More than 400 advisors, delegates and sponsors gathered in Niagara Falls, Ont. this morning to kick-off the Canadian Institute of Financial Planners’ 3rd annual national conference, where chairman John Charrette outlined the ongoing challenges faced by the industry in 2005.

Charrette pointed to political instability, the new federal budget and the ongoing investigations of Portus and Norshield as factors that continue to plague the industry and shake investor confidence.

“These are issues we have to get our heads around if we’re going to assist our clients,” Charrette said. “It can take a long time to build trust, and only a moment to lose it,” he said.

The issues underline the need for sound, consistent financial planning, he says, and a professional designation that holds to the standards that clients have come to rely on from CIFPs members. The CIFPs was formed in 2003 to represent and promote the CFP designation. It currently has 2,100 members.

“Financial planning is a growing industry worldwide, and the need for financial planning is growing fast and furious,” said Financial Planners Standards Council chairwoman Margaret Koniuk, who also spoke at the opening ceremony.

Koniuk pointed to China as an example of the booming industry. The country has asked the FPSC to sit on its advisory board as it develops its own version of the CFP designation.

“The FPSC has been a leader in creating international standards for the industry,” she said.

Canada boasts the most CFP designated financial planners per capita in the world, she added.

The opening remarks concluded with the presentation of the John Beran Hill Memorial Award, which was awarded to the Peter Bialkoski, a supervisor with PPW Chartered Accountants, LLP. The award, which is in its first year, honours the graduate with the highest composite grad for the CIFPs CFP program in the past academic year.

The three-day CIFPs conference concludes on Wednesday.