Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  No, I wouldn't say that. Somewhat rare?

Finance committee  But that's really what we're talking about, right? We're really talking about the fact that there's been a requirement for a number of years in the various statutes that high-ratio mortgages be insured. The government has then changed the approach to CMHC. That's changed the marketplace.

Finance committee  I'm not sure what you're after here. Sorry.

Finance committee  I'm sorry, I--

Finance committee  I think the key thing that private sector providers of mortgage insurance have brought has been competition for CMHC. Some of that competition has been on service. Some of that competition has been on rates. I'm not going to comment much more because I will then start to stray into an individual business plan and half the people around this room will know who we're talking about.

Finance committee  I think the key point from my perspective, Mr. Chairman, is that certainly we have not received a groundswell of complaints about inappropriate market conduct.

Finance committee  I understand that, though we've had competition and new private players in the market over the past few years. I think that policy makers--not regulators--would have to make the judgment here. Is there an existing problem, or the likelihood of a problem arising for which we need a new set of market conduct rules?

Finance committee  Most of the operations of the Chief Actuary's office are about $4.5 million. We can't recover those costs from financial institutions because they relate to the Canada Pension Plan, Treasury Board programs, or public service pensions. Most of those costs are billed directly to government departments, and they will show up in those department's estimates.

Finance committee  Yes, it has, and it's going to continue to evolve. I'm not sure exactly what you're getting at. I will say, however, Mr. Turner, that one of the things we try to do is.... It's normally pretty well known if we're looking at applications for new bank entrants, so quite often we'll find that parties who may have views about that, about the impact, will provide us with information, submissions, and so on, and I expect that's already been happening in this case.

Finance committee  With respect to CDIC, I'll keep it simple. Some further streamlining of back-office operations may be possible. We looked at that a bit. A new chair will be appointed to the board of CDIC. It's been proposed. One of the things the new chair and I will sit down to look at very quickly, assuming he is appointed, is how we can move that forward.

Finance committee  CDIC is all related to financial institutions, so any savings there will reduce the assessments of our costs to financial institutions, because none of that will relate to the Office of the Chief Actuary. The only part of our business that's flowing through to taxpayers is the part related to the Chief Actuary's office, so that won't save taxpayers directly.

Finance committee  We already took step one, Mr. Pacetti, under about a year and a bit ago, to rationalize the operations. Previously both of us were in the approvals business. We've eliminated that. Previously both of us were setting rules and guidelines. We've eliminated that. So a whole bunch was done a year ago under the former government and was reported on to Parliament in that budget.

Finance committee  No, I don't accept that. There are a variety of reasons why. We've had parts of the financial services market that have been very stable for a period of a number of years, and then somebody else will come in and say they think they have a better model, they can lever off systems, or approaches, or whatever elsewhere, or the market has changed.

Finance committee  Exactly. So we will focus on government funding as a source of revenue. Okay?