High debt levels, increased interest rates expected to slow consumer spend in 2018

Of all the factors affecting the retail industry in 2018, the increased amount of consumer debt held by Canadians seems to loom the largest.
High debt levels, coupled with rising interest rates, will force many Canadians to begin paying down what they’ve borrowed throughout the recession. Those payments, and the higher interest rate, which make consumer loans more expensive, will leave consumers will less money to spend on retail or entertainment. 
According to Statistics Canada, in 1