There was a jump in the number of Canadians becoming insolvent in March, the latest data released by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada.
A total of 11,315 people filed for bankruptcy or a proposal in the month, up 15.8% month-over-month but 3.9% lower than in March 2017.
Almost 400 extra people filed for bankruptcy (up 11.2%) and there were more than 1,000 new proposals (up 19.4%) compared to February; while the percentage for bankruptcies was down 14.2% and up 5.4% for insolvencies year-over-year.
By percentage, the sharpest monthly increase was in the Northwest Territories (+83%) but in actual numbers this was only a rise from 6 to 11.
Saskatchewan (+47.6%) and New Brunswick (+44.5%) also saw large increases but the numbers in these provinces are in the hundreds.
The largest numbers of insolvencies in March were in Quebec (3,814), up 4.6% month-over-month but down 3.8% year-over-year; and Ontario (3,572), up 21.5% month-over-month but down 3.7% from March 2017.
Yukon (-25%) and Nova Scotia (-0.4%) recorded the only declines in insolvencies but the numbers here are relatively small with 3 in Yukon and 462 in Nova Scotia.
There were no insolvencies recorded in Nunavut.
