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Last week, the process towards possible reform continued with a public hearing. My observation is nancial-planning services offered by quali ed professionals has improved over the last several decades. However, there is more room for improvement. Hopefully, that will happen soon. An expert committee was formed by the Ontario government to consider nancial advisory and nancial planning policy alternatives. In April, the committee published a preliminary report. The report stated there are varying degrees of pro ciency among nancial planners; there is no obligation for nancial planners, or sellers of nancial products, to act in their client's best interest; and the regulatory framework to supervise nancial planning activities is fragmented. By today's standards, the best way to describe the delivery and regulation of nancial planning activities is `outdated'. In my opinion, many nancial planners do an excellent job working on behalf of their clients, which is a positive. The negative aspect is there needs to be stronger standards to ensure all nancial planning advice is offered and regulated to the highest possible standard. The nal public hearing held last week in Toronto was disappointing. My expectations were to have more representation and opinions from individual investors or groups that represented them. Some individual nancial planning practitioners spoke, but for the most part the feedback came from representatives of the major participants in the nancial planning industry, including accountants, investment and nancial planning organizations. Lots of well-dressed, articulate, and well-paid professionals promoting how good their organization was and how they should continue to play a critical role in the governance of the nancial planning and product sales business. I have three main concerns with the process to reform nancial planning activities. First, all industry participants should be working towards what is best for the individual nancial consumer. The feedback about the industry from individual investors is it is, at times, more self-serving. Second, the major organizations represented at the hearing wanted to continue their role in policing their members. Please help me understand the logic of continuing to allow those groups to oversee nancial planning activity when in too many cases, respectfully, they have failed to adequately protect the individual investor. Third, I am concerned the expert committee will not have the courage to make the tough recommendations needed to fully reform and update nancial planning. Other countries have signi cantly reformed how nancial services are regulated to the bene t of their citizens. It is time for Ontario, and indeed all of Canada, to follow that progressive trend. True reform will be dif cult. The committee has to make the correct, albeit tough, recommendations and then the provincial government has to have the will to adopt improvements into regulation and/ or legislation. We deserve improved standards for nancial planning and investment product sales. Hopefully, those making critical decisions agree. -- Submitted by Peter Watson of Peter Watson Investments and Aligned Capital Partners Inc., MBA, CFP , R.F .P ., CIM, FCSI., Certi ed Financial Planner