The record pace of bankruptcies among consumers and businesses
continued in September. This has been the trend throughout the year
with the total number of bankruptcies up 20 percent over last year,
which itself was the year of the greatest number of bankruptcies in
the history of Canada.
Last week, Industry Canada reported that 69,358 official
bankruptcies of individuals and businesses occurred in the first
nine months of the year, up more than 20 percent from the previous
high of 57,535 in the same period of 1995. The record number
includes 58,500 individuals and 10,827 businesses. Thousands of
others simply walked away from their debts too poor even to afford
the approximately $750 necessary to file with the courts.
Quebec businesses were particularly hard hit, accounting for
more than 40 percent of the total business bankruptcies up to
September. So far this year, 4,455 Quebec businesses have folded.
Canada-wide in September, 6,525 individuals and 1,107 businesses
declared bankruptcies. Ontario and Quebec were the hardest hit in
September, with 2,670 and 2,622 total bankruptcies respectively.
For the month of September, there were 487 business failures in
Quebec compared with 262 in Ontario.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
