Also: "You will find that Canadians take their mortgage debt very seriously and default rates were still very low"

Adding to my first response, the conditions are very different now. The income multiples that people have borrowed are far higher. While rates might not skyrocket, they can't steadily decline by a large margin either. 

To make things comparable: imagine if the lower price/ higher rate reality of the 1980s had never left. Would real estate still be seen as this amazing vehicle for wealth creation? Those borrowing today will not experience the same relief that steadily lowering rates gave to those who bought decades ago. Without a similar level of relief available, I think it's entirely reasonable to expect a higher default rate (once prices stop their manufactured-by-governments upwards trajectory).