Wow... 12 weeks of unpaid leave!?! I thought Canada was a little backward with 16 weeks of maternity leave and 37 weeks of parental leave (open to dads and moms). This is state paid leave at 55% to maximum of $41,100 per year, per person. Companies are allowed to make up the difference if they want, but most don't.

But the Sweden deal sounds sweet! I could stay home and look after my son, and not worry about bringing home the bacon too.

For the Argentina perspective, moms get 100% paid for 12 weeks. The only real concession made to dads is if your employer terminates your employment during the year following your child's birth, they must pay you a year's severance pay. No help for caring for your child, but no worries about losing your job either...

It's interesting with the Big Government of Canada that they do not have maternity/paternity leave similar to Sweden. However, one thing that needs to be considered that often gets completely ignored when one hears about the awesomeness of such a policy is the financial (and social) impacts of these policies.
If the leave were government subsidized as the daycare is, the US too would be taxed out of the proverbial "rear" as Canada and Sweden currently is. Canada is a little closer to US tax system but they are best known for state run health care in the US (not fondly by Republicans and envied by Democrats). Most of what I hear about it is that it's not bad IF you can get in within a reasonable time. Most people with money come to the US for any major surgery for the better expertise (doctors here can charge more since the Government doesn't mandate the price of procedures as in a state run health care so the good ones want to work here to get rich) and to be able to get the procedures done in a timely fashion.
The other issue that comes to mind is the impact on business if the leave is not government subsidized. If businesses are mandated to give ridiculous (yet sweet) amounts of leave for mom and dad, they will tend not to hire (or layoff) potentials havin' the babies. Yes, it is illegal to discriminate against people in hiring and firing, but I assure you that businesses do find ways to get around that. Namely, they are suggested by lawyers to NEVER tell someone why they are being rejected or fired because then they are open for a discrimination lawsuit.
Although I would love for long leave and cheap day care, there are other issues that arise with this that needs to be seriously considered first. The least of which is that I would be giving more money to a government that has not shown the best wisdom as to how to utilize this money to the best of their ability.

There are lots of things about these programs that are not workable in the US. We would never stand for the Swedish level of taxation. There have to be some cultural things we can do, though. The amount of family leave we are taking is down sharply since 1998. Big Swedish companies are able to compete on the global market while encouraging employees to take leave. How can we convince our employers that happy parent/employees bring value? How can we find ways as employers and small business owners to extend the greatest possible benefit to our employees?

As tempting as the Swedish deal sounds I'm sure there must be tradeoffs with taxes and other restrictions. In our American (purportedly) free-market, capitalist society, such a thing would never be possible, or, in my view, desirable. What we do need to implement, though, are more privately funded programs that help lower-income parents with child care. Also needed are more programs sponsored by corporations (company day care, flexible hours, telecommuting, whatever) that help parents work and still provide quality care for their children. No Child Left Behind ain't it, though.

@Bradley: YOur statement that Canadians come to the US for better doctors is an oft repeated myth perpetrated by a few vocal disgruntled Canadian Doctors who came to the US for greener pastures. According to author Fred Brock, Canadians still get to choose any Doctor they prefer; major surgeries have more generous hospital stay provisions, and prescription meds are less costly. According to the New York Times, a cottage industry of fake Canadian ID's has sprung up to allow those living along the border (Canadian that is) to go into Canada for treatment. Personally I think the true problem is the large lobbying efforts on the part of the medical/pharmaceutical industrial complex fearing their profits will feel the pinch if the Goverment were to institute some form of nationalized health care, like pretty much every other industrialized nation. I disagree with the notion that we would have to be taxed to the hilt. BTW, often overlooked in the debate is that Canada is about 26 million large and the US is about 260 million large - a 10x difference. Rarely does anything scale well with an order of magnitude difference like this. So looking at Canada's solutions is good as a guide, but ultimately we need to formulate a plan that is uniquely US (pun intended).

As far as paternity leave and daycare, big corporate entities do offer incentives, but it is tied to how well the economy is doing - not well these days.

So where does that leave folks like me who are self-employed and have just seen a 16% increase in medical insurance premiums and a huge decrease in income (tied to the real estate downturn)? Working harder AND smarter; climbing the tree higher for the fruit...

I personally took 6 weeks of paternity leave. Luckily my employer let me use paid sick time otherwise I wouldn't have been able to take much leave at all. It's sad to me that the US isn't more like Sweden in this regard. I would love to have taken more time off or even have the option of taking more time off in the future.