What Canadian parents want for Christmas

I'm dreaming of... Forget the white Christmas, sleigh bells ringing and chestnuts roasting on an open fire. What every parent really wants is some family-friendly policies that deliver peace on earth, or at least more sanity in their own households. With this in mind, we scoured the globe for the world's best family practices. (Now, if only we could find some obliging bureaucrats willing to put them in your stockings.)

Maternity and parental leave
What we have
Most Canadian women enjoy an average of 52 weeks of combined maternity and parental leave after giving birth, paid at 55 per cent of their average insurable earnings, up to a maximum of $413 a week. Doting dads can avail themselves of paternal leaves because the 35-week program allows parents to share in the bounty. This works well in theory, but, unfortunately, there's a ceiling of $413 a week on the amount of benefits that can be collected, which means that many proud papas elect to remain in the labour market while mamas stay home to maintain their family's standard of living.

When it comes to maternity and paternity stipends, Quebec wins out. The plan in that province gives parents a choice between duration and maximum benefit. While the federal employment insurance (EI) program has a maximum insurable income of $39,000, Quebec allows parents to max out at $57,000. At least we all fare better than Americans, who have a meagre unpaid 12-week leave. Bah humbug!

What we'd like
Denmark and Norway are the big winners when it comes to state support after the stork has arrived. Denmark offers 90 per cent wage replacement for the first 18 weeks. Danish parents also qualify for 32 additional weeks at 60 per cent of their wages, and eight to 13 of those weeks can be taken any time up until the child's ninth birthday. (Now, isn't that better than butter-soft leather gloves in your stocking?) Sweden wins out on the duration front with a luxurious 96 weeks of leave. Denmark, Norway and Sweden all provide extensive paid leave, which may be taken by either parent, although a portion is reserved just for Mom.

Child care
What we have
If you live outside Quebec, it's a ragtag, fend-for-yourself, "sign-'em-up-for-day-care-as-soon-as-they're-conceived" child-care system in Canada. The federal government kicks in $100 per month toward the costs of raising a child under age six. But that $100 is taxable at your current rate of income. (So now we know who the real Scrooge is.) Ottawa is also offering a Community Child Care Investment Program of $250 million a year of capital assistance in the form of tax credits to help employers and communities create child-care spaces.

Critics -- and many a working mom and dad –- have cried out for a national system to no avail. The need is certainly there. Day-care spaces are a prized commodity in this country, where less than 20 per cent of children up to age six have a place in a regulated, public child-care facility.

In La Belle Province, families fare much better: 67 per cent of all infants aged six months to five years are in some form of care. For a mere $7 a day, moms and dads have access to government-funded licenced child-care services.

What we'd like
Oh, those lucky Finns. Sure, they have winters that are longer and darker than ours, but which blessed parents are counting that lump of coal when they pay only 15 per cent of child-care costs in publicly run centres that are well funded by the government and gear fees to parents' individual incomes. And that's not all. For the past 10 years, kids under the age of seven have been guaranteed (yes, guaranteed!) a place in day care.

All Finnish families also receive a child-care allowance to cover part of private day-care expenses, if that is their choice. Low-income families do not pay for child care at all. What's more, according to Martha Friendly, a child-care expert at the University of Toronto, Scandinavian countries offer the most accessible, well-managed and affordable programs in western Europe.

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