Not necessarily astronomical prices, but very likely higher than the retail market. Price is dependant on driving/safety record.
Because the government legislated that everyone must have insurance to license a vehicle to drive on a public road, then everyone must have access to an insurance policy. Since the government cannot legislate that a private company must take on undue risk, the Facility Insurance Policy (FIP) was born. Even though the FIP is backed by the fiduciary concerns of private sector insurance companies, it is administered by the government and therefore protected from lawsuits, which is the very reason private insurance companies would not take on undue risk in the first place.
The premise of the FIP is this ... you have an excellent driving record and I have an exceptionally poor driving record. You and I both go to the private sector for insurance, and under the law the private sector must provide us both a quote. You get a quote for $5,000.00 and I get a quote for $60,000.00, annually. Either of us can go to the FIP where you get a quote for $7,000.00 and I get a quote for $20,000.00, annually. Your increased rate is helping to fund my decrease rate. Clearly you are going with the private sector, and I am going with the FIP.
Besides price, there are huge policy differences. Your policy with the private sector covers everything under the sun. My policy with FIP only covers me driving my vehicle, and only for PL & PD. I am not even sure that the FIP even covers accident benefits, even though they are legislated ... someone will have to fact check me on that.
It's up to the buyer to determine if the cost of insurance versus the convenience of driving is worth it.
Throw lying, cheating, and stealing by unscrupulous brokers and their clients into the mix and you have the perfect recipe for insurance disaster. I would expect the potential unfunded liability would stretch into the billions of dollars. Were the private insurance companies to be held to that unfunded liability, after what would be epic lawsuits of unfathomable time and expense, I would have every expectation that private insurance policies would simply withdraw from the Canadian market altogether.
Thankfully the government now appears to have seen the errors of their ways, and have decided to adopt the best practices of the private sector insurance companies.
Remember ... Everyone is entitled to an insurance policy. No one is entitled to a cheap insurance policy ... you have to earn that.