Sure.
In the Blueprint for Action, which is the 10-year plan for hospice palliative care in this country, we make six proposals around caregiver issues, and those are two of them. That's always nice to see.
We're thrilled about it, but we also realize that families are very diverse. Certainly any EI-based benefit is only beneficial for those who qualify for it. There are other points we need to consider on top of that, but it's a great first start. I think it will affect many Canadians and the bulk of the Canadians who are caring for dying loved ones. At this time, about five million out of 34 million Canadians are caring for loved ones. So it's very important.
I want to throw another little piece around. Obviously there's an economic benefit to doing this, but if you look at the health care system, people are going into acute care hospital beds unnecessarily because they're not being supported at home. A patient who is dying may say they want to stay at home as long as possible. We need to divert those $1,200-a-day acute care hospital placements in emergency, if we can help it, and give good home care and good support to caregivers. Those practical pieces help divert the acute-care hospital placements.
Even though it's the right thing to do and it supports patients and families, it also ultimately saves the health care system dollars in other areas. Even though it seems like a huge investment initially, it saves the health care system in premature placements. For all those reasons, it's a great thing to do.