If you are part of a family of four living in Saskatchewan, you are on the hook for nearly $200,000 in debt you probably didn’t know you had … government debt.
The Fraser Institute has just released its calculation of government borrowing at the provincial and federal levels and then translated that into a number that each of us, theoretically, would be responsible for as a citizen or resident of the country.
In Saskatchewan, that calculation is roughly $47,000 a person. That might seem like a lot but it’s quite modest compared to other parts of the country. Ontario and Quebec are over $60,000 per person while Newfoundland and Labrador top the list at $68,000. Alberta is lowest at $41,000 and we in Saskatchewan are second best in the nation.
In theory every Canadian holds the same amount of federal debt so the difference is at the provincial level. Saskatchewan’s net provincial government debt is $16 million. To put it another way, for every dollar the Saskatchewan government owes, our share of the federal debt is nearly three times as high.
