As it turns out, Canada has a fan in Australia. According to Australian Business: "The federal Government is being urged to replicate a Canadian scheme to guarantee mortgage-backed securities, that its proponents say will ease the liquidity logjam and cut home mortgage rates."

Greg Medcraft, new Executive Director of Australian Securitization Forum cuts right to the point in saying "The biggest issue for the Government is to make sure that the people who should be getting mortgages get mortgages at the lowest rates possible."

With declining (or even absent) trust in ratings agencies, it's nice to see another country modelling themselves after Canada.