Doing what comes naturally
Alaska Highway News /Ottawa citizen
December 22, 2008

The fall and rise of Quebec's birthrate has been watched closely by everyone, among them sociologists and business professors.

… In 2007, 84,200 babies were born in Quebec, a three-per-cent jump from a year earlier. It represents the fifth consecutive year that birthrates have risen in the province, and the trend is expected to continue. Quebec''s fertility rate has gone from the lowest in the country to higher than the average, and the trajectory suggests it will continue to go up.

There are many factors that influence who has children and when, but the Quebec experience suggests that family friendly programs help, in particular those designed to help mothers stay in the workforce. Government policies that simply offer parents cash to have babies - something Quebec has tried and the federal government is doing now with its $100-a-month Universal Child Care Benefit - don't work as well without other support, such as accessible child care.

Quebec's pioneering approach to inexpensive day care is far from perfect - many families have a difficult time securing a spot, for starters - but it is a start. Yes, as a government-funded program it's an expensive strategy, but at least Quebec does have a strategy.

If indeed accessible child care is the key to encouraging women to have children, then governments might want to look upon such programs as investments. Those children will grow up to be taxpayers, without whose support so many other programs will collapse.

Consider France. It introduced a series of benefits and incentives in recent years which appear to have helped spark a baby boom there. France's income tax laws benefit families that have more children, there is a monthly allowance for children into their teen years, there is a government-supported day-care system as well as tax credits for in-home child care, not to mention generous parental leaves. Not only does it pay to have children in France, but it pays to have more than one child.

The disastrous consequences of falling birthrates in the industrialized world cannot be overstated. A country of retirees will suffer decreased economic productivity. Aging populations are expensive, requiring as they do expensive medical care and other forms of assistance.

Governments have been slow to understand that the majority of women work and any strategy to encourage women to have more children must recognize that. It just may be that when families have meaningful support, they will continue to do what should come naturally - have children.