moved that Bill C-273, an act to amend the Interest Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Mr. Speaker, I am both disappointed and appalled as I rise in the House to speak to Bill C-273, an act to amend the Interest Act. You will understand my frustration when I explain how I became aware of the fact that the Interest Act is totally ineffective.
I am a notary by profession. Over the years, I have finalized at least 5,000 real estate transactions involving either sales or financing. In 1981 and 1982, a steep rise in interest rates forced mortgage holders to renew their mortgages at 18, 19 or 20 per cent, and I even saw a second mortgage renegotiated at 24.41 per cent.
When rates settled to more civilized levels, the same taxpayers-of every political stripe, by the way-tried to renegotiate their mortgages to take advantage of the sudden drop in interest rates. Mortgage lenders argued, not unreasonably, that they themselves had borrowed on term deposits at very high rates.
They found a sympathetic ear in the Minister of Finance at the time, a Liberal, and I am referring to Marc Lalonde who was Minister of Finance in 1983 and who told us at the time that the banks had initially borrowed the money at high rates and that changing the rules of the game at this point might put them in a rather difficult situation. I could see that, and I think the members of the House of Commons at the time understood the situation.
Could I perhaps ask the Speaker to urge our Reform Party friends to be silent?