The Canadian Advisory Board was formed to tackle important industry issues and educate market participants, including issuing a Canadian Defeasance White Paper, and actively ensuring the health and integrity of commercial real estate capital market finance in Canada.

At CMSA's Annual Investors Conference held in January 2008 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in Florida, Doug Klaassen of Stikeman Elliot LLP moderated "US-Canadian Cross Border CMBS Financing - Open for Business". The session looked at the elimination of the Canadian withholding taxes and presented an overview of Canadian debt capital market fundamentals.