Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We can find out.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  That's correct.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, they are coming to an end. Most of these programs were commitments of 35 to 50 years. The 50-year commitments are the older ones. The concern we have is that there was no plan in sight, no clear thinking at the public policy level on what's to be done, if anything, to conti

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  There's not a single answer to that, although a single answer is continuously provided by CMHC. CMHC basically says.... It makes the blanket statement that it thinks cooperatives will be okay. What it's not taking into consideration is the fact that although co-ops will no longer

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, I can. You're right. We are looking already at the idea of refinancing before the actual government programs and mortgages come to an end, but we are facing a hurdle. Most of the co-ops we're looking at are actually financed through the direct lending program of the Governme

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Good afternoon, everybody, first of all, and thank you for inviting us here. I am the executive director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, and I also serve as the vice-president of the housing group of the International Co-operative Alliance. I'd like to talk,

Finance committee  Where does one begin? First of all, it's worth noting that you can't discuss a productive economy without also considering how the people who work in that economy are housed and, importantly, where they're housed with respect to access to their jobs. This is why we talked about

Finance committee  Good morning. I would like to preface my remarks by saying we recognize the need for fiscal prudence in the coming budget. We would also, along with others, though, caution the Minister of Finance to show some flexibility and keep a fiscal open mind, given the international econ

Finance committee  To answer your first question first, the program's been hugely successful. It's just been vastly oversubscribed, which is one of the reasons why we are coming back again with this idea for a low-cost loan program. The federal government's commitment to co-op housing over the ye

Finance committee  Absolutely, yes. It's the largest infusion of new capital we've seen, and it's much needed. There's no question about it that the result is going to be a reinvestment in the physical assets of affordable housing providers, which will stand Canada in good stead over the next gener

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. You have our brief. It has the distinction, I think, of being a brief that does not propose any increase in program spending. I think it's a proposal for the times. We are proposing three things. I'm going to outline two of them and then dwel

Human Resources committee  Yes. We're not privy to any of the information, but as I understand it, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is involved in a process with their counterparts at other levels of government to look at what those needs are. The amount of the reserves that have been set aside is v

Human Resources committee  The idea is that the reserve, which you referred to earlier on, will take care of that. However, I will say that in many cases those reserves have not been enough, because the standard of construction was very modest to begin with and significant reinvestment will actually be nee

Human Resources committee  I think you have to realize what that means. What you're looking at is that people who own houses in this country are more affluent and therefore are less likely to be in core need. It's not because they own housing that they're not in core need, but they can afford housing and t

Human Resources committee  I'm very glad to hear you say such nice things about cooperative housing, and of course I agree with you. I think it's worth noting that cooperative housing programs began in Canada in the early seventies as a solution to the construction of ghettos that you described. Public hou