„Canada ranks fourth in total indebtedness among 34 OECD countries, according to data from the [International Monetary Fund](https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/datasets/GDD). Our aggregate household, corporate, and government debt has reached 377 percent of GDP, a burden surpassed by only Luxembourg, Japan, and France.“
„Canadian households carry debt equal to 103 percent of GDP, the second-highest among the 34 OECD countries examined, after only Switzerland.“
„Canadian governments—federal, provincial, and local combined—carry gross debt equal to 111 percent of GDP. Among major advanced economies, only demographically challenged Japan, the United States, France, and crisis-plagued southern European nations like Greece and Italy exceed our government debt burden. We carry more government debt than the United Kingdom (101 percent) and far more than Germany (64 percent). Our level also exceeds the 34-country average of 72 percent.“
BobGuns on
Sure looks like we are roughly in line with the US here?
Our ‚gross government debt as % GDP‘ (*which is the* ***only*** *number on these charts that matters when we’re talking government debt)* is actually better than the US.
It’s also **ludicrous** to highlight ’spiralling debt‘ and only provide a single snapshot in time instead of something that examines a decade or two.
Prudent_Slug on
EDIT2: Bunch of discussion about if CPP and other pensions are counted towards the debt. Not sure if the original article database includes any form of the the assets (I tried reading the methods paper, but my eyes glazed over). However, this other IMF database definitely does include pensions and it shows Canada’s debt to GDP at 14%. Not sure if it is counting Provincial level debts and assets though.
* Canada’s federal debt is actually is actually relatively „low“. 52% GDP vs 102% in the US for example (EDIT: Some non-US comparisons – UK -100%, France – 94%, Germany 44%, India – 54%, Italy – 132%, Australia looking good at 37%).
* Our overall government debt is bad 110% GDP. This suggests the provinces are waaay too indebted, since our federal is low.
* Our household debt is bad at 100% GDP. Lower only than Aus and Swizterland. Whereas private debt overall isn’t not that different from the other advanced economies. That suggests that our companies don’t borrow as much (which isn’t necesssarily good?).
* Household debt includes mortgages. Australia and Canada are in the same boat there.
TimedOutClock on
I want to care about our debt, but it’s just impossible right now with the morons running things down south. Trudeau fucked it bad though, because we could really use the fiscal room he used during his term.
sdbest on
Sigh. There is no historical evidence, whatsoever, to support the notion that high debt levels (whatever that means) of countries like Canada are any problem at all. There are no adverse effects, only unrealized fear mongering.
Indeed, if Canada was debt free and balanced its budget every year, the economy, as we understand it, would be dysfunctional and unable to sustain much of its activity. Sovereign debt and fiat money are what make our economy possible.
Haluxe on
Comments on here are as I expected. Trying to rationalize our astronomical debt from sayings it’s Trump to comparing our debt to the US. World uses USD as their backing and they have a lot more wiggle room. I’m confident carney can spiral our debt further and the liberals will have excuses ready to defend
Ok_Persimmon1385 on
Woah woah woah, Carney is playing 4D chess didn’t you know. We have plenty of money, buying guns from legal owners, more money for anything the government wants its all good.
JCbfd on
You know what would help with that debt? Increasing the deficit to the highest amounts canada has ever seen. Its a great plan, trust me guys. The budget will definitely balance itself………..
Any-Following6236 on
Ya. It is really bad. There’s no other way to say it.
Exotic_Obligation942 on
Majority of Canadian has no idea what’s going to hit them.
GusTheKnife on
“Household debt as a percentage of GDP” is almost meaningless because most of that is mortgage debt.
Consumer debt like credit cards and loans are the numbers that really matter – the numbers that signify overspending and difficulty.
TorontoGuy6672 on
Just want to focus on the Chretien-Martin (Liberal) years 1993-2007. Prior to that time Canada was a financial basket-case after years of ringing up debt in successive Liberal and Conservative governments. Chretien made a massive sacrifice but with low national debt and next to zero exposure to the toxic debt in the 2008 Financial Crisis, Canada came out on top.
As a minority government, Steven Harper had to spend $150Bln 2008-2010 erasing the gains of the previous 15 years, and the Trudeau economic strategy of continually running deficits put Canada in dangerous territory again by the time 2020 had rolled around; then came his decision to double the national debt in response to Covid.
Let’s hope Carney is our next Chretien. He will be roundly hated for what he needs to do to Canada, but 20-30 years from now we may be once again a proud and fiscally responsible nation.
