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Paying the Stork in Quebec

Canada's birth rate is below replacement level set by experts at 2.1 children per couple. However, the birth rate of Quebec is at an even more abysmal level (1.5 children per couple in 1997), the lowest in the world.

This is rightly a cause of deep concern for the Quebec government which is desperately struggling to preserve its language and culture while seemingly surrounded by a sea of English-speaking peoples.

As a way to encourage the birth of children, in 1988, the Quebec government launched a program to offer couples a bonus for each child born - the more frequent the trips to the maternity ward, the bigger the cash offer -- $ 500.00 bonus for a first child and $8,000 for a third child. This program drove up the Quebec birth rate by 12% to make it almost in line with the rest of Canada (low as it is). That is, the program had a strong positive and robust impact on Quebec's fertility.

Unfortunately, in 1997 at the time the Quebec government discontinued the program as a supposed abject failure, it was unaware of its success. The decision to scrap the program, however, was also due to the fact the "bébé bonus" was much derided by critics as patronizing and buying of votes and unpopular among Quebec's intellectual elites.

Recent studies suggest, however, that offering couples money to have children worked in Quebec. A study just completed at the University of Toronto of the Quebec Baby Bonus program called "Subsidizing the Stork" suggests that thousands of Quebec children owe their existence to a government cheque and that financial calculations play a major role in the decision to have a child. According to economics Professor Pierre Lefebvre at the University of Quebec in Montreal, whose own studies confirm that of University of Toronto:

…having a child … involves major direct costs, and that makes some people hesitate. [The baby bonuses] have a positive effect on the birth rate. (Globe and Mail, January 27, 2001)

While envisioning a new children's agenda, the Chrétien government in Ottawa might consider Quebec's experience in a baby bonus program. Perhaps it should consider implementing a similar program as part of its own children's agenda in order to produce a few more little Canadians.

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