24 Replies to “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

  1. Sounds like a lot of people are just writing off trips to China. Why is this news when one has contracts worth a mere $600,000 and 1 million? That amount of money won’t even get you a shack in Vancouver. Presumably all of the CMHC bureaucrats will have made at least 1 trip to China as part of this enterprise.
    I’m curious what fraction of the Chinese population can afford these 3000-5000 square foot homes. Presumably they’re financially out of reach of the slave laborers that keep the shelves of the local Walmart stocked.

  2. I don’t get your point on this one, Kate. What is wrong with Canadian companies getting part of the action in China’s home-building market? When the market is booming, there will be more business for them. When the market flattens, there will be less. It is the same anywhere.
    What CMHC is doing, is to me, an example of the proper role of government as it relates to private business — help create a climate in which the private sector can succeed. CMHC, as a government agency, is acting as a door opener with a statist regime that likes government-to-government approaches. It is up to private companies to decide if they want to walk through that door and do deals with the Chinese.

  3. I don’t think that CMHC sould even exist. If you do believe it should exist I would consider this a severe case of mission creap, probably caused by bureaucrats expanding their empire. The government needs to look at every single government agency, determine whether or not they still need to exist and if they do, make sure they are actually doing what they were set up to do.

  5. Shite, why not eh? I mean we sat on our thumbs while out avaricious politicians shipped all our value added industry off shore with one sided trade deals, why not allow Canadians to invest/profit from their expatriated industry in China?

  6. Canadian companies can invest all they want to, but what this looks like to me is CMHC picking winners and losers – and that is outside their original mandate, and well beyond their area of expertise. This is “mission creep”, which will not end well for the Canadian taxpayer.

  7. An old friend has a architecture firm in Australia. They were contracted to produce development plans for a sight outside of Shanghai. Initial design plans were provided to the developer, a Vancouver firm. The head was an expatriate Chinese. My friend traveled to China to view the site. When they arrived they found construction had already started without any site evaluation. ie no geotech, no local permits etc.
    The developer when questioned about this simply said we are the largest taxpayer in this district and we can do what we want. Not only that but they increased the scope of the development by three fold. Now + 1,000,000 sq ft of retail and 12,000 residential. My friend’s reservation was whether construction standards were being met. The developer’s history in Van was construction of three high rise apartments.
    Wild wild west was his description.

  8. Day late and as dollar short. Another example of why CMHC have lost their original mandate and should be reigned in. They are only a step away from being the Freddie and Fannie of Canada.
    Hell, we still give that country foreign aid.

  9. Since the CMHC costs are hidden as much as CeeBeeCee’s, no one will ever know how much they spent on this scam.
    It is too bad that Canadian public has no control of the spending, high flying, fine dining, useless paper pushers of the bureaucracy.
    While helping is nice and fuzzy. This should be entirely up to the companies involved to sort out their business, if they can’t do it, perhaps they should get another line of work. Do they need mama to lead them holding hands?
    It is understandable that those involved would and will defend these schemes, though from the rest of the public, it can be easily seen as a scam, maybe a scam with certain finesse, nonetheless a scam.

  10. I think the CMHC is looking for ways to spend the profits from gouging homeowners so they don’t have to give it to the government.
    I thought the whole purpose of joint ventures with Chinese firms was for the Chinese to skin the ignorant round eye. I’ve seen it on things in Canada that went broke.

  11. Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation
    What do they have to do with China?
    Time to butt-out-ski
    Hey Flaherty, here’s one place to chop, and start at the top!

  12. So the Canadian government borrows money from the ChiComs in our name at interest, gives the ChiComs foreign aid from the money they borrow from them, and underwrites the ChiCom housing boom (which looks to be going bust) with money they borrowed from the ChiComs.
    Is this a Ponzi scheme at Canadian taxpayer’s expense or does it only look like one?

  13. o o dot dot connect connect
    o In China, 64 million new, empty residences. DOT
    o Prices out of reach of most Chinese people. DOT
    o Chinese gov’t is funding building boom with gains made by buying into rising commodity prices. DOT
    o Gold, iron ore, silver price charts look like Mt Everest. DOT
    o Chinese gov’t invested heavily, starting in 2008, in order to stimulate construction and stave off financial collapse. DOT
    o Europe hoping China will come to it’s rescue. DOT
    0 China hoping Europeans will continue to buy it’s products. DOT
    o Italy, world’s 7th largest economy, is nearing insolvency. DOT
    o US gov’t debt has skyrocketed during last 3 years. DOT
    o Canadian CMHC lending China developers money. DOT
    o Canadian consumers now more in debt than Americans in summer of 2008. DOT
    o Bank of Canada has interest rates near zero in the hope consumers will take on more debt. DOT
    o Canadian consumers unable, unwilling to borrow from CMHC so CMHC lends to China’s building BOOM !!
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339536/Ghost-towns-China-Satellite-images-cities-lying-completely-deserted.html

  14. From what I have seen so far if the money moves across a boarder the chances of it going to some liberanos pocket multiplies exponentially with the chance that power corp or pals can grab some. If it involves China we know a certain Canadian hiding there. Don’t forget the intricate connections between Soros and Desmairais and and and….

