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Standing up for O akville Home Values up 28% accountability Dollars & Sense Peter Watson Guest Contributor 1 7 |Thursday May 2 5 , 2 0 1 7 | O A K V ILLE B EA V ER |www.insidehalton.com ccountability is im portant in an ad vanced society. We are about to see two exam ples of it in the near future. One here and one south of the border. Our value system is based on the concept of fairness. Good things should happen, but when they don't, there needs to be an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and a correc tion of poor behaviour. Correcting poor behav iour can take many forms. Punishment, or the an ticipation of punishment, passing new laws and regu lations, and even public shaming can have an effect on behaviour. Sometimes it is a combination of these. Recently thousands of employees from the top five Canadian banks com plained about being forced to use unethical and illegal tactics to meet unrealistical ly high sales targets. CBCs Go Public broke the story. If these alleged activi ties occurred it is fair there should be repercussions, both punitive and new regulations for oversight. There are two compelling questions regarding ac countability in this case. Did banks use inappro priate pressure tactics to force bad behaviour from employees? Did the regu latory body responsible for policing banks fail to do its jch? Next month, Parlia ment' s fnance committee will start investigating. It will hear from the banks and government depart ments that have the respon sibility of overseeing bank activities. I can't help won dering who will speak on behalf of the anonymous bank employees. It will be interesting to learn more about these al- A leged wrongdoings. It will be equally inter esting to gauge the pub lic' s reaction should any of Canada' s top fnancial in stitutions be found to have engaged in poor behaviour. Accountability will also take centre stage in the United States over allega tions that President Donald Trump' s actions could lead to impeachment. Its hard to be specifc on all the allegations because every few days the list seems to grow. However, after the evidence is in, if there has been any wrong doing, he should be held accountable. How is all this relevant to us, and will it have an influ ence on how people receive fnancial advice and learn about fnancial products? There are plenty of signifcant issues being dis cussed that affect the f nancial services industry. These include advisors putting client' s interests above their own, remov ing embedded commis sions from mutual funds, and fully disclosing costs of fnancial services and prod ucts like mutual funds. With public focus on accountability and good behaviour due to the news worthy stories, my predic tion is that those working hard behind the scenes to correct poor behaviour, and advance the fnancial ser vices industry, will have a receptive audience. My hope is we will see signifcant advancements to the governance of the f nancial services industry in the near future. -- submitted by Peter Watson o f Peter Watson Investments and Aligned Capital Partners Inc., MBA, CFP, R.FP, CIM, F C S I, Cer tified Financial Planner ENERGY STAR Enbridge Home Energy Conservation Program G ET UP TO $ 2 1 0 0 IN REBATES EASY PAYMENT FRO M PLANS On Your Enbridge Gas Bill* EARN 49 h w AIR MILES Reward Miles For booking an in home estimate Visit our Facebook page /CONSUMERSCHOICEWINDOWS ONTARIO'S LEADING HOME IMPROVER CONSUMER'S w IINDOWS &DOORS i n d o w s WWW.CONSUMERSCHOICE.CA C a ll fo r a n o o b lig a tio n e s tim a te o r o u r n e w e s t s h o w ro o m o r k io s k lo c a tio n 1- 8 00 - 565-7366 [ DISCOUNT CODE 99.7% C u s to m e r At your option, Consumers Choice's charges will appear in the Other Companies section of your Enbridge Gas Distribution bill. These offers and claims are made by Consumers Choice alone. Consumers Choice is not owned by or affiliated with Enbridge inc. or Enbridge Gas Distribution. ®TM Trademarks of AIR MILES International Trading B.V. Used under license by LoyaltyOne, Co. and Consumer's ChoiceWindows.