The Canadian Federal election is coming up next week and this potential change, to increase maternity/paternity leave up to 18 months, was announced by two of the parties running.
I think it could garner a lot of votes. Would it sway your voting decision? I thought we were already pretty lucky to get the 12 months we get.
pomegranate / 3858 posts
It's 18 months, but the same payout - so if you take the full 18 months, you're getting the same amount of money, but spread over more time. I don't know how many families could afford to do that.
honeydew / 7235 posts
Canada is awesome.
I just read something in the U.S. About 16 weeks and I was psyched about that! I get 12 weeks, 6-8 paid. 
coconut / 8861 posts
@hellobeeboston: In the US, it seems to be private companies moving towards longer maternity leaves and changed policies. I got 16 weeks paid maternity leave right as my company changed the policy. Google, Yahoo, and others are doing the same thing, moving in the direction of truly fostering a family friendly work environment. I read that there's less attrition when more paid leave is given.
apricot / 477 posts
@tinyperson: While I don't think many people could afford it, it's nice to have the option to stay home that long.
I liked the idea of being on mat leave and needing to return to work and then being able to go back on mat. leave.
I just returned to work early and wish I could have the option of finishing mat leave later.
pear / 1737 posts
@tinyperson: That is true. I was wondering how the government was going to be able to swing it when I first hear about it.
Some people will be okay with that I suppose. Does the benefit of having that extra time and job protection outweigh the loss of income?
It is nice that they are trying to move towards recognizing the importance of time spent with family more.
When discussing with friends last night I wondered if there would be pushback from employers and if there would be any negative impact on the employee's career for taking more time off even though they would have protection.
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
I wish I got ANY paid maternity leave. I work for the state, and have to use my paid earned sick time first, (which after how sick we all were earlier in the year plus all of the extra appointments I've had to have pregancy will probably only be like...4 days) then I can take up to 6 months unpaid, with benefits, and then an additional 6 months without benefits.
It sucks.
pomelo / 5573 posts
I can't really see how this would work in terms of backfilling positions - it's fairly simple to staff somebody for a year but once you start letting people come and go I feel like it's going to get pretty complicated.
honeydew / 7504 posts
@lovehoneybee: Same. ZERO guaranteed paid leave. I can take the 12 weeks FMLA, which is just job protection. I can take STD, which is 6 weeks at 60% pay. Anything beyond that has to come out of my PTO bank, of which I will have *maybe* a week.
The US needs to wake up and get on board with supporting the family unit! WHATEVER the family unit looks like!!!!!
cantaloupe / 6885 posts
It's nice to have the option and flexibility for sure. I know we wouldn't be able to afford to have me off any longer than a year. On the same note though, I bet when 12 months leave was announced however many years ago, people said then they couldn't afford it or couldn't leave work that long. But now almost everyone I know takes the full 12 months...it will be interesting to see if 18 months becomes the new norm.
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
Heck I would be happy with ANYTHING paid, I get 12 weeks FMLA none of which are paid beside what I have in PTO. It is all out of my pocket (I only get 3 weeks a year of PTO, so that is the max that I have a check coming in.)
12 would be great, I guess 18 seems excessive considering I started to TTC when LO was around 18 months and got pregnant almost right away, so that would be a lot of time away from a job. How does an employer "hold" your job for 18 months off? Edit: my industry changes so frequently that 18 months off would be like retraining from scratch, that would stress me out.
pomelo / 5573 posts
@LuLu Mom: I don't know about the private sector, but I work for the government and they just staff people on a one year contract. I know certain private sector places must do the same thing because I have friends who have been hired to cover maternity leaves.
watermelon / 14467 posts
12 months would be amazing, and 18 months would be even better. But I live in the US and work for a small non-profit. I don't qualify for FMLA and my company doesn't offer STD. To get any pay at all, I had to take all my vacation time, sick leave, and comp time in my maternity leave.
persimmon / 1363 posts
@Mrs. Goose: I think that there are some problems with 18 months, like staffing (it's already so hard to staff for 12 months), the fact that many people have kids 18 months to 22 months apart so they wouldn't have done enough hours to be eligible for leave again. That said, if there is a change (and it looks like there will be) I will take 18 months with our next pregnancy, as it will be our last.
pomegranate / 3858 posts
@YouGotMe: I agree that it would be nice to have the option!
I'm so thankful for the 12 month mat leave we currently have in Canada, and I'm thankful that our government recognizes the importance of that.
