www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday September 26, 2007 - 5 Chance encounter leads Tory to Oakville for property tax assessment announcement By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Aggi McLaren was working in her front garden on Saturday when one of John Tory's campaign members dropped by to talk about taxes. Two days later, the Oakville senior found herself hosting a roundtable discussion at her home with the Progressive Conservative Party leader. Tory was in town Monday to discuss property taxes, targeting seniors as suffering in the wake of the rising taxes. "Today, many seniors are struggling to make ends meet," Tory, joined by Oakville candidate Rick Byers, told a barrage of media gathered in front of McLaren's home on Lakeshore Rd. E. "They are penalized by a property assessment system that punishes people on fixed incomes most of all." The Tory government pledged to put a five per cent annual cap on property assessment increases for as long as a person owns their home including if the property is transferred to a spouse. Tory said an assessment cap of five per cent is "an historic number" that has been used in years prior, and one he feels is "fair and balanced." Property tax assessments are frozen until the end of this year, a move the McGuinty government made after Ontario's Ombudsman investigated the concerns of homeowners in early 2006. The worry is that once the freeze is off, homeowners will face a major jump in taxes. "He claims to have solved the problem by implementing four-year assessment cycles and assessment averaging," Tory said, standing behind a podium bearing a sign that read `Fair Property Taxes.' "This does nothing more than give seniors and other homeowners an extra John Tory four years to pack their bags." Chair of the Coalition After Property Tax Reform (CAPTR) Bob Topp voiced his organization's concerns during the roundtable discussion. "The big hit will be at the end of this year," Topp said, once the freeze is off. "This area is like parts of Toronto, there's no question. What's going to happen in Oakville, it's inevitable. Some areas will go through the roof, and other areas are going to go up a little bit." Topp said the next assessment will cover a three-year period, so it's an important time to discuss property taxes. This will affect taxes in 2009. "We want to get this issue further up on the election agenda," Topp told the Oakville Beaver. "There are significant differences on the three major parties. We think it's an issue that deserves attention." The current municipal property tax assessment system saw the average assessed home in the province rise from $179,151 in the 2003 tax year to $232,883 in the 2006 taxation year. "Dalton McGuinty has failed seniors who live still in their own homes," Tory said. "They struggle with skyrocketing tax assessments and far too many are on the verge of being forced out of their homes." McLaren said her property taxes have gone up 50 per cent in five years and her husband, who couldn't attend the meeting for medical reasons, is worried they won't be able to remain in their home. "It's scary," she said. "Once the freeze is over, I don't know what is going to happen." McLaren, who supports the PC Party's five per cent cap, said they're paying equitable taxes to their neighbours, who own "monster homes" compared to their "modest house." This is a concern shared by many Oakville residents, said Byers. "As I go door to door, the property tax issue is a big issue in our community," he said. "John knows that it's an important issue for our community, which is why he chose to come here today. "It just shows that he cares a lot about our community. It also shows that we'll have his support with a PC government." Tory also announced Monday his government will implement a new reverse onus appeal system so the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) will have to justify an assessment increase. "I'm putting MPAC officially on notice, if it doesn't act, I will replace it with an organization that will," Tory said. The PC government also pledged to give Ontario's retirees 100 per cent access to their locked-in pension income. Seniors would gain access to 50 per cent at age 55, and the other half at age 65. MUTUAL FUND PORTFOLIOS AREN'T AS SAFE AS MOST BELIEVE Anton Tucker, CF TriDelta Financia email anton@tri Web site: www. Mutual funds carry many risks understand. Have you heard of not. This seemingly small aspec to mutual