VANCOUVER, B.C. - Canadians are getting deeper into debt and increasingly using credit to cover day-to-day living expenses, "a highly disturbing matter" that has pushed national household debt to $1.3 trillion, a new report shows.
The Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA) said debt levels - mainly mortgage and consumer borrowing in a period of low interest rates - increased 6.8 per cent at the end of 2008, and have climbed another six per cent so far this year.
"It just keeps swelling," said Rock Lefebvre, vice-president of research at the CGA.
"One would have thought that the debt would not have continued to swell given that we were heading into a tough economy, and of late a recession."
While some Canadians are saving more, Lefebvre said his numbers show more people with growing debt.