The arguments against the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (Why We Need Tougher Mortgage Rules - March 24) are fascinating in that they criticize the institution for insuring "risky mortgages," while ignoring that CMHC has pledged to purchase billions in mortgage portfolios from lenders since the beginning of the credit crisis in 2008. This measure provided much-needed liquidity for mortgage lenders big and small. Now that the crisis has seemingly passed, the Big Five banks are exerting political pressure on the federal government to "rein in" CMHC, as if that institution were to blame for the global liquidity crisis.
Obviously, it was the business practices and risk management of global banks, including our own, that brought our international financial system to near collapse. CMHC intervention has been a major factor in bank profits since 2009. The banks' own lax standards in providing credit to Canadians, while profiting from those practices, have put our country in its current debt-laden state.
