Evan Solomon is the publisher of GZERO Media and a member of Eurasia Group’s Management Committee. He is excited to grow the GZERO brand with engaging new offerings and partnerships that help viewers around the globe better understand the rapidly changing world in which they live.
Evan has been one of Canada’s preeminent journalists for more than 25 years. Prior to joining GZERO, he was the host of CTV’s nightly political program "Power Play" and of Canada’s most-watched political TV show, the Sunday morning "Question Period." He also hosted "The Evan Solomon Show," a daily iHeartRadio/Bell Media radio program.
Evan has a long history of building brands and creating programs, starting as the co-founder of the pioneering Shift Magazine, an international digital culture magazine, and as the founder of the Sirius XM show and podcast "Everything is Political." He has also hosted the PBS series "Masters of Technology" and CBC shows such as "Power and Politics," "CBC News: Sunday," "The House," and "FutureWorld." Evan has reported on events from around the world, covering Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and he has interviewed key political figures, from prime ministers and presidents to the Dalai Lama. Evan’s best-selling books include "Fueling the Future: How the Battle Over Energy is Changing Everything" and "Feeding the Future: From Fat to Famine, How to Solve the World’s Food Crisis.” He has also been a columnist for Macleans and The Globe and Mail.
One of Eurasia Group’s Top Risks is El Nino, the climate warming event that is triggering storms, floods, and fires and helping make this the warmest year on record. This will come as no surprise to most of you, who are either prepping for a weather event right now or having flashbacks to choking on smoke from the Canadian wildfires. The politics of climate change get repetitive and, frankly, can be boring— “yeah, yeah, we need to do something about global warming, but dude, have you seen the cost of housing these days …” Fair point. which is why the connection between the real cost of weather events and housing is so critical to keep in mind.
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Canada’s insured damage from natural disasters and severe weather events in 2023 topped CA$3 billion dollars for the second year in a row. It was the fourth-worst year in history, and the effects are driving up the costs of insurance.
And this is where it gets scary. Right now, more than 1.5 million homes can’t get affordable flood insurance, IBC says. If risk costs for fires and floods go up much more, some places in North America will simply be uninsurable – unless governments step in, and that is truly costly. In a time when there is a housing shortage and costs are already sky-high, how can people build or buy a home if they can’t get insurance?
“As homeowners struggle with affordability challenges across Canada and the US, rising insurance premiums compound their difficulties,” says Craig Stewart, president of IBC. “However, this pales to the financial difficulties they face if insurance is unavailable, they suffer a flood or wildfire, and their home is damaged or destroyed. As climate change–driven events escalate and insured losses increase, insurers are taking a much closer look with improved data and, in some cases, AI, to flag high-risk regions of North America. New builds in high-risk areas will face difficulty in getting insurance and, possibly, financing as these trends continue.”
Insurers are looking at the last El Nino event in 2009-2010, where, in places like California, there were over 6,000 wildfires. Rates are now so high that many homeowners there can’t get affordable insurance.
So, the El Nino storm doesn’t just mean worrying that the roof over your head might get blown away – it’s that you might not be able to get a roof at all.
