Evidence of meeting #208 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was payment.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
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Senior Vice President, Policy, Research and Public Affairs, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Yes.
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Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Okay.
Will the shared equity mortgages have a maturity date or will they simply mature at the time of disposition of the house?
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Director, Housing Finance, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
That would be part of the repayment triggers that are currently being discussed and would be part of the terms and conditions to follow.
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Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Will any interest ever be charged on the shared portion of the loans?
5:50 p.m.
Director, Housing Finance, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The budget announced that while the incentive is outstanding there will be no ongoing monthly payments—no ongoing principal and interest payments. Beyond that, further details will be available on—
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Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Then there could be maybe some interest charges that come at the end of the time of the home sale.
5:50 p.m.
Director, Housing Finance, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The terms and conditions will specify the repayment amounts and triggers.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Will homeowners be able to make lump sum or early payments against the shared equity mortgage loan?
5:50 p.m.
Director, Housing Finance, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
That's a good question. Once again, that's something that's going to be specified as part of the repayment triggers in the terms and conditions that follow.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
If someone got a better job than they thought, for example, and made extra money or, more likely, inherited dollars from a deceased parent, you can't tell us if they would be allowed to just pay this off to get it off their personal balance sheet.
5:50 p.m.
Director, Housing Finance, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
I cannot tell you at this time, but it is something that's being discussed.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Public accounts documents for 2018 show that CMHC has paid a special dividend of $5.6 billion to the Government of Canada. The process of CMHC paying out dividends to the federal government is a fairly new one. Will the funds for the shared equity mortgage program be provided through these dividend payments to the consolidated revenue account?
5:55 p.m.
Director, Housing Finance, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
As I said previously, the dividend is related to CMHC's commercial mortgage insurance and securitization programs. Those are the programs that fall under the dividend framework for Crown corporations, so the incentive program will not affect the dividends paid to the government or paid out under that framework.
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Conservative
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Director, Housing Finance, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Mortgage insurance.
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Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mortgage insurance, right. Okay.
Excellent. That's all I have.
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Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Thank you, Mr. Poilievre.
Mr. Viersen, are you off the list now? Okay.
Mr. Richards.
May 6th, 2019 / 5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
My colleague Mr. Poilievre asked the vast majority of the questions that I sought to get some clarity on. I do have one that remains.
However, I will point out that while I know it's not the fault of the officials here and certainly lies squarely on the government itself, it is very troubling that we don't have any of the answers. For just about every question that was asked, there was not an answer and no details were provided. We're expected to vote on an initiative of this magnitude, where we're talking about $1.25 billion, having no knowledge of how this will be structured, what the outcome will be and whether taxpayers will be exposed to any kind of risk. This is quite troublesome.
The one question I did have that remains was with regard.... Actually, it has kind of skipped my mind now. Is there anyone else on the list? Obviously, I'll come back to it, if you have anyone else in mind.
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Liberal
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Conservative
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Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Yes. There will be an opportunity when we go to clause-by-clause consideration as well, Blake.
Mr. Poilievre, you're on.
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Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
What is the current size of the securitization program of CMHC at present?
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Director, Housing Finance, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
I think David has that, Chair.
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Senior Advisor and Economist, Department of Finance
It currently has $488 billion of guarantees in force.