Ottawa has no plans at this time to privatize CMHC, Finance Minister says

Finance Minister Joe Oliver says Canada’s hot housing market — especially in Toronto and Vancouver — continues to be closely monitored by the federal government, but “we don’t see a need for an immediate shift in policy” to further tighten lending rules or alter the role of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. “We want to make sure that the rules we have in place — which we have modified to take the froth out of the market — continue to respond to the economic realities,” Oliver told the Bloomberg Economic Conference in Toronto on Thursday. He said Ottawa has no plans to tighten current requirements for government-insured mortgages through CMHC. Since 2008, the govern- ment has reduced amortization periods and increased minimum down payments. “I wouldn’t say that it (CMHC) will be privatized,” Oliver said.