This is a bit of a technical discussion on federal Goods & Services Taxes (GST) and management expense ratio (MER's) It seems that GST is being charged on these mutual fund fees. And according to this report, the MERs haven't been reduced, even though the GST has been reduced in the last few years from 7% to 5%.

Good catch Ken! I'll look forward to more information on this!

From The Fund Library
By Ken Kivenko

“Canadian management expense ratio (MER)’s are among the highest in the world so they have attracted a lot of attention...�

Investors incur a variety of different costs when they invest in mutual funds. The most recognized - and yet not fully appreciated or understood - are the annual costs accounted for by a fund's management expense ratio (MER). Canadian MER’s are among the highest in the world so they have attracted a lot of attention. The MER covers a variety of fund expenses, including management fees paid to the manager of the fund, fund administration expenses, advisor sales commissions and ongoing trailer commissions, legal and audit fees, custodian and transfer agent fees, marketing and advertising expenses, imputed profit and the goods and services tax (GST).In July 2006 and Jan. 1, 2008 the GST was reduced from 7% to 6% to 5% -that should have lowered MER’s. Cynics question whether retail investor benefitted.
http://www.fundlibrary.com/features/columns/page.asp?id=12853