Advanced-Line-5942 on
It’s not a crisis if we can easily meet our debt obligations. Given that Canadian government bond yields are almost 0.5% lower than our neighbours to the south (3.85% versus 4.28%) , it’s clear the market trusts that we are a far better risk than they are.
pruplegti on
This article is conservative scamfluencer fodder, it compares everything to GDP to specifically make it look like „CaNaDa iS FaiLiNg“ don’t belive the hype
CulturalRate567 on
If a bank asks you for a loan payment today, can you tell them you’re net positive because you have money in a locked retirement account you can’t touch for 30 years? No. The bank wants the cash now. Canada’s Net Debt is a theoretical number that doesn’t reflect the government’s actual ability to pay its bills. The real debt is over 100% of gdp for the people who like to say Canada is fine…
Void-splain on
Tldr:
Canada hasn’t increased productivity, and we’re borrowing more to keep non productive assets like the housing bubble in a state of perpetual growth
nightshade78036 on
Why are we adding all forms of debt a country has together and acting like this metric is meaningful in any way? Like the logic here is literally just debt = bad, this is braindead.
advadm on
Don’t look at this stuff or food prices or household debt, Canada is going to become the leader in every category imaginable and be the envy of all countries around the world.
prolongedsunlight on
If it makes anyone feels better, it’s not just a Canadian problem. Governments around the world have been borrowing to fuel growth.
Worldly-University13 on
Every government has to borrow and spend money, in order to have good projects and make money.
It’s all about:
– do you trust the people who are planning it?
– do you trust the project is well organized and budgeted?
– do you trust it will get done?
In the past many years, the answer with Trudeau was no for it all. Would I trust pp with any of it? Absolutely not.
If there’s anyone I trust to be a good business man with a plan, I would choose Carney all day.
Trudeau didn’t even force government workers to show up on time for work. Carney is cracking the whip and it seems small but these are indicators of how he runs a tight ship.
DistributionOk7393 on
Quick! We should do nothing and keep trying the same party mandate! That ought to do it.
Academic-Activity277 on
Sounds like we need to increase taxes on our wealthiest Canadians, and stop subsidizing private corporations…
Loweffort2025 on
They been telling us for 20+ years credit card debt is to high.
Bustamove34 on
Japan you ok ?
Ve3mtg on
Statscan shows the Feds rely on property and pension assets to report a much lower debt number while paying interest on $2 trillion.
Federal Debt (in $Millions):
REF_DATE 2025-11
Gross_Debt $2,257,223
Fin_Assets $829,157
Net_Debt $1,428,066
NonFin_Assets $134,749
Federal_Debt $1,293,317
Interest_Bearing_Debt $1,961,362
“Canadian governments—federal, provincial, and local combined—carry gross debt equal to 111 percent of GDP. Among major advanced economies, only demographically challenged Japan, the United States, France, and crisis-plagued southern European nations like Greece and Italy exceed our government debt burden. We carry more government debt than the United Kingdom (101 percent) and far more than Germany (64 percent). Our level also exceeds the 34-country average of 72 percent.” How again is the U.S. demographically challenged? This article seems to have some inherent biases and untruths?
LymeM on
Typical article by those kinds of people.. doom and gloom, without the slightest clue on how to make anything better.
One man’s problem is another persons gain . And money lenders are making billions while Canadians are drowning
SeyfewerButts on
While understanding debt is important, notability the ability to use fiscal policy in a crisis, the author glosses over the importance of assets in the last paragraph necessary to actually properly frame comparative debt amounts
Bishopjones2112 on
Ok but understanding what’s happening and where Canada sits in the world is important. Headlines and bites of data make people respond and push them. I question the source of this article and how much it opens data and for what purpose. Here are few things to remember Canada is one of two countries in the G7 with a AAA credit rating. Canada and Germany that’s it. Canada has the fifth highest debt to GDP in the G7, that means we are pretty damn near the bottom of that list. Rising debt doesn’t mean all bad. Rising debt for no reason that bad. Rising debt and not working on infrastructure, that’s bad. Look at data and see the whole picture, not a part of it framed in a bunch of graphs showing scary lines.
thenickel005 on
How do ou Conservatives sleep at night?When the sky is falling on you.
AllDay1980 on
But just think of all the rebates…well some of you think of all the rebates. And all the money were burning in the Gun grab tire fire. Elbows up, build Canada strong!
