Agreed. In Canada, a woman or man can take up to 18 months of paid leave (although, if you take over 12 months, you'll be getting the same absolute amount of money but just spread over the extra months) to care for a new child. Your employer, by law, is obligated to hold your job for your return (provided that you were an FTE). The money you receive is simply collecting unemployment. It's money that the employee paid into the system, so it's hard to scoff at their right to utilize it. Like other unemployment benefits, you need to have been employed to access this money. To be competitive, some employers choose to "top up" the pay to a certain percentage of your full time wage (for some or all of your leave), but that's just a perk that employers can opt to offer.

I think this policy is entirely reasonable and entirely reasonable. The side effect is that there are often "matt-leave" openings at companies (i.e. covering for someone while they're away), which is a good way to get to know a job on a temporary basis and for employers to get to know a hire without a long term commitment.