www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, May 18, 2017 | 32 METROLINX An agency of the Government of Ontario N otice of C om m encem ent and Public C onsultation T r a n s it P r o je c t A s s e s s m e n t P r o c e s s B r o n te R o a d a n d H ig h w a y 4 0 7 P a rk a n d R id e L o t Metrolinx, an agency of the Province of Ontario, is working to transform the way the region moves by building a seamless, convenient and integrated transit network across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Part of this plan is to improve service to GO Transit customers and expand regional connectivity to meet population growth demands. The Project Metrolinx is completing a Transit Project Assessment Process (TPAP) under Ontario Regulation 2 3 1 /0 8 made under the Environmental Assessment Act for the construction of a new park and ride/carpool lot facility at the south east corner of Bronte Road and Highway 407, in the Town of Oakville, in the Regional Municipality of Halton. The new Park and Ride Lot will allow Metrolinx to improve service to customers and expand regional connectivity to meet forecast growth demands. As part of the TPAP, an Environmental Project Report (EPR) is being prepared to assess the potential environmental effects of this transit project. Metrolinx is now formally commencing the TPAP with this Notice of Commencement. The Process The TPAP is a proponent-driven, self-assessment process that provides a defined framework to follow in order to complete the accelerated assessment of the potential environmental effects and decision making within the assessment timeline. Following this period, the regulation provides an additional 30-day public and agency review, and a further 35-day Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) review. Prior to the commencement of the TPAP, introductory pre-planning activities have taken place. These activities include the study of existing environmental conditions and potential environmental effects of the Project across the natural environment, socio-economic environment, cultural environment, and traffic and transportation, as well as focused public and stakeholder consultation. Consultation As we issue the Notice of Commencement for the TPAP process, we encourage our neighbours, agencies and other interested persons to actively participate in the TPAP by visiting our website (w w w .gotransit.com /public/en/im prove/ environmentalassessments.aspx), attending future meetings a nd/or by contacting sta ff directly with information, comments or questions. Your participation is an important part of this process and we welcome your input. If you have project-related questions or would like to be added to the project's mailing list, please contact: Mark McAllister, Manager, Communications, Rapid Transit Metrolinx tel: 416-202-0286 e-mail: busprojects@metrolinx.com Comments and inform ation regarding th is project are being collected to a ssist in m eeting the requirem ents of the Environmental Assessment Act. All personal inform ation included in a subm ission - such as name, address, telephone number and property location - is collected, m aintained and disclosed by the M inistry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) for the purpose of transparency and consultation. The inform ation is collected under the authority of the Environmental Assessment Act or is collected and m aintained for the purpose of creating a record th a t is available to the general public as described in section 37 o f the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Personal inform ation you subm it will become part o f a public record th at is available to the general public unless you request th a t your personal inform ation remain confidential. For more inform ation, please contact Mark M cAllister (contact inform ation above) or the MOECC Freedom of Inform ation and Privacy Coordinator at 416 -2 12 -8 9 12 . M etrolinx is working to provide residents and businesses in the GTHA with a transportation system th a t is modern, efficient and integrated. Find out more about M etrolinx's Regional Transportation Plan for the GTHA, as well as GO Transit, PRESTO and Union Pearson Express at www.m etrolinx.com . This Notice first issued on May 18, 2 0 1 7 . Pour plus de renseignem ents, veuillez composer le 4 1 6 8 7 4 -5 90 0 ou le 1 8 8 8 GET-ON-GO (438-6646). Protections being proposed for selfdirected investors Dollars & Sense Peter Watson Guest Contributor here are positive signs the invest m ent industry will evolve to better protect investors who purchase hnancial products and ad vice. In May 2017, the In vestment Fund Institute of Canada (IFIC) recom mended investment in dustry regulators provide rules governing embedded advisory fees charged by mutual funds. The issue is that some mutual funds sold by online discount brokers charge an embedded ad visory fee, and discount brokers do not provide advice. Discount brokers play a useful role in the distribu tion of hnancial products for those who don't seek hnancial advice, in order to avoid paying for it. Being a self-directed in vestor is a choice, and that choice is to be respected. Currently some mu tual funds offered to doit-yourself investors us ing discount brokerage platforms come with an embedded advisory ser vice fee. That defeats the purpose. Electing to forego hnancial advice in order to reduce fees is inconsistent with the current practice to be charged for advice not received. Paul Bourque, the presi dent and chief executive of IFIC offered his opinion: "Investors who buy funds directly, for example through a discount broker, should be conhdent that T they are not inadvertently overpaying by selecting a series (of mutual funds) that includes fees for ser vices that are not available through that platform." According to IFIC, two thirds of Series A mutual funds sold in Canada have a management expense ra tio of two to 2.5 per cent. Mutual funds sold without embedded service fees can have a management ex pense ratio as low as under one per cent. There are two reasons to offer mutual funds with out embedded hnancial advisory fees. The hrst, that we have covered, is some inves tors choose not to receive advice. The second, is to allow for hnancial advice to be charged separately. This is a more transpar ent method that is becom ing more popular. In that scenario, an ad visor would charge a client a specihc amount. Because the advisory fee has been charged, there is no need to have additional advisory fees included in any investment products purchased. In early 2017, the Ca nadian Securities Admin istration (CSA) released a paper that also proposed changes to embedded m u tual fund charges. The chair of that orga nization, Louis Morisset, provided his comments. "The CSA has identihed three key issues stemming see Investors on p.37