Canada's household debt-to-income ratio has risen from below 100 per cent in the mid-1990s to 151 per cent today. Despite repeated warnings from the Bank of Canada that interest rates will eventually rise, Canadians continue to borrow money.
For now, however, debt default rates are very low and consumer spending is credited with keeping the economy from further decline.
So, is Canada's household debt a major threat to our economy or isn't it? That's the question Globe Investor has been exploring this week in an online debate between Ben Rabidoux, analyst at M Hanson, and Eric Lascelles, chief economist at RBC Global Asset Management. (Click here to read their earlier written arguments.)
Earlier, Mr. Rabidoux and Mr. Lascelles faced off for the final time in a one-hour online debate.
You can read the debate in the box below, then vote for a winner here.