Full-text view: folded sections are expanded. Evidence dates and original wording are retained. Return to standard view
Canada's federal debt, on three accounting concepts, at their own closest available dates
Four figures that are each publicly cited as 'the federal debt,' pinned side by side with the concept, basis, and date each one carries: two Canadian Government Finance Statistics (CGFS) balance-sheet concepts from Statistics Canada (gross liabilities and net financial worth, calendar 2024, the most recent CGFS annual vintage available), and two Public Accounts-basis concepts from the Department of Finance's Fiscal Monitor (net debt and federal debt/accumulated deficit, both at 2026-03-31, unaudited pending the Public Accounts of Canada 2026). No concept is derived from another; none is asserted to be compositionally reconcilable with another; a published evidence gap states why. This entry pins each one from its own archived source bytes so the Fiscal Position and Settlement Brief's debt-concept chapter renders from citations, not render-time arithmetic.
A Resolution record follows one institution's figures for a defined quantity. It may contain projections, estimates or measured observations. Each version held here keeps its publication date and source, so a newer figure does not erase the earlier one. What is a Resolution record? →
Partially resolved. Part of this lineage has settled: at least one audited or final figure now stands beside positions that remain open or still developing. The settled and the unsettled are labelled row by row below, and never blended into a single number.
The lineage
| Vintage | Issuer | Published | Position | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 reference year (CGFS annual, published 2025) | Statistics Canada | 2025-09-26 | current | Source → · accessed 2026-07-20 |
| 2024 reference year (CGFS annual, published 2025) | Statistics Canada | 2025-09-26 | current | Source → · accessed 2026-07-20 |
| Fiscal Monitor, March 2026 (balance sheet as of 2026-03-31) | Department of Finance Canada | 2026-06-15 | current | Source → · accessed 2026-07-20 |
| Fiscal Monitor, March 2026 (balance sheet as of 2026-03-31) | Department of Finance Canada | 2026-06-15 | current | Source → · accessed 2026-07-20 |
| Budget 2026 | Department of Finance Canada | 2026-11-05 | current | Source → · accessed 2026-11-10 |
| Vintage | Period | Value | Role | Assurance | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 reference year (CGFS annual, published 2025) | Calendar year 2024 (CGFS annual stock) | 1,864,209.0 CAD millions | final observation | unaudited | as first published |
| 2024 reference year (CGFS annual, published 2025) | Calendar year 2024 (CGFS annual stock) | -1,061,969.0 CAD millions | final observation | unaudited | as first published |
| Fiscal Monitor, March 2026 (balance sheet as of 2026-03-31) | As of March 31, 2026 (fiscal year-end 2025-26) | 1,467,135.0 CAD millions | preliminary observation | unaudited | as first published |
| Fiscal Monitor, March 2026 (balance sheet as of 2026-03-31) | As of March 31, 2026 (fiscal year-end 2025-26) | 1,322,004.0 CAD millions | preliminary observation | unaudited | as first published |
| Budget 2026 | Federal debt, as of March 31, 2026 (fiscal year-end 2025-26), as stated in Budget 2026 | 1,306.1 billions of Canadian dollars | preliminary observation | unaudited | restated comparative |
| Budget 2026 | Federal debt, as of March 31, 2026 (fiscal year-end 2025-26), as stated in Budget 2026 | 40.20 % of GDP | preliminary observation | unaudited | restated comparative |
| Budget 2026 | Federal debt, as of March 31, 2031 (fiscal year-end 2030-31), Budget 2026 projection | 1,593.0 billions of Canadian dollars | projection | — | — |
| Budget 2026 | Federal debt, as of March 31, 2031 (fiscal year-end 2030-31), Budget 2026 projection | 40.10 % of GDP | projection | — | — |
| Budget 2026 | Net debt, as of March 31, 2031 (fiscal year-end 2030-31), Budget 2026 projection | 1,917.6 billions of Canadian dollars | projection | — | — |
| Budget 2026 | Total liabilities, as of March 31, 2031 (fiscal year-end 2030-31), Budget 2026 projection | 3,151.7 billions of Canadian dollars | projection | — | — |
| Budget 2026 | Financial assets, as of March 31, 2031 (fiscal year-end 2030-31), Budget 2026 projection | 1,234.1 billions of Canadian dollars | projection | — | — |
| Budget 2026 | Non-financial assets, as of March 31, 2031 (fiscal year-end 2030-31), Budget 2026 projection | 324.6 billions of Canadian dollars | projection | — | — |
Comparisons
This record shows what an institution published and how its figures compare across versions or with later outcomes. It does not rank institutions or grade their forecasting ability.