  15. 900 single detached home ranging from 3000-5000 sq ft inside an area of 549,000 sq meters (.75 Km x .75 Km) ??
    My calculations might be off, but if the average house is 4000 sq feet, that would leave each house an average of a 4 foot wide strip of yard on all 4 sides of each house. In other words, each house would be 8 feet apart on all 4 sides. They’d best not intall any outswing storm doors.

  17. I don’t get your point on this one, Kate. What is wrong with Canadian companies getting part of the action in China’s home-building market? When the market is booming, there will be more business for them. When the market flattens, there will be less. It is the same anywhere.
    What CMHC is doing, is to me, an example of the proper role of government as it relates to private business — help create a climate in which the private sector can succeed. CMHC, as a government agency, is acting as a door opener with a statist regime that likes government-to-government approaches. It is up to private companies to decide if they want to walk through that door and do deals with the Chinese.
    Posted by: JMD at December 26, 2011 8:25 AM
    I must agree with JMD who puts it better than I probably could. Nothing in this article raised any red flags for me.

  18. Abe, that’s completely wrong. Truth is we’ve been stupider longer, they finally caught up to us in 2008 with the election of the community organizer in chief.
    Loki said: “Why is this news when one has contracts worth a mere $600,000 and 1 million?”
    That’s true! I know a guy who got offered a million bucks sight-unseen by a Chinese official to open a factory/company producing -anything-. Wisely, my guy turned him down. Politely.
    China is a place where what we would call the Mob is in 100% control of the entire country. In China if you miss a loan payment they take a finger.
    Another interesting point, the business culture in China includes -extremely heavy drinking- as a prominent feature. Booze-and-strippers banquets are a big part of every business meeting. (“Strippers” being a euphemism by the way, we’re talking full-service here.) The Chinese guys swill until they puke and pass out night after night. So they’re either drunk as hell or hung-over as hell pretty much all the time.
    How good are the decisions, do you think?
    I’ve tasted their booze btw, think “white lightning” with a bit of perfume in it. With a little work it could make pretty good weed killer.

  19. I don’t think that CMHC sould even exist.
    Posted by: minuteman at December 26, 2011 8:29 AM
    BINGO.
    And here you get a good glimpse of the difference between conservatives and libertarians. The conservatives talk about the mechanics and proper functioning of a government agency (as if!) which libertarians decry as a totally unnecessary intervention in the market economy. And no, I don’t buy the argument that the CMHC helped Canadians buy homes they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to buy.
    Anymore than I accept the wisdom of the public auto insurance monopoly here in BC.

  20. Maybe they think CHMC stands for Chinese Mortgage & Housing Corporation. While it’s good that Canadian goods are exported to keep Canadians working I think that should be up to private industry to finance. The federal government has no reason to be in the mortgage business, the broadcasting business either or the wheat business. Think I’ll mention that in my next letter to my MP.
    Mark R, I am told by a Chinese friend that her long lost cousins in Hunan province in China live in a house that has shared walls on both sides. Lots are so small that the houses were built with the walls exactly on the property line. When the house next door was built they would incorporate the existing wall of the first house as the wall of the new house boarding up any windows. This saved the cost of a lumber for a wall or two and maximized space. It is a catastrophic fire hazard so it’s not done anymore.
    By the way, new developements in Orleans (Ontario) boast that a 50′ lot is wide and a backyard that measures 24′ deep is big. You can stand between two houses and touch both at the same time with your arms outstretched. Another reason to live in the countryside away from the ‘burbs.

  21. CHMC doesn’t need to exist, there is a parrallel private corp that has the same function, and Chicom business should not be on the agend for at all, as hat is outside their mandate

  22. And here you get a good glimpse of the difference between conservatives and libertarians. The conservatives talk about the mechanics and proper functioning of a government agency (as if!) which libertarians decry as a totally unnecessary intervention in the market economy.
    This should go on the SDA header quote.

  23. Several contributors here have said that there is “mission creep” in what CMHC is doing and/or that CMHC has no mandate to operate abroad. Actually the mandate exists. It is spelled out in the National Housing Act:
    “The Corporation may
    (a) promote and develop the export of Canadian expertise, research, services and products relating to housing, living environments and community planning; and
    (b) support and participate in the development of, and investigate, housing, housing finance, living environments and community planning outside Canada, either directly or through other persons, including foreign governments or agencies of foreign governments and non-governmental organizations.”

  24. Of course, in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, “Mission creep” has another meaning entirely…

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