@LuLu Mom: @erinbaderin: I'm in the private sector, and on my last mat leave, they didn't hire anyone to fill my position. My work was redistributed, and some of my more specialized work had to go to my boss, who did some of it on weekends, because she just didn't have the time to do it during the week. 18 months of that would probably make me pretty resentful, I would think. 
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
@lovehoneybee: Yea this is us too. Luckily I think our sick leave is pretty generous so its easy to build up. We get 176 hours annual leave (annually 4 weeks) and 104 hours sick leave (annually 13 days). I actually ended up with a lot more annual leave that I used for maternity leave.
pear / 1737 posts
@Rockies11: I wonder if they will change the rules for hours required to be eligible? That's a good point that it could be a problem. People will need to be careful to accumulate their hours and time between claims properly.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
I work for a small private company and had 12 weeks completely unpaid in the US I'm really not looking forward to it when I have #2..
grapefruit / 4988 posts
This makes me even more sad about how terrible the US is. I work for a tiny company in the US, so I get 12 unpaid weeks. I pay for my own STD so that I can get some measly amount of pay, but that's it.
pear / 1503 posts
@Mrs. Goose: I'm glad you posted this. I just spent some time reading up on the different platforms. According to the Liberals site, the are two options: same pay for total of a year's maternity/parental leave with the ability to spread over 18 months, or 18 months off with reduced EI premiums, presumably worth a year at full EI payout. The Conservatives are saying they would provide 61 weeks (an extra 11 weeks), at a reduced payout.
To answer your question, it will not be affecting how I vote, as this is just one factor, and not even a very attractive one, compared to what we already receive. In all honesty, it seems to amount to trickery on those two parties to try to garner additional votes from a population (young families) that might not delve into other issues. But after 16 yrs of eligible voting (and several elections), I have come to expect smoke and mirrors from our politicians.
pomegranate / 3604 posts
I would rather they be proposing something to do with daycare than this half effort at what basically amounts to useless pandering. Ahem.
nectarine / 2433 posts
Given that the current maximum payout is just over $500 per week, there are many families that cannot afford for one parent to stay home for this long. In addition, I worry about what kind of implications this has on women and the income gap issue. Being out of the work force for 18 months is a long time in many industries, not to mention the missed pay raises or promotions when taking this kind of "break".
Like some other PPs mentioned you would also need to consider child spacing.
One upside would be that taking 18 months would reduce some of the demand for infant day care spots which can be near impossible to secure!
I agree with Sera_87, I would rather see them focus this efforts on figuring out the issues surrounding childcare
clementine / 770 posts
I think it's great! Even at reduced payments . Infant daycare spots are so expensive ($1900 a month at my centre ) so even with reduced payments I wouldn't be coming out that much behind.
Plus there's nothing that says the mother has to take the extra weeks.
My daughter is having a rough transition to daycare and I really wish I had the option for my husband to take 6 months now and I return at the 12 month mark. If this is in place when we have our second child I would seriously consider using the full 18 months between myself and my husband.
cantaloupe / 6397 posts
I think the more exciting part of this is the loosening up of the EI rules to allow parents on leave to still earn some money through self employment.
grape / 80 posts
Thanks for making this post. I'm in Saskatchewan and am about to go on a mat leave in late November with my second babe (oldest is 3). I don't think this is enough to completely sway my vote but it's interesting.
I'm in the community sector (non-profit) and I am poorly paid but the work I do has other types of rewards. I'm fretting about the first few months back to work because infant daycare spots are so expensive and my oldest will also be attending daycare until she can start kindergarten in the fall. So until kindergarten starts, I will have 300$ a month after daycare fees. But if I can stay at home until one is in school and return to work at that point, I'm actually better off. This is my personal scenario, for me the 18 month leave is not a bad option. BUT maybe the problem is an affordable daycare problem NOT a leave problem.
I also remember it taking a long time to bounce back professionally after my first 12 month leave. Not sure if I ever got back to where I was. Pretty sure a 18 month leave might be, for some, the first stop before quitting town.
Such an interesting time in politics, enjoying the discussions about parental rights.
pomegranate / 3105 posts
Personally - too little, too late. You're pulling this out a week before the election? If they were serious it would have come out before.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
I'm an American so I'm not used to such long maternity leaves but honestly even just the 12 months has always seemed crazy to me. I would lose so much ground in my field if I were out of the business for a year. Not to mention, I can't imagine a temp could fulfill my duties for a full year, since you have to be specialized and licensed/registered. But I would hate for my coworkers to have to take on my duties for a full year! I feel badly enough that they have to do it for the 14-15 weeks I've taken for my leaves.
