The Big Picture
How did Canada’s federal debt get to be more than $500 billion
(that is $500,000 million!), and what are the consequences of
carrying such a huge debt load? Those are the questions examined in this
section of Oh Canada! Where is My Country Going?
Canada’s debt problem is a relatively recent phenomenon in our
country’s history. It has really only arisen in the last three decades.
Successive federal governments in the 1970s and 80s borrowed from international
money markets and spent well beyond what they collected in tax revenues.
William Schroeder, President of the Dominion Bond Rating Service, refers
to this period as the “bad years” in this following clip from
the Days of Reckoning video, part of The
underground royal commission Report.
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