The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Feb. 13, edition that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty asked banks Monday to stop denying mortgage insurance payouts to widows of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The Globe's Alex Dobrota writes that Mr. Flaherty said in a letter to the Canadian Bankers Association, "We believe that it would be respectful of the enormous sacrifice made by our soldiers if financial institutions were generous in the terms and conditions ... for Canadian troops fighting for their country." During Question Period Monday, Mr. Flaherty said he was "shocked" to learn that some banks warned several women whose husbands died in Afghanistan that the soldiers would not be covered by their mortgage insurance. The Royal Bank agreed last year to exempt war widows from its act-of-war exclusion clause. The clause prevents the relatives of persons killed in wars from benefiting from their insurance, even though they paid into it for years. But other institutions, such as Manulife Financial, said they would not follow suit. After invoking the clause, however, some of the banks relented last fall for women who said they were never told about the existence of the provision.

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