With incomes failing to keep up with inflation, the only way Canadians are finding they can keep up with the Joneses is to indulge their love of piling on debt. And increasingly, they are tapping family networks as well as the bank.

That kind of behaviour is obviously bad for one’s personal finances, but Canadians are doing it anyway, and the main reason is that debt, by historical standards, is dirt cheap. Unfortunately, we are getting too used to it being that way and too many of us expect it will stay that way.

Matt Zagaris looks around at his generation and sees a real problem. Zagaris himself is debt averse. He is 32, works at a good job in marketing & IT in Montreal and unlike his friends, he isn’t in the market for a house or a car. “My friends in Toronto are buying condos for $600,000 and taking on huge mortgage debt without thinking twice,” he says. “And when it comes to car ownership, the talk is all about the rates. It’s not about ‘can I afford that $50,000 car?’—it’s about ‘can I afford the $500-a-month lease payment?’ Borrowing is the only way a lot of them can afford big-ticket items and I worry.”

In many cases borrowing during this low interest rate environment has worked for many Canadian consumers, if they kept up their monthly payments. But a poll conducted by Abacus Data on behalf of Maclean’s for the Canada Project shows the country’s citizens are getting more and more comfortable carrying large amounts of debt—with more of that money coming from family and friends.

According to the poll, just nine per cent of the Silent Generation (those 75 and older) have borrowed large sums of money from friends and family. In contrast, 34 per cent of Gen-Xer poll respondents say they’ve done so. “Coming out of the depression the Silents just didn’t have much and likely neither did their families,” says Heather Franklin, a certified financial planner in Toronto. “Plus, Baby Boomers have a higher net worth than previous generations so it’s easier for Gen-Xers and millennials to borrow from them. They know it’s there if they need it.”

Read the rest of the article on CanadianBusiness.com for more information on polling numbers.