We are broke, motherfuckers! My family is a one and done because we cannot afford another kid. We can’t buy a bigger home, we can’t afford to raise two kids without sacrificing what the first one already gets and we can barely afford post secondary for said child.
You want more kids? Tax the rich and rebuild the country. Otherwise, import them.
Talorex on
How about we just pay workers more so that parents can afford to take time of work if they needed to? Pretty hard for your wife to be a stay at home mom for a few years if you can’t float the mortgage yourself. The article opens by talking about a 40(!) year old woman becoming a mother and struggling with the financial burdens. If people can’t afford to have kids at 40 that’s a pretty big red flag.
adamast0r on
Is there any incentive for the government to motivate more to have children when the government and the country is generally fine with immigration (at a reasonable rate — not the current rate)?
common-wiki1231 on
These fucking media companies are taking the piss. Let the housing market crash and pay people more, people will start having kids again. People still have sex. They’re just kind enough to not bring people in this world who they don’t want to see get fucked as bad as they are. People don’t want to give birth to slaves of the landlord class in canada
CyrilSneerLoggingDiv on
No, get those work-at-home office women back to the downtown offices and paying for daycare for their one child (all they can afford to have) to boost the economy and real estate company portfolio values! Why would they want parental leave, more kids and to stay at home all day with said kids when they can work on their careers instead?
SubjectExplanation87 on
No countries have figured out the solution to get birth rates higher, it seems to be directly linked with poorer people have more kids with the theory being they don’t see having kids as making them miss out on experiences. Countries with the generous policies promoted here in Europe have the same low fertility problem so it doesn’t appear to be income driven.
metalcore_hippie on
A bunch of European countries give income tax breaks from parents, let’s do that!
No-Talk-9268 on
Daycare is too expense and hard to find. Housing is too expensive. Food is too expensive. How are people who want children supposed to afford it?
Make IVF more accessible and cheaper, maybe subsidized or publicly funded for those with infertility. I know in Ontario one round is covered by OHIP. I know a lot of couples who want children, have fertility issues, and can’t afford IVF.
Spirited_Law6417 on
Reduce immigration and stop wasting taxpayers money to support some gender equality programs outside of the country can be a good start.. the child care benefits are so little for hardworking Canadians . To get the full credit of child care benefits , net household income needs to be like 35k ish(don’t quote me on it, can’t remember the exact number..) that’s like below property line if there is one ..
WasabiNo5985 on
You are not going to fix thjs without either or both of two things. 1. Actually boosting the economy and that means technologixl advancement, innovations, boosting exports, getting businesses to come to canada so ppl can actually make more money. 2. Crash the housing market.
You could get away with 1 but 1 is very difficult and a long term solution that requires signifiant investments in this already backward ass stuck in 1980s economy.
What is easier is a market correction of the reale state market. Will ppl suffer yes. The question is how much are you willing to let the big banks burn.
You over leveraged for decades without investing in anything else outside of real estate. You reap what you sow. There is no out without suffering. It is inevitable.
Curly-Canuck on
“Family Allowance” and other child credits were a fraction of what they are now and parental leave half as long when our birth rates were higher. There is more than money involved here so money won’t fix it.
Society has changed. Fewer people want children at all let alone more than two. Many parents don’t want to take a longer break from their careers, let alone 3 or 4 breaks.
Edit to add – Many of the childless couples I know earn decent wages and have house and cars. It’s a lifestyle choice not just a financial one. They love travel and trying out the latest restaurants and season tickets to hockey games and personal trainers. They dote on their fur babies and look forward to early retirement. That’s ok too.
Amazonreviewscool67 on
Time to make shit affordable all around and stop giving CEOs hefty bonuses, politicians luxuries, and fucking over the middle and lower classes in every way possible.
Low_Warning13 on
The billionaires doubled and tripped their net worth the last 4+ years. Their products doubled and tripled, workers wages have stayed stagnant… no wonder no one can afford a family.
USSMarauder on
If we want to pay people to do a job they don’t want to do, then we’re looking at about $100K per year for the parent to stay home and forgo the working income, and $50K per child per year for expenses.
neilmaddy on
Everything is too expensive
funky2023 on
Reforming parental leave isn’t going to increase people having kids. Reforming the housing market so there is affordable housing available, stopping the influx of unneeded workers being subsidized forcing companies to pay more would help. Medical care reform and stopping the drain of medical professionals lowering wait times would help. None of this will happen though. If it doesn’t line someone’s pockets or offshore accounts it’s a wish.
