Thank you.
I think we cannot underestimate the importance of newcomers to Canada's workforce and of making sure that we are actually using their skills and talents and helping them get into the workforce as quickly as possible in their area of expertise. We're experiencing a shortage of available workers, and this is a labour tool that is ripe for us to use.
What the foreign credentials recognition program does is fund provincial and territorial regulatory bodies to enhance foreign credential recognition, so part of the funding goes to work to untangle some of the credential recognition challenges that individuals face. We also fund organizations that help newcomers navigate these complicated processes, and we fund organizations and employers to provide first Canadian work experiences in somebody's area of expertise or education.
Those are the three prongs of attack of this program: try to streamline the processes, support organizations that are helping individuals access or get through these processes, and actually give that first work experience. The announcements we made yesterday for these nine organizations did a combination of this in working with a national group of nurses to help navigate and streamline nursing regulations in Ontario; in supporting employers who want to hire newcomers and provide them that first Canadian experience; and in supporting local organizations that work with newcomers in broader wraparound service provisions, as one of the things they do, to help them navigate and get their credentials recognized.
I think we're going to see exciting things. We've increased the budget significantly for this program, and I think it is a key prong of our approach to addressing labour shortages.