The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Canada will fork out $54-billion this year in debt costs -- more than Ottawa will send to the provinces in health transfers. The Globe's Jason Kirby writes that all told, by 2028 the gross public debt of advanced-economies worldwide is forecast to exceed 122 per cent of GDP, the highest level since World War II, according to the International Monetary Fund. Some experts say we are approaching an inflection point. For one thing, credit rating agencies have begun kicking up more of a fuss about the sustainability of government borrowing. Last fall, Fitch, one of the big three rating agencies, cut the United States' credit rating from AAA to AA+, while another, Moody's, later lowered the outlook on its U.S. credit rating to "negative" from "stable." Canada owes just over $1.1-trillion compared with $40-trillion (in Canadian dollars) for the U.S. Once the provinces are included in the country's debt picture, things begin to look even less rosy. BMO economists estimate that, based on all the red ink featured in provincial budgets this year, total provincial debt will increase more than $65-billion, a record jump equivalent to 2 per cent of gross domestic product.