Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to share my time with Ms. Faille.
Mr. Horgan, you said the following in your opening remarks:
More recently, SAC invited the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to help form advice on ensuring the long-term sustainability of Canada's housing market. With the benefit of this advice, the Government introduced adjustments to the rules for government-backed insured mortgages aimed at supporting the long-term stability of Canada's housing market.
In terms of access to housing, we know that bank rates have gone down because of the economic crisis. Yet we see that, in all the provinces, inflation has triggered a dramatic increase in the prices of houses, condos or whatever sells on the market. But if interest rates go up by 2%, many owners could lose their houses because of all the financial implications. It is not normal for house prices to go up this much during an economic crisis. You might not find the situation alarming at the moment, but have you started thinking seriously about it?
They showed on TV the financial ramifications for condos that were sold at $150,000 but were actually worth $120,000. And the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is financing that. No one is losing money, but, sooner or later, someone will be. It will be the banks and CMHC. Have you been warned? Do you think we should avoid the day when interest rates go up, depression hits, and houses are repossessed?