![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Parental Leave
Jan. 31st, 2005 07:17 amI just read an article in my local paper about Canada' parental leave and some proposed changes to it.
It is not surprising that the impetus for these changes is coming out of Quebec, nor that Quebec wants to set up their own program. They like to one-up Ottawa, and they really, really like to have provincial control over all social endeavours. It's a sovereignty thing. The battle to decide who gets to run this program has yet to be won. Atlantic provinces are praying Quebec loses because they can't afford to run a comparable program. Ontario is indifferent, and the West is split on the issue. But the changes Quebec is proposing are very interesting.
The current program is funded through EI (Employment Insurance, the same department that will give you some money if you lose your job through no fault of your own.) It provides for 50 weeks of benefits, which are calculated at 55% of the first 39 000 a parent earns. (This is further subdivided between maternity and parental leaves, but I won't go into that here.) Now, 55% of $39 k is approximately $20 000 for a year. That's not a living wage in most parts of this country. In fact, in Southern Ontario, it's below the poverty line for single moms.
Quebec's plan is: raise the amount covered to $52.5 k, and allow parents two choices: 75% of salary for 40 weeks, or 75% for 25 weeks followed by 55% for the remaining 25 weeks. Looking only at the first choice, someone earning $52.5 k would have earned about %40 k in that 40-week time period; under this program, they'd see $30 000 of that. That's a darn sight better than $20 k.
There are several big pitfalls here. The first is that it won't be in place any time soon, if at all. The second is how it gets paid for; if it results in increases to EI or taxes, it would cease to be worth it very, very fast. Ditto if it increases the debt/deficit. The third is the provincial vs. federal issue; I see no problem with letting provinces opt out of the federal program to provide their own, or with letting provinces top up the federal money, but if the federal program is cancelled outright, the result will be weeping and nashing of teeth in Canada's poorest regions (read: Newfoundland, New Brunswick, all three territories).
I wish it would be in place within a year, because it would make a huge difference to my finances. (Next year, my salary will be almost exactly the amount of the proposed new cap.) But I'm not counting on this or any other improvement in that short a time.
In any case, Quebec has once again provided a benchmark for the rest of the country to live up to. They did it with daycare, and the federal government has yet to deliver on the promise to create a system for the rest of us. Now they're doing it for parental leaves. What I want to know is: with the best benefits packages and child-rearing strategies in the country, why does Quebec still have the lowest birth rate? If I lived there, I'd be cranking out babies.
It is not surprising that the impetus for these changes is coming out of Quebec, nor that Quebec wants to set up their own program. They like to one-up Ottawa, and they really, really like to have provincial control over all social endeavours. It's a sovereignty thing. The battle to decide who gets to run this program has yet to be won. Atlantic provinces are praying Quebec loses because they can't afford to run a comparable program. Ontario is indifferent, and the West is split on the issue. But the changes Quebec is proposing are very interesting.
The current program is funded through EI (Employment Insurance, the same department that will give you some money if you lose your job through no fault of your own.) It provides for 50 weeks of benefits, which are calculated at 55% of the first 39 000 a parent earns. (This is further subdivided between maternity and parental leaves, but I won't go into that here.) Now, 55% of $39 k is approximately $20 000 for a year. That's not a living wage in most parts of this country. In fact, in Southern Ontario, it's below the poverty line for single moms.
Quebec's plan is: raise the amount covered to $52.5 k, and allow parents two choices: 75% of salary for 40 weeks, or 75% for 25 weeks followed by 55% for the remaining 25 weeks. Looking only at the first choice, someone earning $52.5 k would have earned about %40 k in that 40-week time period; under this program, they'd see $30 000 of that. That's a darn sight better than $20 k.
There are several big pitfalls here. The first is that it won't be in place any time soon, if at all. The second is how it gets paid for; if it results in increases to EI or taxes, it would cease to be worth it very, very fast. Ditto if it increases the debt/deficit. The third is the provincial vs. federal issue; I see no problem with letting provinces opt out of the federal program to provide their own, or with letting provinces top up the federal money, but if the federal program is cancelled outright, the result will be weeping and nashing of teeth in Canada's poorest regions (read: Newfoundland, New Brunswick, all three territories).
I wish it would be in place within a year, because it would make a huge difference to my finances. (Next year, my salary will be almost exactly the amount of the proposed new cap.) But I'm not counting on this or any other improvement in that short a time.
In any case, Quebec has once again provided a benchmark for the rest of the country to live up to. They did it with daycare, and the federal government has yet to deliver on the promise to create a system for the rest of us. Now they're doing it for parental leaves. What I want to know is: with the best benefits packages and child-rearing strategies in the country, why does Quebec still have the lowest birth rate? If I lived there, I'd be cranking out babies.