions required an advocacy approach that reflected this uniqueness and an organization that understood and was focussed on surety and its needs.

After lengthy negotiations with IBC the Surety Association of Canada was born on June 1st, 1992.

The first ten years of our association's were marked by key successes including the establishment of the Tender Alert Program and the amendment of the federal Excise Tax Act to allow for more surety-friendly application of GST. The regional committee structure was working well and the association was successful in is membership recruitment and retention to the point where it now represented more than 90% of the premium written in the industry.

By 2002 the construction and surety industries were markedly different from those of ten years earlier. An expanding construction market coupled with the shrinking reinsurance availability brought about by adverse surety results in the United States called for new approaches to new circumstances. While it was apparent that our organization needed to "move to the next level", it was equally clear that the biggest impediment to our ability to rise to these challenges was insufficient resources.

In 2004 the Board of Directors of the Surety Association of Canada approved a new strategic plan to position our association to meet the challenges of the new millennium. Among the highlights of this plan:

A revised fee structure to provide sufficient revenue to adequately meet the expanded expectations of our membership. This includes:
Implementation of an aggressive marketing plan to promote the surety product to users and potential users of our product and ensure that the surety solution is "top of mind" among construction purchasers seeking to manage the risk of contractor failure.
Hiring a Director of Regional Operations to focus on the regional and local issues and provide assistance and backup to the president.
An ability to respond more comprehensively and professionally to mega-challenges which includes sufficient resources to engage consultants and launch comprehensive promotional and government relations campaigns
A revised membership structure to allow for greater participation of brokers and other business groups who are committed to the success of the surety industry.
Expanded participation in the Board of Directors and Executive Committee to allow those committed to the industry to take part in the decision making process.

The Strategic Plan of 2004 was embraced enthusiastically by the membership and the industry at large. Membership in the Association actually increased notwithstanding the increase in membership fees. The Surety Association of Canada now represents 94% of the surety premium written in Canada.

In addition the new structure provided a renewal of purpose and it is no coincidence that the last three years have been the most successful in the history of our association.

More favourable contract and bond terms on construction work across the country through the expansion of our successful "Tender Alert" program (successful bringing about beneficial changes to 84% of the projects addressed).
Significant government relations success leading to the passage of legislation advantageous to the surety industry (e.g. Bill 14 in Ontario improve the Limitation Act, Amendment of the federal Excise Tax Act to insure "surety-friendly" application of GST).
Aggressive promotion of the surety product that has resulted in expanded use of the surety product and the adoption of a surety-only policy by several national construction purchasers including Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes and Sobeys.
Convincing prominent users of surety bonds to adopt more effective and advantageous surety bond language ( B.C. Hydro, Hydro Quebec, Ontario Ministry of Finance, City of Toronto).
Establishment of an intensive university level designation program to assist members in training competent staff.

We are enthusiastically looking forward to the next five years and will continue to build on our successes to ensure a more surety friendly environment for the construction and business communities in Canada.