I'm looking for a few good links to articles or papers that will talk
to me about Canada's National Debt.  Things I'm hopping to understand
by reading the articles include -> What is the National Debt?  How much
is it?  How/when did we get it?  What relationship does it have to inflation
or the growing wealth of Canada?  Who do we borrow the money from?  Who
makes the money off of the interest?  Why should we pay the debt back?
 Why shouldn't we pay it back? etc..  Kinda like -> 'Understanding
Canada's National Debt for Dummies', if you catch my meaning.

For starters here is a nice counter that shows the national debt of
canada and how it increases/decreases every second

http://reality.memex.co.uk/staff/acg/java/Counter/debt.html

What is national debt

The public (or national) debt is the accumulation of deficits and
surpluses from year to year. Usually, when governments run a deficit
in a fiscal year, they have to borrow money in the financial markets,
normally by selling bonds to citizens. In this respect, governments
are similar to persons or businesses?when you spend more money than
you take in, you have to find credit to cover the difference.

Effect of debt on citizens

If the public debt keeps growing, more tax revenues or lower spending
on government programs are needed to pay the interest on the debt. For
example, in 2001, the federal net public debt was over $545 billion.
The cost of servicing that debt was about $45 billion, or 26% of all
government spending.

In assessing the size of the public debt, the absolute size of the
national debt is less significant than its size relative to the GDP.
Although the debt is huge in absolute size, it has been shrinking as a
share of the national economy. The federal net public debt declined
from about 71% of GDP in 1995 to just over 50% in 2001.

Canada's 'balance sheet' for 2003

http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/13-010-XIE/2003001/nbs2003001.htm

Who does canada borrow money from 
Private investers (bonds)
Corporate investers (bonds)
Foreign Investers (bonds)
IMF
Purchases on 'credit'
Sales to other countries that will be paid in the future
etc etc

Who makes money of the interests
same as above (including you if you happen to own bonds)

Why should we pay it back
the simple answer is if you don't the country goes bankrupt because
nobody wants to trade with it anymore and will eventually due to huge
inflation erupt in chaos (see the german collapse after WW I)