President Barack Obama and other world leaders attending the global economic summit in Toronto expressed tremendous admiration for the Canadian banking system, which weathered the international financial collapse of 2007-09 almost unscathed.

They might have paused to ask why. It isn’t the amount of regulation that makes a difference in Canada; it’s that the rules are sensible and consistent, allowing for reasonable risk while protecting consumers and investors.

Canadian lending is a conservative enterprise. The rules didn’t permit the complex mortgage derivative vehicles that nearly brought down the American financial system. Nor did they allow for excessive and irresponsible risk-taking.

Canadian banks are required to maintain much higher reserves in relation to outstanding loans, and mortgage borrowers must provide substantial proof that they are able to repay their loans.

But what really sets the Canadian mortgage industry apart is that it is able to operate largely without political interference.

Canada doesn’t have the equivalent of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the quasi-government mortgage agencies whose sub-prime loans played a major role in the financial meltdown. Canada has poor people, but they do without unless or until they can enter the economic mainstream. Canada doesn’t have Barney Frank and Chris Dodd forcing lenders to make high-risk loans to artificially boost home-ownership levels.

Borrowers are required to make significant down payments. And Canadians rarely enjoyed the zero-down mortgages that became so common in the United States during the housing boom. The result is that those who got loans had a high likelihood of being able to meet their monthly payments, and so Canada avoided the foreclosure crisis.

America’s “fix” for the financial crisis barely touches Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and does nothing to take the politics out of lending. In fact, the rules add many more opportunities for politics to influence lending practices.

Canada has a healthy banking system guided by fair and consistent regulations without political meddling. Instead of praising it, Obama should copy it.