Finance committee  That's a much bigger question. If the question is, should the government reassess whether a 30-day timeline for the minister to make a decision is inappropriate, and should be longer or should be shorter, then there would have to be a bigger assessment done of all the approvals that are referred to in the Bank Act, the Trust and Loan Companies Act, the Insurance Companies Act.

Finance committee  This would actually be the same format that we use for many approvals in the Bank Act, both for very important and serious changes for transactions as well as, as you say, innocuous ones. This is the model that we use in financial institutions legislation, yes.

Finance committee  I think part of the reason that the time limit is in the legislation is to provide certainty to the private sector. When they are looking for an approval, they will receive it within a certain time limit. The time limit is really in the legislation to provide certainty. In practice, as Diane was saying, it is always the case that the minister explicitly looks at every approval that comes in, with the recommendation from the superintendent, and makes a decision.

Finance committee  Yes, because of rising house prices and the rising number of people purchasing houses.

Finance committee  Well, the liability of the government, as you say, will be going up in absolute numbers, yes.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  It does enhance the stability of the housing finance market. Currently there are contracts that are outstanding between the government and the private mortgage insurers. To date those have worked very well, but putting it into legislation does increase the transparency and does increase the government's ability to make timely changes when required.

Finance committee  I'm not sure I can speak to the issue of how your committee chooses to deal with this part of the act--

Finance committee  Pardon me?

Finance committee  Oh. We have a number of pieces of legislation that interact. In the financial institutions legislation we have a requirement that all mortgages over 80% have mortgage insurance, so on the one hand, we have a requirement that a mortgage lender must receive mortgage insurance from either CMHC or a private mortgage insurer in order to take on the mortgage of a Canadian who wishes to purchase a house with a down payment of less than 20%.

Finance committee  Your number is right.

Finance committee  I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?

Finance committee  Genworth is Genworth Canada, so its parent is--

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  They are currently existing contracts, so if this legislation didn't move forward, the existing contracts would continue to live.