If you’re Canadian, you’re probably experiencing a network outage right now.
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Credit cards predate debit cards by many decades. They were invented well before the internet was a thing, so there was really no expectation of connectivity wherever people used them. Some points of sale would have phone lines and modems, but many others (taxis, airplanes, small stores) wouldn’t. In those cases the merchant would copy over your card number on a piece of paper (remember those mechanical sliding machines that used carbon copy paper?) and mail them to the card issuer later to get the money.
In short – credit cards have always worked fully offline, and can still do that.
Debit cards on the other hand do need authorization from the bank before the transaction can be processed, because the money is exchanged at that very moment and so has to be in your account.
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