Affectionate-Bath970 on
I think beefing up childcare options would be a better idea honestly.
Bunch of ways it could be done. It is insane how impossible it is to even secure childcare in most places, let alone pay for it. Absolutely insane.
If the government wants to actually make it easier for people to have kids, I think that would go a huge huge way.
No expert, and I’m just spit balling, but maybe provide an incentive or subsidize part of the cost of opening a daycare for individuals. Of course make sure they are up to code and registered and whatever else needs to be done to make it safe, but if you made it easy and more lucrative for qualified people to provide this service – it would go a loooong way.
Gavstar111 on
How about no more child support and stop allowing women to use children as a weapon against fathers. How about automatic share and joint custody. No money involve. 2 weeks with mom and 2 weeks with dad. Make mom financially accountable for the child for the first time ever
just-here-12 on
Housing, daycare, cost of living. I’m too poor to have more kids 😭
ihaveredhaironmyhead on
Canada maternity leave is among the best in the world. People don’t need more money. They need to genuinely desire children. With all of the stress and limitations imposed by children who in their right mind would want them?
Adoggieandher2birds on
It’s time to look at why the native population are not having kids. Stable happy people have kids. End wage stagnation cut migration numbers down until infrastructure picks up the results of will show up.
HistoricalWash2311 on
It’s not parental leave or anything else that is hindering my childless friends from using kids – can’t find a partner, they would prefer to cater to their own interests (ie. Travel) and just generally, lack of interest in having children. Most people I know that want children find a way to have kids. Also, I think the big issue is that a lot of millenials have not really grown up.
Misher7 on
That won’t do anything.
See Scandinavia.
The government can try and incentivize having kids all it wants.
People still won’t have them.
toobadnosad on
In the natural world, offspring are had when conditions support it.
RefrigeratorOk648 on
There are many reasons people are not having kids. Money is not the only reason. Worldwide the fertility rate is dropping. There are plenty of people on earth.
WealthEconomy on
It isn’t parental leave that is keeping people from having kids. It is 50% CoL 50% the individualistic change in our culture over the past 30 years. 20 year olds do not want to look after kids…
syaz136 on
Solution: allow joint filing, as the US has it. Basically perfect income splitting for couples. That way they won’t be penalized by one person not working.
FunnyUsernameHere on
We would have more kids if income splitting was still available, that one policy has cost us thousands and means we don’t feel we can afford it.
29 Comments
More benefits? More likely to ban birth control.
We are broke, motherfuckers! My family is a one and done because we cannot afford another kid. We can’t buy a bigger home, we can’t afford to raise two kids without sacrificing what the first one already gets and we can barely afford post secondary for said child.
You want more kids? Tax the rich and rebuild the country. Otherwise, import them.
How about we just pay workers more so that parents can afford to take time of work if they needed to? Pretty hard for your wife to be a stay at home mom for a few years if you can’t float the mortgage yourself. The article opens by talking about a 40(!) year old woman becoming a mother and struggling with the financial burdens. If people can’t afford to have kids at 40 that’s a pretty big red flag.
Is there any incentive for the government to motivate more to have children when the government and the country is generally fine with immigration (at a reasonable rate — not the current rate)?
These fucking media companies are taking the piss. Let the housing market crash and pay people more, people will start having kids again. People still have sex. They’re just kind enough to not bring people in this world who they don’t want to see get fucked as bad as they are. People don’t want to give birth to slaves of the landlord class in canada
No, get those work-at-home office women back to the downtown offices and paying for daycare for their one child (all they can afford to have) to boost the economy and real estate company portfolio values! Why would they want parental leave, more kids and to stay at home all day with said kids when they can work on their careers instead?
No countries have figured out the solution to get birth rates higher, it seems to be directly linked with poorer people have more kids with the theory being they don’t see having kids as making them miss out on experiences. Countries with the generous policies promoted here in Europe have the same low fertility problem so it doesn’t appear to be income driven.
A bunch of European countries give income tax breaks from parents, let’s do that!
Daycare is too expense and hard to find. Housing is too expensive. Food is too expensive. How are people who want children supposed to afford it?
Make IVF more accessible and cheaper, maybe subsidized or publicly funded for those with infertility. I know in Ontario one round is covered by OHIP. I know a lot of couples who want children, have fertility issues, and can’t afford IVF.
