Near the beginning of the pandemic, the Canadian economy — and the workers on which it depends — experienced a quiet crisis. For decades, mountains of private debt had been building up while the country’s economy ticked on. Not just debt caused by credit-fueled consumer spending, but corporate and private debt too have amassed as a result of Canada’s rapacious housing market. In the spring of 2019, the costs of servicing these debts hit an all-time high.

Working-class renters have suffered most acutely. As a TD Bank report notes, insolvencies took off in 2016 and reached worrying levels by 2019, with working-class renters representing the bulk of the defaults. Almost 90 percent of households struggling financially carried credit card debt with a “median balance of nearly $14,000.”

The social supports implemented as a firewall against the most damaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a brief reprieve. With emergency lockdowns and income supports in place, workers suddenly had the chance — for the first time in a long time — to deleverage. In 2020, an estimated third of COVID-19-support benefits went to debt repayment. Subsequently, insolvencies and credit card balances decreased dramatically.