Mr. Chair, the honourable member very aptly describes the trade-off we face. Over the last four years, we put the stress test in place and increased it so that the test borrowers face is higher than it was a few years ago. The implication is that it's harder for Canadians or that Canadians need higher income levels to meet the stress. We do that for a good reason. We do that so that if we have volatility and uncertainty in the housing market, there are those buffers at the individual level that come into effect and then allow Canadians who may be facing a bit of hardship to stay in their homes.
The price we pay is that as we raise the stress test, affordability—or not so much affordability, but access to credit—requires higher levels of income. We think about that a lot. We thought about that in December when we reconfirmed our stress test, which is the greater of 5.25% or the contract rate plus two per cent. Access to credit is not the only consideration but it's an important consideration.