Mothers and fathers in the province welcomed hints from Justin Trudeau about the creation of a use-it-or-lose-it funded leave for new dads.
Trudeau made the comments while speaking at a forum in India, suggesting the leave would be flexible to non-birth parents, including partners in LGBTTQ relationships.
The system could be similar to Quebec’s current paternity leave system: that province provides up to five weeks of leave to new fathers who are paid up to 70 per cent of their income.
The potential changes couldn’t come soon enough according to Edward Langille.
The Winnipeg father wasn’t able to take any time off his work as a line cook when his son was born four years ago.
“I’d already used vacation time earlier in the year so I got no help,” said Langille.
Along with feeling like he was rushed back to work, Langille said he missed out on precious moments with his son Dakota.
“I’ve had to work two jobs so you lose bed time, breakfast time, lunch time, the play time,” said Langille.
“You just miss years. Years are just gone.”
Now expecting twins with his girlfriend, Langille saved his own money in order to take a month off when the babies arrive.
Expressing frustration over the current system, Langille said the sooner changes happen, the sooner families can benefit.
“Everyone can bond better: the family is set up for success rather than failure. Because there’s enough failing families out there,” said Langille.
Liberal MP for Winnipeg Centre Robert-Falcon Ouellette told CTV News that the government had examined Quebec’s parental program and analyzed data to figure out what worked well.
“A lot of non birth parents actually do use the program. So you’ll actually see more men participating in being at home with their children, participating with their spouse and trying to contribute to the child care,” said Ouellette.
“Which actually has some very good, long-term impacts on the children’s well being. But also the wellbeing of the spouse.”
Ouellette said the government had been looking at Quebec’s model as something it could potentially implement across Canada.
Through support from the federal government, Ouellette said he’d like to see every parent in Manitoba have the opportunity to take some parental leave.
“Whether it’s five weeks or two weeks, that is their time that they can then use to really participate in the care of their children.”
Stressing the importance of supporting women, Ouellette said that support was essential to social and economic development in Canada.
Working to promote gender equality through her role with the University of Winnipeg Students’Association, Jade Defehr said it was important for the government to make such a system available to partners in LGBTTQ relationships.
“When we think about workplace equality, it’s important to think beyond just the nuclear family of one husband and one wife,” said Defehr.
