Advocacy Issues Facing Our Members
I have taken important Advocacy issues that are facing our members in part from the Advocacy section of the Advocis website and also from Peter Tzanetakis, Vice President, Government and Corporate Relations, Advocis.
Advocis is working tirelessly for you in the best interests of your Practice and the Canadian consumer.
Alberta Advocacy
Raising the Professional Bar
Advocis is working with the Alberta government and its regulatory bodies, and is seeking to build consensus on alternative regulatory approaches to protect consumers, which includes raising the professional bar for all financial advisors and giving more responsibility to professional associations with codes of professional and ethical conduct and high proficiency standards to oversee the provision of professional financial advice.
Advisor Incorporation
Advocis is expecting legislation allowing for mutual fund and securities advisors to incorporate by the end of the year or early next year.
Advocis is taking a leadership role in the establishment of a consistent and permanent solution allowing advisors to incorporate and flow commissions to corporations without any potential tax exposure.
Federal Advocacy
Advocis made a number of key recommendations in its 2013 Federal Pre-budget Submission in public policy areas directly impacting financial advisors at their clients.
Link to the Pre-Budget submission: http://www.advocis.ca/secure/govt-relations/letters/let-HonJamesFlaherty-Federal-oct12.pdf
The key recommendations included:
Removing Red Tape Initiative – CRTC Anti-spam/ AML /FINTRAC
Details on Bill 28 and recent submissions made by Advocis National can be found:
http://www.advocis.ca/regulatory-affairs/RA-grid.html
http://www.advocis.ca/regulatory-affairs/advisorVoice.html
http://www.advocis.ca/regulatory-affairs/submissions.html
The government should develop a strategy aimed at reducing federal regulatory red tape for small business financial advisors, and should work with Advocis in that regard.
Pension and Retirement Income Reform
The government should continue to make pension and retirement income reform a key public policy priority and encourage provincial governments to introduce the necessary enabling legislation to establish Pooled Registered Pension Plans. In this context, Advocis believes that consumers should have access to professional financial advice when they participate in PRPPs.
Summary
Advocis members build long-lasting relationships with their clients based on trust.
Canadians need professional advice in order to achieve their financial goals and lead to good financial outcomes. The value of our work as trusted advisors should never be diminished.
I encourage you to register for our upcoming Advocis Sales Congress, Thursday May 23rd at the Deerfoot Inn. The Program Committee has put together an impressive Agenda and is appropriately titled: ‘Whitewater Ahead – Navigating through Uncertainty”
Remember - ‘non solis noblis’ - not for ourselves alone.
Best regards,
Michael Bibby, CFP, CLU, CHS
President, Advocis Calgary Chapter
