Canadian Surety and Canada West Insurance have jointly launched two new insurance products, Home Assistance and Legal Information Line.

Canadian Surety and Canada West are both members of the AGF Assurances Generales de France group of companies.

Home Assistance provides policyholders with emergency babysitters, visiting nurses, homemakers and housekeepers.

It is available within a 200-kilometre radius of major cities in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Legal Information Line is a phone service manned by professional lawyers, who will answer an unlimited number of questions related to most personal matters.

Monica V. Lapkoff, assistant vice-president director of communications for Canadian Surety/Canada West, says Home Assistance is the ‘first program of its kind in North America.’

Among the features being offered is a total of 15 days of babysitting a year to cover child illness.

Lapkoff says the cost of the new products to policyholders is about $10 yearly on top of the average homeowner policy of $350 yearly.

Canadian Surety and Canada West have backed the new programs with ads in the insurance trade press and are considering co-op ads in conjunction with independent insurance brokers. PA