Quebec leads the country in stay-at-home fathers
Vancouver Sun
June 24, 2008
By: Amy Husser

OTTAWA -- The idea of being a stay-at-home dad is five times more popular in Quebec than in the rest of Canada, due in large part to generous parental leave programs available only in that province, a Statistics Canada report released Monday has found.

In 2001, the federal government changed its parental leave program for new parents, increasing the length of government-paid benefits from 10 weeks to 35 weeks, and eliminating a second two-week unpaid waiting period for parents sharing the responsibility of staying home with children.

Five years later, Quebec introduced its own parental insurance program as a substitute for the federal program.

It offered higher benefits rates and coverage for self-employed workers.

It also eliminated unpaid waiting periods before benefits are paid out, and introduced a five-week leave solely for fathers.

As a result, Statistics Canada saw the number of Quebec men claiming parental benefits nearly double in just one year, jumping to 56 per cent in 2006 from 32 per cent in 2005.

For fathers outside Quebec, participation in the federal program remained constant over three years, at just 11 per cent….

Statistics Canada concluded that the five-week exclusive paternity leave was proving most popular among Quebec fathers. But the agency was less sure why more dads outside Quebec were opting to stay home over the study period, even without improvements in their leave provisions.

"The reason for the increase in the weeks of leave for fathers outside Quebec is less obvious," Statistics Canada said.

The most common reasons for fathers choosing to pass on the benefits and stay at work with a new baby at home were said to be family choice (40 per cent), difficulty taking time off work (22 per cent) and financial concerns (17 per cent).