Canada National Debt Clock
An estimated running count of Canada's federal debt, built from the government's own budget projections, and what the debt burden looks like
01Understanding Canada's Federal Debt
What is Federal Debt vs. Total Liabilities?
The federal debt (accumulated deficit) was $1.27 trillion at March 31, 2025, the last audited year-end, the Spring Economic Update (April 28, 2026) projected $1.33 trillion at March 31, 2026, and Budget 2026 (November 5, 2026) lowered that to $1.31 trillion ($1,306.1 billion), with $1.37 trillion projected at March 31, 2027. It represents the government's total liabilities minus all assets (financial and non-financial). Total federal liabilities of $2.18 trillion includes all obligations - accounts payable, interest-bearing debt, pension liabilities, and other liabilities - without subtracting assets. As of March 31, 2025, total liabilities per person stood at $52,487, the highest nominal per-person federal liability figure in Canadian history.
| Federal debt (accumulated deficit), March 31, 2026 proj. | $1.31T |
| Total federal liabilities, March 31, 2025 | $2.18T |
02Debt Service Costs
In fiscal year 2024-25, the Government of Canada spent $53.4 billion on public debt charges (interest payments), up 13.0% from the prior year. This represents roughly 9.8% of total federal expenses and about 10.5% of federal revenues, as higher average interest rates on the outstanding stock of marketable bonds continued to push costs upward. Budget 2026 (November 5, 2026) projects $53.5 billion for 2025-26 and $60.2 billion for 2026-27, rising to $85.5 billion in 2030-31.
Public debt charges, billions of dollars. 2024-25 actual; 2025-26 and 2026-27 projected (Budget 2026, November 5, 2026).
03How Fast is the Debt Growing?
Based on Budget 2026's (November 5, 2026) projected deficit of $62.3 billion for fiscal year 2026-27, Canada's federal debt is increasing by approximately $170.7 million per day, or $118,531 per minute, or $1,976 per second. Budget 2025 (November 4, 2025) had projected a $78.3 billion deficit for 2025-26; the Spring Economic Update cut that estimate to $66.9 billion, and the preliminary year-end Fiscal Monitor (May 29, 2026) showed $55.3 billion before final year-end adjustments. Budget 2026 (November 5, 2026) then put the preliminary 2025-26 deficit at $39.3 billion, $27.5 billion below the spring estimate, which the budget credits to better-than-forecast fiscal results. That is why the clock was re-based lower on November 7, 2026: it now starts from the budget's $1,306.1 billion debt figure for March 31, 2026 instead of the spring update's $1,333.9 billion, so the clock's starting point is $27.8 billion lower than in the October version. Deficits are projected to decline only gradually, to $52.9 billion in 2030-31, for a total of $288.7 billion over the five years from 2026-27. The Fiscal Monitor for August 2026 (released October 30, 2026) showed a deficit of $5.4 billion for April to August 2026, against $11.1 billion for the same months a year earlier. Budget 2025 projected deficits averaging $64.3 billion annually through 2029-30 according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
The 2025-26 deficit, billions of dollars, as each report estimated it: Budget 2025 (November 4, 2025), Spring Economic Update (April 28, 2026), preliminary year-end Fiscal Monitor (May 29, 2026), Budget 2026 (November 5, 2026; still preliminary).
04Key Facts About Canada's Debt
| Historical Context | Canada's total federal liabilities of $2.18 trillion are at an all-time high. Budget 2025 projected the federal debt-to-GDP ratio would rise above 43%; the Spring Economic Update (April 28, 2026) had it peaking at 41.9% in 2028-29, and Budget 2026 (November 5, 2026) lowered the peak to 40.4% in 2028-29, still well above its pre-pandemic level of 31.2%. |
| Credit Rating | As of October 2026, Canada is rated AAA by S&P Global and Morningstar DBRS and Aaa by Moody's; Fitch rates it one notch lower, at AA+, a rating it has held since a June 2020 downgrade and affirmed on July 14, 2026. All four rate the outlook stable, though Budget 2025's projected deficits averaging over $64 billion annually have raised questions about the trajectory of fiscal policy. |
| Provincial Debt | In addition to federal debt, Canada's provincial, territorial, and local governments carry approximately $1.58 trillion in total liabilities (2024), making the combined government debt burden significantly larger. |
| Future Outlook | The Parliamentary Budget Officer has warned there is limited fiscal room for the government to reduce revenues or increase spending while maintaining a sustainable fiscal path. The PBO estimates only a 7.5% chance that the government's declining deficit-to-GDP target will be met. |
Federal debt-to-GDP ratio
Per cent of GDP: pre-pandemic level, the 2025-26 projection, and the 2028-29 peak projected by Budget 2026 (November 5, 2026).
Corrections and Updates
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| November 7, 2026 | Re-based on Budget 2026 (November 5, 2026): the clock now starts from the budget's $1,306.1 billion federal debt at March 31, 2026 (the spring update had $1,333.9 billion) and runs at the budget's 2026-27 deficit of $62.3 billion a year, so the reading fell by about $28 billion. The preliminary 2025-26 deficit came in at $39.3 billion, $27.5 billion below the spring estimate. |
| October 25, 2026 | Credit-rating line corrected: Fitch rates Canada AA+ (affirmed July 14, 2026), not AAA; S&P and Morningstar DBRS AAA, Moody's Aaa. The clock is labelled an estimate built from Spring Economic Update projections, not live government data; per-citizen and per-taxpayer relabelled per resident and per tax filer. |
Every correction to a published figure on this site is logged on Sources and Methods.
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Page last updated November 7, 2026. How we build our data pages.