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From the article
„Canada ranks fourth in total indebtedness among 34 OECD countries, according to data from the [International Monetary Fund](https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/datasets/GDD). Our aggregate household, corporate, and government debt has reached 377 percent of GDP, a burden surpassed by only Luxembourg, Japan, and France.“
„Canadian households carry debt equal to 103 percent of GDP, the second-highest among the 34 OECD countries examined, after only Switzerland.“
„Canadian governments—federal, provincial, and local combined—carry gross debt equal to 111 percent of GDP. Among major advanced economies, only demographically challenged Japan, the United States, France, and crisis-plagued southern European nations like Greece and Italy exceed our government debt burden. We carry more government debt than the United Kingdom (101 percent) and far more than Germany (64 percent). Our level also exceeds the 34-country average of 72 percent.“
Sure looks like we are roughly in line with the US here?
Our ‚gross government debt as % GDP‘ (*which is the* ***only*** *number on these charts that matters when we’re talking government debt)* is actually better than the US.
It’s also **ludicrous** to highlight ’spiralling debt‘ and only provide a single snapshot in time instead of something that examines a decade or two.
EDIT2: Bunch of discussion about if CPP and other pensions are counted towards the debt. Not sure if the original article database includes any form of the the assets (I tried reading the methods paper, but my eyes glazed over). However, this other IMF database definitely does include pensions and it shows Canada’s debt to GDP at 14%. Not sure if it is counting Provincial level debts and assets though.
[https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/GGXWDN_G01_GDP_PT@FM/CAN/USA/MAE/ADVEC](https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/GGXWDN_G01_GDP_PT@FM/CAN/USA/MAE/ADVEC)
______________
I went and played with the IMF database.
* Canada’s federal debt is actually is actually relatively „low“. 52% GDP vs 102% in the US for example (EDIT: Some non-US comparisons – UK -100%, France – 94%, Germany 44%, India – 54%, Italy – 132%, Australia looking good at 37%).
* Our overall government debt is bad 110% GDP. This suggests the provinces are waaay too indebted, since our federal is low.
* Our household debt is bad at 100% GDP. Lower only than Aus and Swizterland. Whereas private debt overall isn’t not that different from the other advanced economies. That suggests that our companies don’t borrow as much (which isn’t necesssarily good?).
* Household debt includes mortgages. Australia and Canada are in the same boat there.
I want to care about our debt, but it’s just impossible right now with the morons running things down south. Trudeau fucked it bad though, because we could really use the fiscal room he used during his term.
Sigh. There is no historical evidence, whatsoever, to support the notion that high debt levels (whatever that means) of countries like Canada are any problem at all. There are no adverse effects, only unrealized fear mongering.
Indeed, if Canada was debt free and balanced its budget every year, the economy, as we understand it, would be dysfunctional and unable to sustain much of its activity. Sovereign debt and fiat money are what make our economy possible.
Comments on here are as I expected. Trying to rationalize our astronomical debt from sayings it’s Trump to comparing our debt to the US. World uses USD as their backing and they have a lot more wiggle room. I’m confident carney can spiral our debt further and the liberals will have excuses ready to defend
Woah woah woah, Carney is playing 4D chess didn’t you know. We have plenty of money, buying guns from legal owners, more money for anything the government wants its all good.
You know what would help with that debt? Increasing the deficit to the highest amounts canada has ever seen. Its a great plan, trust me guys. The budget will definitely balance itself………..
Ya. It is really bad. There’s no other way to say it.
Majority of Canadian has no idea what’s going to hit them.
“Household debt as a percentage of GDP” is almost meaningless because most of that is mortgage debt.
Consumer debt like credit cards and loans are the numbers that really matter – the numbers that signify overspending and difficulty.
Just want to focus on the Chretien-Martin (Liberal) years 1993-2007. Prior to that time Canada was a financial basket-case after years of ringing up debt in successive Liberal and Conservative governments. Chretien made a massive sacrifice but with low national debt and next to zero exposure to the toxic debt in the 2008 Financial Crisis, Canada came out on top.
As a minority government, Steven Harper had to spend $150Bln 2008-2010 erasing the gains of the previous 15 years, and the Trudeau economic strategy of continually running deficits put Canada in dangerous territory again by the time 2020 had rolled around; then came his decision to double the national debt in response to Covid.
Let’s hope Carney is our next Chretien. He will be roundly hated for what he needs to do to Canada, but 20-30 years from now we may be once again a proud and fiscally responsible nation.
It’s not a crisis if we can easily meet our debt obligations. Given that Canadian government bond yields are almost 0.5% lower than our neighbours to the south (3.85% versus 4.28%) , it’s clear the market trusts that we are a far better risk than they are.
