I would be surprised if, given a large cash payout on a mortgage, CMHC couldn't find a way to invest that money to generate a return to pay the bondholders. As well, if the co-op were to pay the full interest that would have been owed, CMHC gets to invest its money twice. It gets to invest the principal that is repaid, and it gets an extra sum to invest from this extremely large penalty. It seems to me that they should be able to find a way to invest the principal in another way that compensates their bondholders.
I'm not suggesting that the co-op should not pay any penalty. Obviously, there's a transition cost for CMHC. It would take a while to do this. We're willing to contemplate a reasonable penalty. Mortgage holders in the private sector do this all the time, right? It's not a new idea. But we think that the full burden of the interest until the rollover to the next term is simply excessive, and it's a barrier to preserving affordable housing in Canada. We don't think it's in the federal government's interest, in the co-ops' interest, or in anyone's interest, in fact.