| Comparison | Compared periods and editions | Difference (stated convention) | Basis and convention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Accounts basis, same date: net debt vs. federal debt (accumulated deficit) | As of March 31, 2026 (fiscal year-end 2025-26) · edition: Fiscal Monitor, March 2026 (balance sheet as of 2026-03-31) (preliminary observation 1,467,135.0 CAD millions) vs. As of March 31, 2026 (fiscal year-end 2025-26) · edition: Fiscal Monitor, March 2026 (balance sheet as of 2026-03-31) (preliminary observation 1,322,004.0 CAD millions) | -145,131.0 CAD millions | same issuer. Numeric difference: federal debt (accumulated deficit) minus net debt, same date, in millions of Canadian dollars. Both are Public-Accounts-basis concepts from the same unaudited Fiscal Monitor publication; the difference is exactly the Government's non-financial assets (physical and other capital assets) as of the same date, a compositional relationship rather than a disagreement. |
| CGFS basis, same date: gross liabilities vs. net financial worth | Calendar year 2024 (CGFS annual stock) · edition: 2024 reference year (CGFS annual, published 2025) (final observation 1,864,209.0 CAD millions) vs. Calendar year 2024 (CGFS annual stock) · edition: 2024 reference year (CGFS annual, published 2025) (final observation -1,061,969.0 CAD millions) | -2,926,178.0 CAD millions | same issuer. Numeric difference: net financial worth minus gross liabilities, same date, in millions of Canadian dollars. Not a disagreement between sources -- both are Statistics Canada's own CGFS compilation, same date; the difference is exactly total financial assets, a compositional relationship. |
- These four values are never combined, netted, or averaged into a single 'federal debt' figure. Each is pinned at its own concept, basis, date, and issuer; the Fiscal Position and Settlement Brief presents them side by side, with a stated read of when each is the right number to cite -- it does not adjudicate which is 'the' federal debt.
- The two CGFS values (calendar 2024) and the two Public Accounts-basis values (2026-03-31) are roughly two years apart -- CGFS is an annual compilation that lags the current quarter by about two years, while the Fiscal Monitor is current to the latest month. No interpolation or vintage-blending is performed to bring them to a common date; each concept is presented at its own latest available date, with that date printed beside it; a published evidence gap states why.
- Percentage-of-GDP figures for these four concepts are computed by the Brief's own window_share_of_gdp scenarios against Statistics Canada's nominal GDP series (already-grandfathered statcan:36-10-0104-01), dividing each concept by the average of its own reference year's four SAAR quarters of nominal GDP (calendar 2024 for the CGFS pair, fiscal year 2025-26 for the Public Accounts pair) -- the standard annual-GDP denominator, not computed or stored inside this Resolution, which pins dollar levels only.
- Net financial worth is a signed figure (a negative number denotes a net-liability position); it is never sign-flipped in this entry's own values[] array. Where the Brief's prose treats its magnitude as a debt-equivalent read for a concept-spread comparison, that transformation happens in the Brief's own composed text, not in this Resolution.
- None of these four values is the audited outcome of anything: the CGFS pair carries Statistics Canada's own statistical-compilation status (a final statistical observation, not an external financial audit), and the Public Accounts-basis pair is explicitly unaudited pending the Public Accounts of Canada 2026, which is expected to carry an audited federal debt (accumulated deficit) figure for fiscal 2025-26. When it is tabled, a later reading records the audited outcome alongside these -- nothing here is edited in place.
- This entry does not attempt to reconcile the CGFS and Public Accounts bases into one compositional bridge (the published evidence gap on this basis mismatch states why: different accounting frameworks, different asset/liability perimeters, no official crosswalk at the grain this record would need). It presents both, dated and labelled, and stops there.
- Budget 2026 values (added November 11, 2026): the budget states federal debt for March 31, 2026 at $1,306.1 billion (40.2% of GDP), the same figures Public Accounts of Canada 2026 reports. The budget presents its fiscal 2025-26 figures as preliminary results, so they are labelled unaudited here. Its 2030-31 values are projections. No ratio the budget does not publish is computed in this entry; the Budget 2026 analysis states its own calculated shares with their formulas.
Related on this site
- Big Question: Does the federal budget land where it was promised? →
- Brief: Where the budget lands: the federal fiscal position, the promises against it, and what the audited record settles →
- Receipt: Evidence summary for Where the budget lands: the federal fiscal position, the promises against it, and what the audited record settles →
- Domain: Federal Fiscal Capacity →
- More Resolution lineages →
- Sources & Method →
This record shows what an institution published and how its figures compare across versions or with later outcomes. It does not rank institutions or grade their forecasting ability.
This is the current public record for this lineage. See Work with Countability for a commissioned projection-resolution question.
Work with Countability