Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'm joining you today from Toronto, on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, and now home to many first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Human Resources committee  CMHC would support any measure that prevents bureaucracy from preventing the creation of affordable housing.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much. It was a pleasure to be here tonight.

Human Resources committee  Thank you.

Human Resources committee  That's correct.

Human Resources committee  That's correct, Mr. Vaughan.

Human Resources committee  That's correct, Madam Chair. The reason we have not been able to approve the applications is that it's a co-investment program, so we're waiting for some decisions to be made by BC Housing. We hope those decisions will be forthcoming, in which case we will be able to make a determination with respect to the Burnaby projects.

Human Resources committee  That's correct, Madam Chair. There are special circumstances in Quebec that create some complexity in terms of providing federal monies to municipalities. That was a challenge for us that I think we successfully overcame.

Human Resources committee  We think that addressing foreign ownership can be part of the problem, but as I pointed out earlier, I think we need to focus on creating even more supply for Canadians. We should not be relying solely on things like a foreign ownership tax.

Human Resources committee  Yes, I would agree with that. I would just like to provide a bit of granularity regarding the foreign ownership. It is an issue when there is foreign ownership and the units remain vacant, but there are situations when there is foreign ownership and it's actually rented out. There is a bit of a distinction, but I take your point, Mr.

Human Resources committee  That is true. CMHC would be supportive of assessments of the impacts of Airbnb in certain markets. I think this is a municipal issue, but I think that has been successful in some foreign jurisdictions, so it's something Canada should definitely look into.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not familiar with the particular Toronto, Ontario, transaction you're referring to, but CMHC is supportive in all our programs of creating more density in cities. We feel that greater density around transit nodes is very supportive of our housing affordability goals, and it also aligns with our green change agenda.

Human Resources committee  Yes, of course. I'm very happy to be here.

Human Resources committee  When that prediction was made, we were in, I think, April or May, during the very early days of the pandemic, when there were very deep uncertainties about the future of the economy and also the role of government supports in providing mitigation of some of the very adverse economic impact.

Human Resources committee  Customarily we update those outlooks on a yearly basis, so there was a gap between when those predictions were made and when the updates were made. Looking forward, and learning from this pandemic, I recognize that in exceptional circumstances like the pandemic, we should put in place measures to make sure those kinds of predictions are assessed.