OTTAWA (CCN) — Canada’s total fertility rate (TFR) has sunk to an all-time low for a third year in a row.
New Statistics Canada data shows the country registered a rate of 1.25 children per woman in 2024 (it was 1.27 in 2023), an anemic figure that classifies Canada as a “lowest-low” fertility nation by the United Nations. Every country with a TFR below 1.3 is branded with this status.
Peter Copeland, the deputy director for domestic policy at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank, told The Catholic Register Canada’s TFR indicates the effects of the 1960s’ sexual revolution continue to reverberate.
“It decoupled sex from marriage, commitment and childbearing,” said Copeland. “The default kind of worldview in our society is (now) liberal individualism. In the relationship domain this means short-term relationships and cohabitation, which is not conducive to marriage. It really just signals to your partner that this is conditional and (we’re) kind of testing things out, which is not what builds trust and commitment and deeper forms of love, which is what marriage is all about and family life.”
Saskatchewan leads the way as the most fertile province with a 1.58 TFR. Manitoba (1.50) and Alberta (1.41), Quebec (1.34) and New Brunswick (1.26) are the only other jurisdictions with a TFR above the national rate. British Columbia remains the least fertile province with a 1.02 TFR, which is an increase from the 1.00 in 2023.
To catalyze growth in these figures, Copeland and his Macdonald-Laurier Institute peers have advocated for Canada to adopt a more pro-fertility policy framework akin to the U.S., France and Israel. Israel’s fertility rate was 2.91 in 2024, while the U.S. and French TFR was 1.6 in 2024.
“We don’t really recognize family as a public good and our taxation benefits and child-care systems are built on this highly individualistic model that prioritizes dual earners,” said Copeland.
Some of the pro-family policies advocated by the institute include lowering marginal income tax rates, improving per-child benefits and allowing more income-sharing. Naturally, reducing the cost of living is also deemed as paramount.
Copeland said Canada has long turned to immigration to “paper over” the fertility issue, but now the country’s stance towards immigration is shifting. A new survey from Leger released late in September indicates that 60 per cent of Canadians disagreed with the statement “Canada needs new immigrants.”
“We’re starting to see how the effects of over reliance on immigration is harming social trust,” said Copeland. “Immigrants are not integrating as they once were, probably because Canada doesn’t really know what it’s about. You have government (leaders) who promoted this kind of post-national identity where Canada is just a place to come get your economic goods and doesn’t really have core values.”
He suggested “we’re seeing a long overdue rethinking on immigration and that over-reliance on immigration has caused a neglect of our domestic fertility challenges.”
Notably, five days after Statistics Canada publishing this stark portrait of the nation’s fertility situation on Sept. 24, the federal government announced $13 million in new funding for pro-abortion entities like Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights ($2.82 million) and the University of British Columbia’s Contraception & Abortion Research Team (CART) Access project ($4.38 million).
“Instead of pouring millions into the destruction of future Canadians, this money should be used to help families thrive and to encourage married couples to welcome more children,” said Jeff Gunnarson, the national president of Campaign Life Coalition, the political arm of the Canadian pro-life movement. “(Prime Minister Mark) Carney is not just fiddling while our nation collapses demographically — he is pouring gasoline on the fire by funding those who accelerate the decline. It is utter madness.”
Reacting to the new millions in spending for abortion access, Copeland said it is notable that “contraception, assisted reproductive technologies and abortion really shifted the calculus of childbearing, making it seem infinitely deferrable” and it also eroded “the social expectation that marriage and family are integral.”
He added that “it just speaks volumes that Canada has some of the most unrestricted abortion laws,” and it “is a big factor affecting the way people think about sexuality and intimacy in relationships.” He suggested there are “many countries that people think are very liberal and progressive that have many more restrictions on abortion and I think we ought to be actually part of that.”
