Thank you.
I've been able to pull up several articles on the genesis of 40-year mortgages in Canada. In one of them, on October 15, 2008, CBC says:
In an effort to stop a U.S.-style mortgage meltdown in Canada, less than a year after introducing the government-guaranteed 40-year mortgage, the Department of Finance is tightening the rules that apply to them.
It goes further, and says:
Just over a year ago, Parliament passed a bill changing mortgage insurance by allowing a 40-year amortization period, thereby making the process of buying a home that much easier.
It also quotes the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals estimating that over that period of the year since the legislation was passed, 37% of all new mortgages taken from that one-year period in the fall of 2007 were for periods longer than the standard 25-year amortization. According to a TD Bank representative at the time, 60% of first-time homebuyers were opting for 40-year mortgages.
I wanted to help edify the committee in general as to the genesis of it: there was a legislative change.
We never had 40-year mortgages in Canada with no downpayment prior to 2007, is that right? It's the first time we've had them?