Finance Committee on May 30th, 2024

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

Yes, absolutely. There are measures that target the efficiency in the industry.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

You think that's realistic?

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

It's not my area. I'm here for the prohibition, but we can get back to you on that question.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

You are—

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

I'm an adviser in policy.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

You're the housing policy and research adviser to CMHC—

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

I am, absolutely.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

—but it's not your area of expertise to answer whether it's realistic to build—

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

On the industry capacity, it's not, but—

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

I'm having a little trouble hearing you.

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

—I'm aware of measures in the budget that target increasing industry capacity.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

You can't say whether or not it's realistic that we would build over 100% more homes a year between now and 2031.

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

At this point, I cannot.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

You're not in a position to say that. Is there someone in CMHC who is?

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

There is, definitely, yes.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

All right. Well, hopefully that person will come to committee at some point.

[Babak Mahmoudi Ayough]

Absolutely.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Let me switch, then, to Mr. Bonnyman.

Mr. Bonnyman, a couple of years ago, I remember voting against an increase in the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling was increased from roughly $1.1 trillion to roughly $1.8 trillion. I'm just rounding. It was recently announced that the debt ceiling is being increased again to $2.1 trillion, which would mean that in the last three years, the debt ceiling was actually increased by $1 trillion. Given that it was just increased to $1.8 trillion, what's the reason for increasing it by another $300 billion?

[Alexander Bonnyman, Director, Debt Management, Department of Finance]

It's the Borrowing Authority Act maximum borrowing amount. We use a term that is slightly different from the American term. It's viewed a little differently. The increase that's being recommended this year is as a result of total borrowing approaching the $1.831 trillion number that you mentioned at the end of 2024-25. The idea behind the introduction of the Borrowing Authority Act in 2017 was to enhance parliamentary oversight and transparency. The projections are done on effectively a three-year basis, so the limits are expected to be held for those three years.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Just to be clear on this, the reason is that the government account is pushing up against the $1.8 trillion, and they wanted to have an increase in the debt limit so they will be able to borrow in excess of $1.8 trillion. Is that correct?

[Alexander Bonnyman]

The increase is as a result of the borrowing needs as estimated from budget projections and a review of corporate plans of agent Crown corporations increasing over the next three years. As I said, the last projection as of May 2021 was that the limit would be $1.831 trillion. Again, the intent was that the horizon for that would be three years.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Morantz. That is the time.

Now we're going to MP Dzerowicz for the next five minutes, please.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank everyone for being here today. It's nice to see all of you. Thank you so much for your hard work.

I'm going to ask questions about the homebuyers' plan, as well as the small business carbon rebate and, if I can get to it, investment tax credits.

There are many in my riding who, like many Canadians, would love to buy their first home, and I think they're very excited to see a number of measures in our budget, in the budget implementation act, to help facilitate that.

Could you respond to how the increase in the RRSP withdrawal limit and the temporary repayment relief—extending when you actually have to start repaying back whatever you withdraw from your RRSP—and some of the other measures will help first-time homebuyers in these challenging times?

[Lindsay Gwyer, Director General, Legislation, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance]

As you mentioned, there are two aspects to the measure. The first is to allow a greater amount to be withdrawn from the RRSP. That would allow a withdrawal of up to $60,000. In that case, if there are people who have an RRSP—

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Chair, I can't hear the witness, because there's some talking on the other side.