Evidence of meeting #13 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cmhc.
A video is available from Parliament.
1:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, Mr. Poilievre.
We're now moving to the Liberals.
Mr. Baker, you're up for five minutes.
1:45 p.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to start by sharing some new with the committee and with the witnesses that just came across my desk. Minister Ahmed Hussen, the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, hosted a federal-provincial-territorial virtual meeting with provincial housing ministers from across Canada. All the ministers agreed that a strong partnership between the federal and provincial and territorial governments is crucial to ensure that all Canadians have a safe and affordable place to call home. I think this is very important, because it underlines something that I think some of our witnesses have spoken to, namely, the importance of the fact that this is a multi-jurisdictional challenge in all jurisdictions. Whether it be federal, provincial or municipal, they need to be working to address the challenge of housing affordability.
There is another piece of news that I think is really relevant. The minister spoke to the fact that he's looking forward to continuing these conversations at the national housing supply summit that the Government of Canada will be hosting next month in collaboration with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. I know this has been spoken about before, but this is the first time I've heard that it's in fact happening next month. That's very exciting, because I think this is a very important part of making sure that all levels of government are working together to resolve the challenge of housing affordability.
I just wanted to underline that and to share that news with folks at home and members of the committee.
If I may, Ms. Bowers, I want to return to something that you were speaking about with my colleague Ms. Dzerowicz a little earlier. I think you shared this with Ms. Dzerowicz, but could you share again how the default rate on mortgages over the course of the pandemic has compared with prior years?
1:45 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
It's very unusual in a recession, but the default rates have not increased during this recession. That's very unusual, given the very specific circumstances of this pandemic.
1:45 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
I think this recession has been a bit different in that the people who have experienced unemployment have not been in predominantly the lower quintiles of our income distribution. We've seen the impact that the pandemic has had on people who work in the services sector or other jobs, where there may be more renters versus homeowners, so that is probably one factor.
In addition to that, there was extraordinary income support provided to Canadians during the pandemic, and that may have helped some families provide support for their mortgage payments.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Yes. Just for the folks at home who may not be following or know what you mean, when you talk about those supports, what do you mean by that?
1:50 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Again, I'm not familiar with all of the different programs, but I think the one that is most well known is CERB, the CERB income assistance program for those who experienced economic dislocation during the pandemic.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Yes, and I'm not putting words in your mouth, Ms. Bowers, but the other one I think of especially is the wage subsidy program, because it helped Canadians to remain employed in many cases, and that presumably would have allowed them to continue to pay their mortgages.
What I hear you saying is that the primary cause of mortgage defaults in the past—you said this earlier in your testimony—was unemployment, that the mortgage default level was very low during the pandemic, despite its being a global crisis, and that a lot of this is attributable to the fact that there were tremendous income supports provided to Canadians. Am I summarizing this correctly? I don't want to put words in your mouth. I want to make sure that I'm actually depicting what you said.
1:50 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
That's certainly one factor. It is a very unusual recession and the impact it has had on homeowners has not been like in other recessions.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Okay. I appreciate that very much.
Chair, how much time do I have?
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Okay. That's not a lot of time.
I just want to flag, then, in light of the conversation we just had with Ms. Bowers, that Mr. Poilievre continues to be concerned about housing defaults, yet he has continued to advocate against the income support programs that we have just talked about being so important in helping people to be able to pay their mortgages. One could only imagine what would have happened had Mr. Poilievre's party been in power and had not put in place those programs, and how many Canadians would have defaulted on their mortgages and what type of crisis would have resulted because of that.
Chair, thank you very much.
I thank our witnesses.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, Mr. Baker. That is your time.
That concludes our fifth round. We are going into our sixth round.
I'm looking at the time. We will need to have a truncated sixth round. Looking at the time, we'll allocate about two minutes for the Conservatives, two minutes for the Liberals, a minute or so for the Bloc and a minute or so for the NDP before we conclude. On that, we're going to—
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
1:50 p.m.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
I have just a quick point of order, Mr. Chair.
While it's true that we table motions during meetings, we don't typically do it off a point of order. It's something for which members must have the floor in order to do.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you for that clarification, Mr. Blaikie.
We will move to the sixth round.
Mr. McLean, you have two minutes.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
