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This article was published 5/1/2016 (1717 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba is in the middle of the provincial pack when it comes to the amount of money it spends annually on interest payments on its debt, according to a new Fraser Institute study.

The Vancouver-based think tank said today Manitoba expects to spend $842 million on debt interest payments in the current fiscal year, which ends March 31. That’s fifth highest among the 10 provinces.

It’s also equal to 5.6 per cent of its revenue for the year, the institute added, which is fourth lowest among the provinces.

The study, entitled The Cost of Government Debt in Canada, also found Canadian governments — federal, provincial and local — spent $60.8 billion on debt interest payments in 2014/15. That’s virtually equivalent to the amount — $62.2 billion — spent on K-12 education in Canada in the latest year of available data.

"Whether you’re talking about a household or a government, when you take on debt, you have to pay interest. For governments, that leaves less money for other priorities such as health care, education or even tax relief," said Charles Lammam, the institute’s director of fiscal studies and co-author of the report.

The institute noted that almost seven years after the 2008/09 recession, the federal government and almost all provincial governments are still running deficits and increasing their debt levels.

Since 2007/08, combined federal and provincial debt has increased $451 billion to where it’s now projected to reach $1.3 trillion in 2015/16, it said. This combined total debt is equivalent to every Canadian man, woman and child owing $35,827.

At the federal level alone, government debt is expected to grow to $692 billion, an increase of $176 billion between 2007/08 to 2015/16. And the trend will likely continue with deficit spending projected in the near term, it added.

It said the federal government is currently paying $25.9 billion, or 9.0 per cent of total revenue, on debt interest payments. That’s more than the $19.3 billion it expects to spend on Employment Insurance benefits.

Among the provinces, Ontario is spending the most this year on servicing its debt, at $11.3 billion. Quebec is second at $10.3 billion, while Prince Edward Island is spending the least amount, at $127 million.

The study found Newfoundland and Labrador is devoting the highest percentage of its annual revenue to servicing its debt, at 12.7 per cent.