When merlin chouinard turns to a good book to pass a Saskatchewan winter day, among his favourites is 19th-century poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose writings emphasize individualism and reject traditional authority. Emerson believed people should lead a simple life, in harmony with Nature and others.

That’s why Chouinard, newly elected president of the Independent Financial Brokers of Canada, shares the distress many advisors feel when faced with the onslaught of mutual fund and insurance regulation. “If I would advocate anything, it would be to offset [the regulators’] zealousness,” he says.

When it comes to the client/advisor relationship, regulators fail to see the traditional, positive elements of the relationship; they view advisors purely as “fiduciaries,” Chouinard says. Many advisors, he says, “are like old family doctors. The relationships they have with their clients go back 25 to 30 years.”

Chouinard knows of what he speaks. He boasts 37 years in the insurance industry, the last 25 or so running his own MGA, Sentinel Life Management Corp. in Saskatoon. Over the years, he has added a mutual fund dealership and a mortgage broker to serve his clients, whom he describes as “higher than average net-worth baby boomers.” He knows first-hand the frustration of advisors who are busy satisfying regulatory requirements when they would rather be serving clients.

He is particularly concerned about dually licensed advisors, who have had to take time out of their practices to make sure they are in compliance with the newest regulator on the block, the Mutual Fund Dealers Association.

“The MFDA wants to flex its muscles,” says Chouinard. He can understand that and says the IFB will work with the MFDA to help protect consumers. However, he says, the IFB will also “protect the health” of its members.

In his view, Canadian regulators are overreacting to events that took place in the U.S., where New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer successfully cracked down on the biggest insurance broker in the world for defrauding its customers by rigging insurance bids and taking kickbacks. Chouinard says there are too many “wannabe Spitzers” in Canada: “Canadian regulators unfortunately have had a knee-jerk reaction on their side of the border.”

The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators and the Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organizations are working to set policy — and possibly advocate legislative remedies — for “perceived” conflicts of interest in the insurance industry,

Chouinard believes the rigorous regimes advisors go through to get their designations, and the various codes of ethics advisors must follow, are adequate protection for clients. (He has his chartered life underwriter designation and, as a compliance officer, has taken the requisite courses.)

Regulators are not IFB members’ only challenge. The IFB is developing plans for government relations and litigation assistance. Regarding government relations, Chouinard says, the IFB wants to have “a positive, proactive relationship [with legislative bodies]. We do not want to be put in reactive position.”

The IFB also intends to help its members with litigation. For example, one of the biggest concerns facing some members is proper valuation of their books of business. Establishing the correct market value for a book can help advisors avoid legal disputes over the value of their business after it is sold. The IFB needs to provide relevant education, he says. However, he adds, this initiative is in its infancy.

Chouinard has been a member of the IFB since 2000. He was elected to the board of directors in 2002 and has served since then on the executive committee. In August, he was elected president, in part to bolster the organization’s presence in Western Canada and add some western members to the IFB’s roster of 4,000.

“We, as an organization, are very strong in Ontario. If we could make headway in the rest of Canada, particularly the four Western provinces, [we] could probably triple our membership. My principal vision is to do exactly that,” he says.

That will mean an extensive public relations campaign. “We’ll be making contacts with would-be members as to who and what we are. I will be making regular appearances at summits. I’ll be having lots of conversations with influential people and MGAs — particularly MGAs in Western Canada. I’ll be working the phones.”

One of the advantages of IFB membership, says Chouinard, is its errors and omissions insurance package. “I would suspect many of our members have become members because of it. It’s the protection that [that] affords, and also the ongoing service.” E&O is taken very seriously, he says, adding that a committee has been struck just to oversee the insurance plan.

@page_break@Meanwhile, in keeping with his views about the role of authority, Chouinard says he, as president, and IFB executive director John Whaley are accountable to the membership: “[I want to] make sure the bureaucracy doesn’t take control from the board and membership.” He promises to make fiscal responsibility the “top priority.”

Chouinard’s original ambition was to become a commercial pilot: “I got into the life insurance industry while waiting for a job as a pilot. It was hard, especially for a 21-year-old, but I was determined I was not going to leave it until I proved to myself that I wasn’t cut out for it. I’ve been in it 37 years.”

He became a field agent after five years. In 1975, at age 26, he became manager of a branch for the former Mony Life of Canada in Saskatoon. He built the branch into the company’s largest in Canada. In 1980, Mony Life closed down its career system. (Mony Life was purchased by NN Life Insurance Co. of Canada, which then amalgamated with Transamerica Life Canada.)

“I [then] had to make a choice. I decided to form my own MGA,” Chouinard says. In 1981, he opened Sentinel Life Management, which is licensed to operate from Quebec to British Columbia. Ten years ago, he opened Sentinel Financial Group, a funds dealer licensed to operate in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Four years ago, he opened a mortgage brokerage in Saskatchewan, Sentinel Mortgage Corp. It made sense because his brothers were already involved in the mortgage industry.

There’s not a lot of crossover among his three businesses, he says, although most of his insurance and mutual fund advisors are dually licensed and the life MGA has expanded its insurance offerings to include disability, long-term care and critical illness insurance. Sentinel Financial advisors also sell exempt products, such as limited partnerships and flow-through investments.

As fall turns to winter, Chouinard will be storing the tractor he uses on the three acres that he and wife Deborah own near the South Saskatchewan River, just outside Saskatoon. Instead, he will spend time in his library of philosophy and history books.

Deborah is a mortgage consultant at Sentinel. Chouinard is father to four daughters: Chantelle, 32, Trenton, 27, Tabitha, 26, and Jillian, 23.

Chouinard has been active in the local community. Among his past volunteer posts are vice president of the local chapter of the (former) Life Underwriters Association of Canada and vice president of the YMCA board of directors.

As IFB president, he puts in about 10 to 15 hours a month plus travel time. He credits his employees with allowing him to do this. “I have good, strong management in place. They’re able to free up my time for the IFB,” he says.

“Becoming president of the IFB is one of the ways of giving back to the industry that has given me a good life,” he adds. “As Emerson said, ‘You get out of life what you put into it — good or bad’.” IE