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Government of Canada Debt
At March 31, 2024, the total gross debt of all levels of government is $3.2 trillion: $2.1 trillion federal debt and $1.1 trillion provincial debt.
We are paying interest of approximately $70 billion annually: $47 billion on the federal debt, and $23 billion on provincial debt.
We don't show the net debt (maybe we should change that), but we do have a link below to the fiscal reference tables showing all years and all debt.
Some further analysis:
 | The Trudeau Liberals increased the gross debt by 80% over 8 years, net debt by 90%. |
| The Harper Conservatives increased the gross debt by 60% over 10 years, net debt by 32%. |
| Year Ending Mar 31 |
Federal Government Debt Only | All Levels of Government Debt | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gross Debt $billions |
Debt as % of GDP |
Population millions |
$
Debt per person |
Party in Power | Gross
Debt $Billions |
Debt as % of GDP |
$
Debt per person |
|
| 1967 | $28.4 | 43.8% | 20.0 | $1,419 | Liberal - Apr 22/63 to Jun 3/79 Pierre Trudeau |
Data prior to 1980 unavailable. | ||
| 1979 | 99.2 | 36.9% | 24.0 | 4,134 | ||||
| 1980 | 107.1 | 40.5% | 24.2 | 4,424 | Progressive Conservative - Jun 4/79 to
Mar 2/80 Joe Clark |
144.9 | 44.9% | $5,989 |
| 1981 | 123.6 | 39.3% | 24.8 | 4,978 | Liberal - Mar 3/80 to Sep 16/84 Pierre Trudeau |
170.9 | 46.4% | 6,892 |
| 1984(1) | 245.0 | 58.4% | 25.6 | 9,569 | 280.1 | 60.6% | 10,943 | |
| 1985 | 284.5 | 61.8% | 25.8 | 11,026 | Progressive Conservative - Sep 17/84
to Nov 3/93 Brian Mulroney |
328.1 | 65.6% | 12,719 |
| 1993 | 563.2 | 80.4% | 28.7 | 19,623 | 707.7 | 94.7% | 24,657 | |
| 1994 | 607.3 | 81.6% | 29.0 | 20,940 | Liberal - Nov 4/93 to Feb 5/06 Chretien / Martin & Flaherty |
772.0 | 97.5% | 26,621 |
| 2005 | 716.6 | 53.6% | 32.2 | 22,255 | 1,004.2 | 70.6% | 31,186 | |
| 2006 | 715.8 | 50.4% | 32.6 | 21,957 | Conservative - Feb 6/06 to Nov 3, 2015 Stephen Harper |
1,046.4 | 69.9% | 32,098 |
| 2015 | 1,057.8 | 53.0% | 35.7 | 29,630 | 1,831.8 | 92.0% | 51,311 | |
| 2016 | 1,141.8 | 57.4% | 36.1 | 31,629 | Liberal - Nov 4, 2015 to present Justin Trudeau |
1,871.5 | 92.4% | 51,842 |
| 2024 | 2,057.8 | 70.1% | 41.3 | 49,826 | 3,202.0 | 106.1% | 77,530 | |
|
Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Forecast |
IMF Forecast | |||||||
| 2025 | 2,124.6 | 70.4% | 41.4 | 51,319 | Liberal - Apr 28, 2025 to present Mark Carney |
3,267.3 | 103.2% | 78,920 |
| 2029 | 2,629.7 | 73.9% | 42.1 | 62,463 | 3,555.2 | 96.3% | 84,447 | |
| 2030 | 2,746.8 | 74.4% | 42.4 | 64,783 | not available | |||
| Year Ending Mar 31 |
Gross Debt $billions |
Debt as % of GDP |
Population millions |
$
Debt per person |
Party in Power | Gross
Debt $Billions |
Debt as % of GDP |
$
Debt per person |
Notes:
| The debt per person is per every man, woman and
child in Canada.
| ||||||||
| The forecast for 2024-25 to 2029-30 is found in the Parliamentary Budget Officer Economic and Fiscal Outlook - March 2025, Appendix G. | ||||||||
| Totals of "All levels of government debt" are from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook Databases. The October 2024 report is the latest data available, used to update the above amounts. | ||||||||
| (1) Full accrual accounting was introduced in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1984. This made the data from 1984 onward not directly comparable with earlier years. The Gross Debt in earlier years would have been higher using full accrual accounting. |
The Federal government paid $47.3 billion in interest expense for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. The interest expense for each year can be found in the Department of Finance Fiscal Reference Tables 2024, Table 7 Expenses (Public Debt Charges).
The Federal Interest-bearing Debt and Gross Debt above are as reported in the Department of Finance Fiscal Reference Tables 2024, Table 15 Gross and Net Debt. These amounts are as at March 31st of each year.
The % of GDP is based on the GDP at Market Prices (Statistics Canada V498074) for the prior calendar year. For instance, the 2024 % of GDP is based on the 2023 GDP. The amounts for the GDP are obtained from Statistics Canada table for Gross Domestic Product, Income-Based, Annual, Table 36-10-0221-01.
The population figures, which are as of July 1st of each year, are obtained from Statistics Canada Population by Year, by Province and Territory. Projected populations are from Projected population, by projection scenario, age and gender, as of July 1, Table 17-10-0057-01.
The party in power is from the book How Canadians Govern Themselves by Eugene A. Forsey - Canadian Prime Ministers since 1867 information.
There is a wealth of information available on the Department of Finance website, including Fiscal Reference Tables where you can see not only Federal information, but also information such as the public accounts (net debt) of the provincial and territorial governments.
In 2011, the Canadian federal government committed to making their government more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens, through participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
See also:
Canada's National Debt Clock which shows federal debt (accumulated deficit), not gross debt, from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Tax Tip: Reduce your own debt, and pressure your government to reduce its debt!
Revised: August 10, 2025