It would be, the talk went, the gift Canada would make to the children of the new millennium. Because of that, The Globe and Mail's year-long Family Matters series has been tracking families in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal since September to help shed light on the zeitgeist of modern parenting and put a potentially groundbreaking budget into context. The Globe uncovered an indictment of current family policies in Canada. Parents feel that at all levels of government, policy has failed to keep pace with the changing times. Now, the fabled budget of 2000 is just weeks away as the House of Commons prepares for the winter session.
Some parents have extremely high expectations.
Others are intensely cynical about whether the federal government has the will to act in its own sphere or the moral strength to negotiate anything with the powerful provinces. There have been a few hints. The Speech from the Throne in October laid out a bold mission to make it easier for parents to take care of their children. For one thing, the government pledged to lengthen the time parents can be off work with newborn children. Maternity and parental leave, for those who qualify under unemployment insurance, are expected to be increased to a maximum of a year from the current six months.