Canada’s insurance industry has endured three straight years of record-breaking natural catastrophes, from wildfires in Western Canada to torrential rains in Toronto and Quebec and severe windstorms across multiple regions. While 2025 has so far been less severe, insurers expect climate volatility to keep intensifying.
Jean-François Chalifoux (pictured), president and CEO of Beneva, said the frequency and severity of weather-related events are certain to rise in the coming years and decades, shaping how carriers manage exposure and plan for resilience.
“We do strongly believe that in the global landscape, Canada is relatively well positioned to tackle climate change,” Chalifoux told Insurance Business. “But we definitely expect… the frequency and severity [of] weather-related events to go up in the coming years and decades, and it is also impacting our operations.”
Chalifoux stressed that, unlike parts of the US where insurers are retreating from wildfire and flood-prone areas, Canadian carriers are not exiting high-risk markets. However, he said catastrophe trends are forcing strategic adjustments – from expanding geographic reach to accelerating investments in technology.
For Beneva, its merger with Gore Mutual represents a central part of this climate resilience strategy. Chalifoux noted that Beneva’s property and casualty business has historically been concentrated in Quebec, leaving the insurer more exposed when major storms hit the province. Partnering with Gore Mutual, which has a broader national footprint, creates an opportunity to diversify exposure across Canada.
“To be able to spread the risks nationally makes a lot of sense for us,” Chalifoux said. “It will allow us to smooth the impact when there's a storm in a region, to have the capacity, both operational and human, to support each region and to support each other.”
The combination of Beneva and Gore Mutual will create a unified organization with more than 6,100 employees, serving 3.8 million members and customers. The merged company will have approximately CA$8 billion in total premiums and CA$27 billion in assets. Beneva said the move will solidify its position as the seventh-largest insurer in Canada by total premium, the tenth-largest property and casualty insurer nationwide, and the third-largest P&C player in Quebec.
Technology also forms a critical pillar of Beneva’s climate strategy. Chalifoux pointed to artificial intelligence as a way to strengthen catastrophe response, particularly in accelerating claims. “We’re considering the importance of having sophisticated… artificial intelligence tools to be able to smooth the impact and expedite the claims processes when catastrophic events occur,” he explained.
Faster claims handling, supported by AI, can ease the strain on operations during peak disaster periods while helping customers recover more quickly, he said.
Beyond climate resilience, affordability and workforce health remain central priorities for Beneva. Chalifoux said the insurer is working “extremely hard to mitigate rising plan costs,” particularly in group health, where inflationary pressures have persisted for more than a decade and were further accelerated by the pandemic.
He pointed to a series of measures Beneva has implemented to contain drug costs, including mandatory transitions to biosimilars, agreements with pharmaceutical companies covering more than 100 targeted molecules, and prior authorization and step-therapy programs. Beneva also invests heavily in clinical expertise, maintaining a pharmaceutical team of over 20 professionals – including pharmacists, nurses, and technicians – who work directly with plan members managing chronic conditions, Chalifoux said.
Artificial intelligence is also being leveraged to make fraud detection more precise. Rather than relying on random audits, Beneva uses data-driven AI tools to identify potentially fraudulent claims, improving outcomes and reducing unnecessary costs.
At the same time, Chalifoux stressed the importance of supporting plan members’ well-being through access to care. Beneva offers programs such as workplace health services, telemedicine, and wellness initiatives that aim to keep employees healthier and more productive while easing long-term cost pressures.
“This is a multi-stakeholder effort,” he said, noting that plan sponsors, members, insurers, and providers must work together to balance affordability with access. “It’s important that we manage inflation together… to make sure products remain affordable for the ultimate payers, whether that’s the sponsor or the plan member – and quite often it’s a mix of both.”
