Ponzi schemes and the recession be damned; the readers have spoken. By an overwhelming margin, the top Canadian news story of 2009, according to the results of our News Poll Contest, was the adoption of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) by Ontario and British Columbia. Trailing in second and third place were the Earl Jones scandal and the central banks embracing quantitative easing.

When it came to the write-in vote, a vast number of Canadian Advisor.ca readers thought the prosecution of Bernie Madoff was the biggest news story of the year.

“Bernie Madoff was and continues to be mentioned and alluded to (with contempt) by more clients than any other person or event,” wrote a reader.

“I would add the Bernie Madoff story and others (like him) from the U.S. as these stories rocked the confidence in their advisors for many investors,” stated another.

Americans on the other hand, suggested corporate bailouts and TARP were the issues on their minds in 2009.

Some interesting write-in suggestions were:

  • “I don’t know if there was a story about this or not but there should have been. It is how the H1N1 saved the financial markets. The media had something else to focus on, which gave the markets a chance to recover.”

  • “Investors looking for a different advisor because of poor investment performance.”

  • “Using new technology to improve practice management efficiency.”

  • “The future of financial services with respect to the age of those who own the various licenses.”

  • “Establishment of the Task Force on Financial Literacy by the Minister of Finance to address issues of consumer knowledge, decision making skills and confidence in the financial marketplace.”

  • “The Nortel story!! One of, if not the largest of Canada’s premier tech giants is being sold off for assets and 1,000s of pensioners are suffering.”

  • “Gross ineptitude of the governments of both Canada and the U.S. to quickly quantify the seriousness of the ‘bubble’.”

  • “As Steven Lamb writes: ‘The exercise of mapping out what a national regulator will look like is an ideal opportunity to figure out where self regulation fits into that overall framework.'”

    Full Top Stories Poll Results

    1. HST introduced in Ontario, B.C.
    2. The Earl Jones scandal.
    3. Central banks embrace quantitative easing.
    4. Morningstar study blames advisors for high fees.
    5. Australia, UK advisors lose trailer fees.
    6. GMWB features rolled back.
    7. Supreme Court rules against Lipson.
    8. Ian Thow arrested, extradited.
    9. Macquarie buys Blackmont from CI.
    10. Richardson- GMP merge.



  • READER ALERT: Congratulations to Rob Barbosa of Toronto, the winner of the News Poll Contest and a new Blackberry Bold.