Mr. Chair, the minister continues to attack his predecessor's and his government's decisions to loosen mortgage rules in Canada. They introduced, for the first time ever, 40-year mortgages, with no down payment.
We as Liberals are actually quite happy that he has gone back to a Liberal policy of 25-year amortizations after realizing that what they did was reckless and has created, potentially, a housing bubble in Canada, if we look at what The Economist magazine and Paul Krugman and others are saying about the Canadian housing market.
Does the minister agree with The Economist magazine's recent assessment of Canada when it cites the IMF projecting that growth will be 2.3% this year, behind Britain and the United States? Our employment rate is still below pre-crisis levels. We rank fifth in the G7 for job creation since 2008, only ahead of Italy and the U.S. The Economist is saying that Canada's post-crisis glow is dimming.
Does the minister not realize that, in fact, the status quo is not working? A lot of Canadians are falling behind, and we are falling behind our peers in the G7.