funds. Most of us own at least a few m well positioned for `long-term' g not aware of are the many risks understandably are seldom men investors with a false sense of c The mutual fund industry will a information is provided to all inv `prospectus'. Few investors have fund `prospectus', which is an onerous formal legal document. Its purpose is to help you make an informed investment decision and to understand your rights. The Fidelity Funds Simplified Prospectus for example is 180 pages long and describes 15 `specific risks of investing in mutual funds'. Are you likely to read this? Let's consider something that I believe is a major reason to avoid mutual fund investing altogether. The existence of `mutual fund portfolio manager mandates'. This is an authorization provided to portfolio managers ensuring they act in a particular way. It typically restricts and forces portfolio managers to maintain a minimum percentage of stocks in their fund, which makes sense for a variety of reasons except when the portfolio manager believes it appropriate to sell. For example; let's assume you own a US equity fund and market conditions suggest the US Dollar will weaken significantly against the Canadian dollar (sound familiar?). The portfolio manager who is likely to be very good, knowledgeable and professional is however constrained by the funds mandate to hold say 85% in US equities. The manager has very limited options because of this and as a result the fund performance suffers accordingly. Furthermore the manager is not necessarily penalized because his/her performance is only measured against a relevant benchmark, something like the US equity index (S&P500) and not on pure performance. So in theory the fund may return negative returns, say -10% yet if the benchmark S&P 500 was down -12%, this manager would have done well to outperform by 2%. Hardly a place I would like my money invested. At TriDelta Financial Partners we believe that investment portfolios should be; Managed by a professional investment portfolio manager and not by a broker who typically wears many hats (salesperson, investment manager, administrator, client service manager) and has little time to focus on your portfolio. Managed whereby the portfolio manager has discretion to adjust the mix and holdings depending on market, economic and other variables. This will ensure that any maximum risk undertaken to achieve growth can be reduced when unfavorable conditions prevail. Crafted specific to your unique financial situation and investment profile. We develop an investment policy statement together with our clients, which acts as a brief and provides the blueprint of how the portfolio must be managed to achieve your goals (growth percentage, income requirements, maximum level of risk, asset allocation etc) Be fee based and contain no hidden costs. Furthermore provide the ability for at least a portion if not all of the fees to be tax deductible. TriDelta Financial Partners offers holistic financial planning advice. We take the time to craft unique solutions that are appropriate to your particular situation, this stems from our belief that the best solutions can only be found through consideration of your entire financial picture and not viewing investments, insurance or estate planning in isolation. =VkZndj!V[Vb^anbZbWZgdg[g^ZcY WZZcY^V\cdhZYl^i]XVcXZg4 6gZndj[^cY^c\Vaad[i]ZXVcXZg^c[dgbVi^dcVcY XgjX^VaigZVibZciX]d^XZhdkZgl]Zab^c\4 8VcXZg>ch^\]iXVcd[[Zgndji]ZXVcXZgbZY^XVaZmeZgindj l^h]ndj`cZl# 8VcXZg>ch^\]i^hVcDV`k^aaZWVhZY!eg^kViZXdchjai^c\hZgk^XZ i]Vid[[ZgheZghdcVa^oZYXVcXZgZmeZgi^hZ^ci]ZXdb[dgid[ndjg dlc]dbZVcY$dgWnndjgh^YZViheZX^Va^hiVeed^cibZcih# EaZVhZXVaajhid^cfj^gZ]dl8VcXZg>ch^\]iXVc]Zae^[ndj]VkZ ]VYhjg\Zgn!lV^i^c\[dgVheZX^Va^hiVeed^cibZcidgVgZ[VX^c\ XVcXZgigZVibZciX]d^XZh#I]ZXVaa^h[gZZVcYXdc[^YZci^Va# .%*#-'*#*-%%Õlll#XVcXZg^ch^\]i#XV 6h`jhVWdjidjgheZX^Va&*%$]djg^cigdYjXidgngViZ Anton Tucker CFP, FMA, FCSI Peace of Mind ... ... the most Valuable Service we Provide 905.901.3429 anton@tridelta.ca www.tridelta.ca OAKVILLE NORTH YORK MISSISSAUGA THORNHILL Tim Trian, CFA - Portfolio Manager , CIM - Investment Advisor Laura Trian, C.A., CFP 200-2908 South Sheridan Way, Oakville Tel: 905-829-0600 Visit us at http://teamtrian.dundeewealth.com Live your dream. Increase your Net Worth. Ca I'll show you how. Philip Mathew, B.A. Sc., MBA 905-634-6021 www.philipmathe Investment Planning Counsel I P C I N V E S T M E N T C O R P O R AT I O N TM 627 Guelph Line, Burlington, Ontario L7R 3 M 7