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
@Truth Bombs: You have to remember that this is the norm here and the environment surrounding mat leave is totally different than in the US. In my job, they hired someone on a term (they had all the right credentials etc), and they ended up staying at the company afterwards. It's a great way for people to get their foot in the door.
It won't affect my vote because I don't think I could handle staying home that long anyways. But, I do appreciate being given the option.
nectarine / 2466 posts
No, this won't affect the way I vote. I think it's a neat option for someone who could afford the lesser pay over the longer term. However, I don't think I could afford a smaller payment. I also think it's great that people are looking at seeing the benefits of children staying home with parents for a longer term, how it would free up some spaces in daycare ( It's very hard to find daycare where I live) and that, but like others, I'd like to see more help towards daycare costs.
nectarine / 2220 posts
@Truth Bombs: I agree with @Grace: in my workplace at least (a decently sized municipality), a maternity leave just creates a domino effect, upwards. My boss is going on a maternity leave next year. In my office, this will mean one of us senior *insert title here* backfills her job, that vacancy will get filled by a more junior person, the junior job will open up as a cross training opportunity to an internal candidate that wants to try something different. That typically goes on and on, until you've shuffled up right from the very entry level position.... which we hire somebody new on a contract for, and they often end up getting hired on full time when positions open up through regular attrition. It's generally pretty good all around; not attempting to hire a temp to replace senior staffers.
I find the attitude of acting like a long maternity leave is kind of a strange concept. It's not like people get pregnant and leave immediately. There's a significant number of months to figure out how to re-distribute a work load. There may be cases where someone is truly, incredibly difficult to replace, and not to sound smug, but I think the culture here is just more that it's worth a little extra effort/money to prioritize family.
To answer the actual question though, no, extending a maternity leave further isn't an election platform that would sway my vote very much.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
@Sapphiresun: but in your example, you didn't say what happens to your boss when she comes back? Does everyone get bumped back down so she can have her job back? I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely curious.
persimmon / 1447 posts
@cascademom: not just private companies. The US Navy has 16 weeks paid maternity leave!
nectarine / 2220 posts
@Truth Bombs: yes, in theory when she comes back everybody will shuffle back in their old positions, but with new experience and perspective 
However, while I was on maternity leave I competed for an internal promotion (which they held back the start date for an extra two months until I finished my maternity leave). So in my case, the promotion chain that my mat leave caused became permanent for ~6 people. They all had to go to competition again based on our union rules but obviously the people that had been doing the job for a year were pretty strong candidates.
pomelo / 5660 posts
@Sapphiresun: so the people that get hired are right out of college? If everyone moves up a position, I'm assuming they are new hires not experienced hires. What happens in a down economy when a company can't keep extra people on. I'm just curious how this works.
pomelo / 5660 posts
@Sapphiresun: what happens if it's the CEO of the company? Like yahoo?
honeydew / 7444 posts
@Sapphiresun: I find that if the position is filled internally, it's presented as a development opportunity. A unionized person took over my management position and she was chosen because her job is guaranteed after her 1 year contract is over, whereas if it was a non-unionized person applying, her position wouldn't be guaranteed.
It won't sway my vote. I really care about the government increasing more daycare spots, ESPECIALLY infant spots in quality centres. Harper government has done jack shit. 18 month wait lists shouldn't be the norm.
honeydew / 7444 posts
@BandDmommy: I am pretty sure someone would just take over as "acting CEO" for that time and it would shuffle up, just like when any other reorg happens.
pomelo / 5660 posts
@Freckles: I'd find it hard as a CEO to leave for a year and come back. Same with some other professions, surgeon, etc.. I can see how it would work with a lot of other positions though.
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
@BandDmommy: I find that the more ambitious women don't tend to take the whole year. They will split it with their husbands and they'll work from home and answer emails on leave and so on. For a down economy, it will depend on your company. When mine downsized, they laid off the women on mat leave. They aren't supposed to, but they skirted the rules by saying that they were laying them off on the day they came back. It does open them up to a lawsuit, and I know 2 people that managed to keep their jobs by fighting it, but most of the women just took the severance.
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