Finance Committee on Feb. 8th, 2017

Evidence of meeting #70 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was housing.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Canadian Real Estate Market and Home Ownership

Committee Business

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee Ms. Suzie Cadieux

Gary Simonsen Chief Executive Officer, The Canadian Real Estate Association

Gary Mauris President, Dominion Lending Centres

Katherine McDowell President, Alberta Mortgage Brokers Association

Adil Mawji Vice-President, Alberta Mortgage Brokers Association

Keith Lancastle Chief Executive Officer, Appraisal Institute of Canada

Pénéla Guy Chief Executive Officer, Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards

Paul Cardinal Manager, Market Analysis, Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards

David Graham Director, Urban Development Institute of Nova Scotia

Dan Brewer President, Appraisal Institute of Canada

4 p.m.

President, Dominion Lending Centres

Gary Mauris

If that happens, all you're going to have is the big five chartered banks in the country, and you're going to have devastation among monoline lenders and credit unions in the country. You're going to take away the entire focus around free trade and the competitive nature. By doing that, you'd actually be favouring a monopoly—a government-favoured monopoly—in the country.

Just so you know, in 1987 it was CMHC and the government that realized we were having these deep compressions and difficulty around the competitive landscape. In fact, that's when they came out and developed new lending criteria and gave additional lenders the ability to insure mortgage loans so that there were other alternatives for funding.

4 p.m.

Liberal

Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON

Sure, but it certainly would be prudent, Mr. Chair, that since we're using taxpayer dollars to support that competition that we then support and limit risk in those insurances to those higher-risk borrowers who have high levels of debt, to ensure that their investment—

4 p.m.

President, Dominion Lending Centres

Gary Mauris

Yes—

4 p.m.

Liberal

Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON

Sorry, but I didn't have a question yet.

It's to ensure that those investments are actually protected in an industry, to ensure the competition can continue. You can't have one without the other, so remember, we're using taxpayers' money here.

My last question to you, sir, is where is the evidence—

4 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Keep it quick if you can, Jen.

4 p.m.

Liberal

Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON

Thank you.

Where is the evidence that you have, and if you have it, could you submit it to the committee? Where's the evidence you have that people have actually been pushed out of the market?

4 p.m.

President, Dominion Lending Centres

Gary Mauris

I can give you hundreds and hundreds of letters, emails, and phone calls; I mean, more than a hundred. Every month people are writing to us to say they can no longer qualify but they are close.

There were two teachers. They had been saving for five or six years. They finally got to a point where they had a down payment to qualify. Then all of a sudden these rule changes came in and the mortgage amount they thought they were going to qualify for was no longer available to them. They couldn't qualify, so they had a choice, which was, “I can't live in the city where I actually go to work and raise my kids and where our children go to school, so I have to move 30, 40, or 50 kilometres out or I won't get into the housing market at all.”

I want to make one point—