Reduce immigration and stop wasting taxpayers money to support some gender equality programs outside of the country can be a good start.. the child care benefits are so little for hardworking Canadians . To get the full credit of child care benefits , net household income needs to be like 35k ish(don’t quote me on it, can’t remember the exact number..) that’s like below property line if there is one ..
You are not going to fix thjs without either or both of two things. 1. Actually boosting the economy and that means technologixl advancement, innovations, boosting exports, getting businesses to come to canada so ppl can actually make more money. 2. Crash the housing market.
You could get away with 1 but 1 is very difficult and a long term solution that requires signifiant investments in this already backward ass stuck in 1980s economy.
What is easier is a market correction of the reale state market. Will ppl suffer yes. The question is how much are you willing to let the big banks burn.
You over leveraged for decades without investing in anything else outside of real estate. You reap what you sow. There is no out without suffering. It is inevitable.
“Family Allowance” and other child credits were a fraction of what they are now and parental leave half as long when our birth rates were higher. There is more than money involved here so money won’t fix it.
Society has changed. Fewer people want children at all let alone more than two. Many parents don’t want to take a longer break from their careers, let alone 3 or 4 breaks.
Edit to add – Many of the childless couples I know earn decent wages and have house and cars. It’s a lifestyle choice not just a financial one. They love travel and trying out the latest restaurants and season tickets to hockey games and personal trainers. They dote on their fur babies and look forward to early retirement. That’s ok too.
Time to make shit affordable all around and stop giving CEOs hefty bonuses, politicians luxuries, and fucking over the middle and lower classes in every way possible.
The billionaires doubled and tripped their net worth the last 4+ years. Their products doubled and tripled, workers wages have stayed stagnant… no wonder no one can afford a family.
If we want to pay people to do a job they don’t want to do, then we’re looking at about $100K per year for the parent to stay home and forgo the working income, and $50K per child per year for expenses.
Everything is too expensive
Reforming parental leave isn’t going to increase people having kids. Reforming the housing market so there is affordable housing available, stopping the influx of unneeded workers being subsidized forcing companies to pay more would help. Medical care reform and stopping the drain of medical professionals lowering wait times would help. None of this will happen though. If it doesn’t line someone’s pockets or offshore accounts it’s a wish.
I think beefing up childcare options would be a better idea honestly.
Bunch of ways it could be done. It is insane how impossible it is to even secure childcare in most places, let alone pay for it. Absolutely insane.
If the government wants to actually make it easier for people to have kids, I think that would go a huge huge way.
No expert, and I’m just spit balling, but maybe provide an incentive or subsidize part of the cost of opening a daycare for individuals. Of course make sure they are up to code and registered and whatever else needs to be done to make it safe, but if you made it easy and more lucrative for qualified people to provide this service – it would go a loooong way.
How about no more child support and stop allowing women to use children as a weapon against fathers. How about automatic share and joint custody. No money involve. 2 weeks with mom and 2 weeks with dad. Make mom financially accountable for the child for the first time ever
Housing, daycare, cost of living. I’m too poor to have more kids 😭
Canada maternity leave is among the best in the world. People don’t need more money. They need to genuinely desire children. With all of the stress and limitations imposed by children who in their right mind would want them?
It’s time to look at why the native population are not having kids. Stable happy people have kids. End wage stagnation cut migration numbers down until infrastructure picks up the results of will show up.
It’s not parental leave or anything else that is hindering my childless friends from using kids – can’t find a partner, they would prefer to cater to their own interests (ie. Travel) and just generally, lack of interest in having children. Most people I know that want children find a way to have kids. Also, I think the big issue is that a lot of millenials have not really grown up.
That won’t do anything.
See Scandinavia.
The government can try and incentivize having kids all it wants.
People still won’t have them.
In the natural world, offspring are had when conditions support it.
There are many reasons people are not having kids. Money is not the only reason. Worldwide the fertility rate is dropping. There are plenty of people on earth.
It isn’t parental leave that is keeping people from having kids. It is 50% CoL 50% the individualistic change in our culture over the past 30 years. 20 year olds do not want to look after kids…
Solution: allow joint filing, as the US has it. Basically perfect income splitting for couples. That way they won’t be penalized by one person not working.
We would have more kids if income splitting was still available, that one policy has cost us thousands and means we don’t feel we can afford it.