This article is conservative scamfluencer fodder, it compares everything to GDP to specifically make it look like „CaNaDa iS FaiLiNg“ don’t belive the hype
If a bank asks you for a loan payment today, can you tell them you’re net positive because you have money in a locked retirement account you can’t touch for 30 years? No. The bank wants the cash now. Canada’s Net Debt is a theoretical number that doesn’t reflect the government’s actual ability to pay its bills. The real debt is over 100% of gdp for the people who like to say Canada is fine…
Tldr:
Canada hasn’t increased productivity, and we’re borrowing more to keep non productive assets like the housing bubble in a state of perpetual growth
Why are we adding all forms of debt a country has together and acting like this metric is meaningful in any way? Like the logic here is literally just debt = bad, this is braindead.
Don’t look at this stuff or food prices or household debt, Canada is going to become the leader in every category imaginable and be the envy of all countries around the world.
If it makes anyone feels better, it’s not just a Canadian problem. Governments around the world have been borrowing to fuel growth.
Every government has to borrow and spend money, in order to have good projects and make money.
It’s all about:
– do you trust the people who are planning it?
– do you trust the project is well organized and budgeted?
– do you trust it will get done?
In the past many years, the answer with Trudeau was no for it all. Would I trust pp with any of it? Absolutely not.
If there’s anyone I trust to be a good business man with a plan, I would choose Carney all day.
Trudeau didn’t even force government workers to show up on time for work. Carney is cracking the whip and it seems small but these are indicators of how he runs a tight ship.
Quick! We should do nothing and keep trying the same party mandate! That ought to do it.
Sounds like we need to increase taxes on our wealthiest Canadians, and stop subsidizing private corporations…
They been telling us for 20+ years credit card debt is to high.
Japan you ok ?
Statscan shows the Feds rely on property and pension assets to report a much lower debt number while paying interest on $2 trillion.
Federal Debt (in $Millions):
REF_DATE 2025-11
Gross_Debt $2,257,223
Fin_Assets $829,157
Net_Debt $1,428,066
NonFin_Assets $134,749
Federal_Debt $1,293,317
Interest_Bearing_Debt $1,961,362
[https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1010000201](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1010000201)
Total Provincial debt is $1.5 trillion (2024)
[https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1010001701](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1010001701)
While personal debt is nuts:
Household Debt (in $Millions):
REF_DATE: 2025-08
HouseHold_Debt: $3,125,595
Credit_cards: $114,582
Auto_Loans: $104,354
Mortgages: $2,318,900
Lines_of_Credit: $177,718
[https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610063901](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610063901)
“Canadian governments—federal, provincial, and local combined—carry gross debt equal to 111 percent of GDP. Among major advanced economies, only demographically challenged Japan, the United States, France, and crisis-plagued southern European nations like Greece and Italy exceed our government debt burden. We carry more government debt than the United Kingdom (101 percent) and far more than Germany (64 percent). Our level also exceeds the 34-country average of 72 percent.” How again is the U.S. demographically challenged? This article seems to have some inherent biases and untruths?
Typical article by those kinds of people.. doom and gloom, without the slightest clue on how to make anything better.
Garbage article.
And yet when you look at the net debt we have the best numbers in the G7: [https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/GGXWDN_G01_GDP_PT@FM/ADVEC#:~:text=Iceland%2037.72,Saudi%20Arabia%2023.04](https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/GGXWDN_G01_GDP_PT@FM/ADVEC#:~:text=Iceland%2037.72,Saudi%20Arabia%2023.04)
You’re being sold propaganda.
One man’s problem is another persons gain . And money lenders are making billions while Canadians are drowning
While understanding debt is important, notability the ability to use fiscal policy in a crisis, the author glosses over the importance of assets in the last paragraph necessary to actually properly frame comparative debt amounts
Ok but understanding what’s happening and where Canada sits in the world is important. Headlines and bites of data make people respond and push them. I question the source of this article and how much it opens data and for what purpose. Here are few things to remember Canada is one of two countries in the G7 with a AAA credit rating. Canada and Germany that’s it. Canada has the fifth highest debt to GDP in the G7, that means we are pretty damn near the bottom of that list. Rising debt doesn’t mean all bad. Rising debt for no reason that bad. Rising debt and not working on infrastructure, that’s bad. Look at data and see the whole picture, not a part of it framed in a bunch of graphs showing scary lines.
How do ou Conservatives sleep at night?When the sky is falling on you.
But just think of all the rebates…well some of you think of all the rebates. And all the money were burning in the Gun grab tire fire. Elbows up, build Canada strong!