UPDATE 1-Canada PM doesn't see U.S.-scale mortgage crisis

OTTAWA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Canada will avert a mortgage crisis of the kind that is afflicting the United States, partly because it has not underwritten mortgage finance giants like Fannie Mae, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Sunday.

"In Canada the financial positions of our governments, of our financial institutions and of our households sectors are very strong," Harper told a news conference when asked about a likely U.S. plan for a federal takeover of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N).

He said the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was the inevitable consequence of the U.S. government underwriting those agencies.

"We don't have a similar policy in Canada," Harper said as he called an Oct. 14 election.

"Obviously we are concerned about economic weakness in our export markets. We've seen some slowing of our economy as a consequence and that's something we have to manage as a government," he said.

"But the fundamentals of the Canadian economy in those respects are strong. While we see some slowing of the housing market I don't think we're going to see any kind of mortgage crisis like we have in the United States." (Reporting by David Ljunggren and Randall Palmer; Editing by Bill Trott)