There have been a number of changes made to EI in 2016 and 2017. As mentioned, the EI family caregiver benefit was extended for other family members, for parents of critically ill children. That benefit was also extended for 15 weeks to the care of adult family members. We've also improved the EI caregiver benefit by allowing medical doctors and now nurse practitioners to sign medical certificates. That's particularly helpful for people in rural areas where there's less access to medical practitioners.
There are new options created around EI parental benefits to extend the parental benefits to 61 weeks over an 18-month period. That's at a 33% benefit rate. Parents can now choose between a 35-week option for parental benefits at 55%, or 61 weeks at 33%. Added to the maternity, that goes up to 18 months or a year, depending on what they've chosen. Because it's over an extended period of time, it creates more flexibility, allowing parents to have more choice in how they might share that parental leave.
Changes were also made to allow EI maternity benefits to be—