Mar 8, 2017, 12:31 PM by Mortgage Professionals Canada

Mortgage Professionals Canada has organized its first ever Parliament Hill Advocacy Days, which took place on March 6 and 7 in Ottawa.

Mortgage Professionals Canada has organized its first ever Parliament Hill Advocacy Days, which took place on March 6 and 7 in Ottawa. We have arranged a large number of meetings with MPs, parliamentarian decision makers and key policy makers. Member volunteers, and members of our friends at AMBA, joined us in Ottawa to raise awareness of our industry and our economic impact in ridings across the country, as well as to reiterate our concerns over the recent mortgage changes to government officials. We will continue to build momentum after the recent Finance Committee's Study on the changes and our participation in these hearings.

Our main message, in light of all of the recent changes that have been made, was that the government pause and not make any further changes to the housing market. We believe it prudent for the government to take some time to examine and assess the impact of the changes already made. We are also asking the government to make the following adjustments:

Allow refinances to once again be eligible for portfolio insurance. If 80% LTV is unpalatable, then the finance ministry should consider reducing the threshold to 75% or 70% rather than removing these products' eligibility altogether.
That the government decouple the stress test rate from the posted Bank of Canada rate.
For the sake of ensuring competition is maintained in as fair a manner as possible, OSFI should require all mortgages to qualify at the stress test rate, not just insured mortgages.



Click here to view CBC's coverage of our event and position.