I was one of five children -- not seen as a particularly big family in Newfoundland at the time -- and there was one year when we allegedly beat Guatemala to have the highest birth rate in the world. (That's probably not true, but people were proud of it anyway.)
Then we joined Canada in 1949, and got access to what Newfoundlanders called the 'Baby Bonus'.
The 'family allowance', as Canadians called it, was a serious amount of untaxed cash on the table for a great many families, for Newfoundland was then probably the poorest place north of Mexico. In fact, many believe the Baby Bonus was the main reason Newfoundland voted to join Canada.
