combined federal + provincial debt interest cost per Canadian in 2026
HIGHEST PROVINCIAL BURDEN
Nfld. & Lab.
residents face the highest per-capita debt interest of any province
BANK OF CANADA RATE CYCLE
2022
year the Bank of Canada began hiking rates, sharply lifting debt-service costs
PRIMARY DRIVER
COVID-19
pandemic deficits 2020–2022 added hundreds of billions to the national debt stock
Every Canadian will pay roughly $3,348 this year — not for services, not for infrastructure, just to service the interest on government debt. That bill is the compounded result of pandemic-era borrowing meeting the fastest rate-hiking cycle in a generation, and it falls hardest on residents of provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador who carry both Ottawa's tab and their own.
Per-capita debt interest by province — 2026 estimate
federal + provincial combined
Federal share
Provincial share
National avg
$4,854
Highest burden: Newfoundland & Labrador
NL residents carry the heaviest combined debt-interest load at $4,854 per person — $1,506 above the national average. A smaller population base spread across decades of provincial fiscal deficits, compounded by a shared federal obligation, creates this outsized burden even with oil revenues factored in.