Professor John McHale:

It would be. As I said, the issue in the housing area is one of supply rather than demand. As such, policies that boost demand would not appear to be the right approach. As a fiscal council, we are also concerned about the contingent liability associated with any sort of Government guarantee. We have seen the damage caused in the past by liability guarantees. This is another form of contingent liability. For both of these reasons, we would be wary of that type of policy.