I noticed in a [1] CBC story today that [2] Danny Williams has promised $1,000 for each child born or adopted in [3] Newfoundland and Labrador if he is re-elected as Premier in the election campaign that just kicked off. I guess that while you can’t put a price on love,  you can put a price on a child.

I wouldn’t say “no” to a thousand dollars but I think it’s awfully simplistic - and more than a little reminiscent of the $100 [4] universal “childcare” payments - and deals with the result of the problem rather than the problem. People decide not to have children for a variety of reasons including financial, lifestyle, including marrying and having babies later, dual-income couples, lack of support systems when people can only find jobs far from the rest of their families, etc. Oh, and some people think that daycare is too difficult to find and too expensive, especially when you have two kids in full-time care. Problems not solved by $100 a month, even when you add $1000 on the birth of a baby.