And will they carry the savings along to the consumers?
Evidence of meeting #6 for Finance in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was competition.
Evidence of meeting #6 for Finance in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was competition.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
And will they carry the savings along to the consumers?
4:30 p.m.
President and CEO, AIG United Guaranty Canada
Yes, by virtue of creating a market advantage. Currently I'm not a lender, but to create a market advantage in the market--
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Consumers are not sophisticated. Are they going to shop around for the insurance?
4:30 p.m.
President and CEO, AIG United Guaranty Canada
From the perspective of how it works, some lenders control the decisions centrally, sir; for other lenders, it's decentralized. It could be a branch manager, it could be a mortgage specialist, or it could be a mortgage broker. Whoever puts out the product that makes sense for that particular clientele is where the value proposition would be.
If I may, an earlier question came up about the value of additional competition. If we go back in history, at one time CMHC would have had 100% of the market; by virtue of competition, Genworth is now at 30%.
Speaking for AIG United Guaranty, it's our belief that new players will need to work hard and will need to be innovative, but at the end of the day we expect to be successful.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Thank you, Mr. Charles.
Mr. Roy, are you here as a lender or an insurer? Do you support this as a lender or as an insurer?
4:30 p.m.
chef de produit, financement hypothécaire, Direction du développement de l'offre, Fédération des caisses Desjardins
We support this as a lender.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Do you have a branch or a division that ensures mortgages?
4:30 p.m.
chef de produit, financement hypothécaire, Direction du développement de l'offre, Fédération des caisses Desjardins
No. Desjardins does not ensure mortgages. We provide general fire insurance.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Not mortgage insurance.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Thank you very much to our witnesses.
We'll take a minute for the second panel members to come forward now. We invite you to come forward to continue your testimony.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Garth Turner Conservative Halton, ON
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. There are more questions on this side of the table. Are we going to get an opportunity to ask them?
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Mr. Turner, you will. All the people who have registered here today are also planning to testify before the committee later this week in regard to the budget's implementation bill, so you'll get another chance at that point as well.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Yes, I believe so. Five of the witnesses who just testified are also going to be available to answer questions on this or other topics on Wednesday. That is five from the two panels today, so five of--
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Garth Turner Conservative Halton, ON
But if they're not coming back, I'd like to extend this session to those witnesses who are not going to appear again, if there are more questions.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
We invited these witnesses to come forward at this point, and now—
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Yes. The committee gave clearance as to how this panel would be conducted, and it's being conducted that way. So unless we would like to add some other—
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Garth Turner Conservative Halton, ON
If we have more questions of these witnesses.... I don't know which witnesses are coming back and which are not.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
In response to your earlier comments, sir, we're handing out a list of those who have registered. We'll just hand out the list of who is coming back. Five of the ten who are testifying today are also here on Wednesday.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative