Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank both Mr. Charles and Mr. Levings for coming and lending their expertise to the committee's attention today.
I'm going to start with some general questions about why the mortgage space is as it is, and perhaps some possibilities for some innovation.
The previous governor of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz, has lamented a few different times in a few different formats the lack of innovation in your space.
One of the proposals that I've seen is to have a longer than five-year term. Five years seem to be the default for most of the market, although some Canadian financial institutions are doing seven and ten years. I would like to hear from your perspective why the seven-year to ten-year mortgage is not utilized that heavily in Canada versus the United States, where it's purchased every day by homeowners.
Perhaps we'll start with Mr. Charles and then we'll go to Mr. Levings.