In the 1980s, the Bourassa government implemented a “bonus baby” program: the government paid $500 for the first child, $1,000 for the second, and $8,000 for the third. In 2024 dollars, this gives $1,250 for the first, $2,500 for the second and $20,500 for the third.
My wife is currently pregnant with our second child. I asked him: would we consider having a third if the government gave us $20,000? And if the answer is no, would we do it for $30,000? $50,000?
What exactly is our “price”?
Why would we pay people to have babies?
We talk a lot about immigration to Canada, because Canadians are no longer having children. And if Canadians are no longer having children, it is largely due to economic factors.
Over the past 30 years, the birth rate has gone from worrying to problematic. While the price of housing has exploded for 10 years, the birth rate has continued to decline.
If trends continue, we are on track to lose half of our native population within the next generation. We will either have to accept the demographic and economic collapse of our nation or compensate with a massive increase in immigration.
All over the world, measures have been put in place to encourage families to have children. And us?
Quebec, like Canada, already does a lot: the Canada child benefit, the family allowance, tax credits for childcare expenses, subsidized daycares, the Quebec parental insurance plan, child care assistance housing and the RESP are all tax mechanisms and direct transfers already in place.
Is this enough? Obviously not. The numbers don’t lie, we have fewer and fewer children.
At what price?
Bourassa’s “bonus baby” program cost a total of $1.4 billion for just over 90,000 births. It’s a lot. But at the same time, it depends on what you compare it to.
To welcome an asylum seeker who arrives in Canada, for example, costs can vary from $9,000 to $41,000, according to the parliamentary budget officer in Ottawa. In 2023, nearly 150,000 people entered Canada through this mechanism, and the average administrative cost is $16,500, for a total of approximately $2.5 billion.
For comparison, the Canada Child Benefit costs the federal treasury more than $25 billion per year.
What’s more, direct financial support is only part of the efforts put in place by governments to ensure replacement fertility. “Bonus babies” are just part of the paraphernalia, and in the opinion of many experts, not the best solution.
Better work-family balance provisions, improved childcare services and improved parental leave conditions could have an impact. By ensuring that women are less penalized than they currently are, and that they can continue to play a full role in the economy, so as not to deprive the country of half of its workforce, we could also achieve two objectives at once.
Comparing the direct and indirect cost of immigration, there is perhaps even economic efficiency in considering improving family programs.
And you, is there a price that would change your mind?
