加拿大各省規範育嬰假所屬法律之名稱，或稱為雇用基準法，或稱為勞動基準法。而聯邦育嬰假則規定在加拿大勞工法之中，聯邦法適用範圍極狹。然其國各省與聯邦規定育嬰假之基本要件之原則，卻是大致相同。育嬰假假期在一年左右，其適用雇主無僱用人數限制，適用範圍內之勞工並不限於婚生之父母，而且收養者亦得享育嬰假，其部份工時之勞工亦適用之。而基於勞雇間關係，育嬰假之法律性質屬於留職停薪。
而加拿大育嬰津貼之發放制度，是以其全國一致之聯邦就業保險法規範之。其國政府於二000年底將可領取育嬰津貼週數修正延長為35週。各省之立法機關配合於二000年前後，修改其雇用基準法或勞動基準法，而延長其育嬰假假期為35週。顯現其國各界對育嬰假與津貼之發放制度具有高度之一致之共識。

The laws governing parental leave in the provinces of the Canada are mainly entitled as Employment Standards Act, Labor Standards Act or Act respecting labor standards. Canadian Labor Code actually is a federal labor law governing the employees and employers under the federal jurisdiction. It covers only very limited employees and employers as a whole. Parental leave is also regulated under this law for the jurisdiction. Though there are diverse jurisdictions in regulating Canadian parental leave, the basic requirements qualifying an employee to enjoy the leave are quite similar to each other under different jurisdictions. The similarities include approximately one year term leave duration, no limitation on minimum number of workers employed, not exclusive for natural parents, and part-timers are qualified. The leave is granted unpaid by the employers under employment relations.
The benefit of parental leave is governed under the Employment Insurance Act. This social insurance scheme is a federal scheme but is applicable to the employees of all jurisdictions. In year 2000, its federal government extend the payable weeks of the benefit up to 35 weeks. The legislative bodies of different provinces concertedly amended their labor standard to extend their leave duration up to 35 weeks. Without consensus on the need to grant adequate parental leave and its benefit to their workers, the laws may not have been established in that way.