The Canadian government has extended the country's employment insurance (EI) benefits to include self-employed workers.

Stephen Harper's Conservative-led administration has proposed legislation that will enable self-employed labor market members to receive maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate leave benefits.

This measure is likely to affect more than 2.6 million Canadians and will add to a growing number of changes made to EI since the outbreak of recession.

Specifically, the government has extended regular benefits for unemployed workers who have previously made little use of the program.

Diane Finley, human resources minister, suggested that this legislation will allow self-employed Canadians to have a better work-life balance.

She said: "It is good family policy, and it represents one of the most significant enhancements to the EI program in the last decade."

Last month, Statistics Canada revealed that the number of labor market members claiming EI fell by 2.4 per cent in August.