Reversing Canada’s Declining Birth Rate: Analyst Weighs In

Reversing Canada’s Declining Birth Rate: Analyst Weighs In
A six-week-old baby girl drinks from a nursing bottle in North Vancouver, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward
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While cost-of-living issues and U.S. trade tensions have dominated discussions during the federal election campaign, a long-simmering issue is drawing concern among some experts who say the potential consequences warrant greater federal attention: Canada’s declining fertility rate and its long-term implications for population growth.

Canada’s birth rate has for decades been below the level needed to replace the population, with an even steeper decline in recent years, according to a recent report published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute titled “Baby Steps: How to reverse Canada’s falling fertility rates.”