Home · Economy & Business · Banks · A crushing consumer debt
A crushing consumer debt
Broadcast Date: Dec. 16, 1978
As Canadians rush off to buy Christmas gifts in the last weeks of 1978, a sobering new statistic might give some shoppers pause. Consumer debt in Canada has now reached a record $32 billion and there are no signs of a slowdown. Banks are competing to offer more mortgages, loans and credit, giving the average consumer more rope to hang themselves with. Debt counsellors are seeing more customers than ever before and one offers his view on where the blame for our collective debt lies.A crushing consumer debt
• In this 1978 clip, anchor George McLean reports that the average Canadian is in debt to the tune of $3,000. By 2008, that amount had ballooned to $26,000 per person.• The number of personal bankruptcies in Canada has also steadily increased since the time of this broadcast. In 1980, approximately 18,000 Canadians declared personal bankruptcy, and that number approached 80,000 by 2007. The all-time Canadian record is 85,000, a number reached in 1998 and 2004.
A crushing consumer debt
Medium: Television
Program: The National
Broadcast Date: Dec. 16, 1978
Guest(s): Joan Douglas, Pat McLarnon, Doug Wellbanks
Host: George McLean
Reporter: Colin Hoath
Duration: 2:39
Last updated:
Jan. 30, 2009
Television
7:57
As a worldwide economic crisis grows in 2008, CBC-TV explores why Canadians still lose control of their own finances.
A crushing consumer debt.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: Jan. 30, 2009.
[Page consulted on Nov. 22, 2009.]