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This year, Canada’s household debt climbed to $3.07 trillion, topping the G7 for the 15th consecutive year. With debt—including mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards—growing faster than incomes, this trend shows no sign of slowing. As individuals and small businesses fall behind on loan payments there is evidence that this enormous burden has already straining Canadians’ finances. As a society, we are in danger of insolvency. A sharp drop in employment—potentially triggered by tariffs, rising mortgage costs, a slowdown in lending, or sudden price shocks—could easily push overleveraged families into bankruptcy, with destabilizing consequences for the entire economy.

This historically unprecedented debt burden is carried by people struggling to keep up with decades of rising living costs, stagnant wages, and shrinking social services. Yet if and when the crash comes, ideologues in Parliament and the media will rush to blame already beleaguered debtors. Canadians merely trying to get by will be labeled profligate and irresponsible, accused of taking out loans they could never have afforded. The finger wagging has already begun over at the Globe and Mail.

But the reality is that this debt (75 percent of which is mortgage debt) was inflicted upon us. It is odious debt pressed onto our balance sheets by real estate investment trusts,

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