I have NO idea why anyone would be using TD or Royal or any of the major banks to trade with. Maybe I am missing something or just don't have enough cash? haha. I used to trade with Scotia and eventually jumped ship because they charges me out the *ss in commissions. Sometimes $60-$90 for one transaction.

Now I'm using TradeFreedom (not a plug) and the commissions are $9.95 + .0004c/share for any TSX Venture stocks under $3(so around $13.50 for 10k shares).
Above $3 (for all exchanges) its $9.95 flat rate (up to 1000 shares) and .01c/share after that.
All you need is $1000 in cash or securities to open the account and thats the rate you always get. You don't need 30 trades/quarter or $50k+ in the account or anything like that. -- Also I'm pretty sure commissions are capped at $50/trade.

They also offer what's called Direct Access Trading (DAT) so their trading software talks directly to the exchange and you never get screwed.
This way there are no worries with TradeFreedom trying to sell you shares from their inventory because they don't hold shares. I actually got screwed a few times using Scotia, in the exact same way you guys are mentioning.

One example: I purchased a Canadian stock and they ended up filling my order with the US version and charging me exchange on the currency (I'm assuming because they only had the US one in their own inventory).
It would be the equivalent of me attempting to buy KXL.V but they fill my order with KXLAF.
I made a huge stink and tried to get it corrected but they told me "don't worry we'll just eliminate the exchange charge etc". Of course it never occurred to me that I would get dinged later when trying to sell the stock because the exchange would come into play again. Good thing it was a small position but I'm sure you get the point.
NOTE: Even though Scotia owns TradeFreedom now there is no change to either of their commission structures, they plan to keep the two separate entities.

Alright I'll stop rambling again but maybe some of you could give insights as to why you'd use TD for example? Unless you're trading a ton or already have a pile of cash you get screwed over from the looks of it? Do any of you rich guys get special perks for having boatloads of cash and using TD? Just curious. :D

Gamblor.