Letter to Minister of Finance

When MPPs hear directly from their voters, they show up. Your call or email - even one- makes a real difference.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) is asking our members to send a letter to Ontario's Minister of Finance, Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy, to protect seniors from unfair banking and investment practices that have threatened their nest eggs for far too long. CARP believes that banks should be held more accountable and that more financial regulations should be in place to protect seniors from financial exploitation and misinformation.

Adding your name to this campaign will help in our fight ...

When MPPs hear directly from their voters, they show up. Your call or email - even one- makes a real difference.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) is asking our members to send a letter to Ontario's Minister of Finance, Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy, to protect seniors from unfair banking and investment practices that have threatened their nest eggs for far too long. CARP believes that banks should be held more accountable and that more financial regulations should be in place to protect seniors from financial exploitation and misinformation.

Adding your name to this campaign will help in our fight to ensure that seniors' voices are heard at the policy table and to remind MPPs that seniors' needs should not be forgotten.

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CARP's Call to Action - Letter to Ontario's Minister of Finance

CARP is calling on Ontario’s Minister of Finance to protect seniors from unfair banking and investment practices. Join us in our campaign by writing to a letter to the Minister Finance to let him know about our fight to financial secuirity in retirement- add your voice to CARP's province wide campaign.

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Dear Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, 
Minister of Finance

As a member of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) and a concerned Ontario resident, I am writing to you to take action to ensure that Canada’s major banks treat their older customers fairly.

Too often, financial institutions prioritize profit over the best interests of the seniors who trust them with their life savings. In fact, a joint Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) survey of bank branch advisors published in July 2025 revealed that:

1. The vast majority (94%) of representatives report that they are only able to offer clients bank mutual funds (i.e., proprietary mutual funds) and are not able to offer external (i.e., third-party) mutual funds.

2. When asked ‘if there were comparable third-party funds available with a similar cost to those available at my bank - but with better performance - it would be in my clients’ best interest [to] offer these,’ more than two-thirds of representatives agreed with this statement.

3. 25% of representatives across banks reported that clients have been recommended products or services that are not in their interests at least ‘sometimes’, which suggests that product recommendations may not always be in the interests of clients.

There is clear evidence that “money is being left on the table” as too many Canadians are locked into limited, in-house investment of options that underperform compared to similar third-party products. This system disproportionately hurts older Canadians who depend on every dollar of investment growth to sustain their retirement income. Older Ontarians rely on their banks for honest, transparent advice — not sales-driven recommendations that benefit the bank more than the client.

I am asking you to:
1. Strengthen oversight of financial institutions that target seniors with high-fee or unsuitable investment products;
2. Support reforms that require bank advisors to act in the best interests of their clients, especially vulnerable or retired investors; and
3. Ensure that Ontario’s financial regulations protect seniors from exploitation and misinformation.

Seniors have worked hard to build their retirement security, and they deserve a financial system that puts their interests first. I hope you’ll stand with CARP and with older Ontarians by addressing this growing problem.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue.

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