How much debt is too much? How to figure out if you're taking on more than you can handle

Following last week’s throne speech, it seems that federal spending is likely to increase and that means further increases to the federal debt. Net federal debt was forecast to approach 50 per cent of GDP in fiscal 2021 but could be closer to 60 per cent with potential new spending. Combined with provincial debt, we could soon exceed 85 per cent of GDP. In the 1990s, when interest rates were much higher, federal and...