Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, June 12, 2019 -

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC or the Corporation) is Canada’s authority on housing; it contributes to the stability of the housing market by insuring residential mortgage loans and helping lenders convert their mortgage loan portfolios into marketable securities; and it supports affordable housing programs. Despite significant deficiencies with its corporate governance systems and practices, the Corporation maintained overall good systems and practices, according to a report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the Committee) presented today by the Honorable Kevin Sorenson, Chair of the Committee.

On 10 May 2018, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada presented a special examination report whose purpose was to determine whether the systems and practices selected for examination at CMHC were providing the Corporation with reasonable assurance that its assets were safeguarded and controlled, its resources were managed economically and efficiently, and its operations were carried out effectively as required by Section 138 of the Financial Administration Act. Based on an assessment of risk, the audit team studied systems and practices in the following areas:

• corporate management practices;
• management of mortgage loan insurance, securitization, and assisted housing; and
• management of organizational transformation initiatives.

The audit concluded that there was a significant deficiency in CMHC’s corporate governance systems and practices, but there was reasonable assurance that there were no significant deficiencies in the other systems and practices examined, and that the Corporation maintained its systems and practices during the period covered by the audit in a manner that provided the reasonable assurance required under the Act.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee has made eight recommendations to ensure that CMHC addresses these deficiencies so that it continues to play an important role in Canada’s housing system.