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At the beginning of the year, Spencer Bownes and his wife each had a steady job as they cared for their two children, aged seven and four, at their Evergreen home in southwest Calgary.

Just seven months later, the family home is on the edge of foreclosure and their banks have called in their debts. Even after handing out countless resumes, Bownes hasn’t found work after he was laid off from Husky Energy in February.

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“We’re going to be renting a house in the interim,” said Bownes, a human resources professional who didn’t get any severance because his position was considered temporary.

“It could be 10 years before we fix our credit. We’re just taking it one day at a time. We’re trying to rebuild in this new world.”

Alberta’s recession is dragging rising numbers of consumers like Bownes into the throes of financial ruin.

In May, the province posted 1,150 personal insolvencies — cases where people couldn’t pay their debts — which marked a 37 per cent increase over the same month a year ago, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada.