Recently, some in the daycare lobby have suggested expanding parental and maternity leave Employment Insurance, increasing the benefits paid and having father-only leave.

See Human EArly LArning Partnership (HELP) report "15 by 15: A Comprehensive Policy for Early Human Capital Investment in British Columbia"

and All-day schooling for 3-5 year olds report for Ontario by Charles Pascal "With our best future in mind: Implementing early learning in Ontario".

Is this an efficient way to help families? Should benefits for child birthing and rearing be tied to employment?

According to Statistics Canada, births outnumber EI maternity claims by over 7 to 1. Few Mothers are Eligible for EI Maternity Leave
According to Statistics Canada, in 2008, 48,145 women got "maternity leave" EI while there were 364,085 births.

SO about ONLY 1 in 7 mums giving birth—or births—actually get any of this "benefit"!! (They don't double it for twins.)

Maternity benefits

Number of births