Minister, you chose to go with 80% for mortgage insurance. As you know, in Scarborough and Whitby $200,000 doesn't buy you much of a house these days, so really you've moved it from $150,000 to $160,000.
Why didn't you go to 85%, since the industry evidence is clear that all of these companies are making quite a bit of money, that there's not a heck of a lot of risk in the down element of the profile, that pretty well from 85% down to 75% there is virtually no risk at all, and that the real risk is from 85% on up? If in fact we're getting new entrants into the system and they want to compete for this business and we want to be protective of consumers, why not move it up to 85%?
The second question has to do with electronic clearance. I'll use you as an example. If in fact you are a good consumer and pay your Visa bill on time electronically, the money is removed from your account but not credited necessarily to your Visa bill instantaneously. Sometimes there's a day or two of clearance time. The consequence is that you have the money then being removed from your account but not credited to the bill you intended to pay on time.
Given that there is some movement on the clearance periods, why not insist that particularly the banks within the payments system clear those things instantaneously, as Canadians have a right to expect?