Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Peterborough for the question.
Indeed, the ASETS program is administered by Employment and Social Development Canada. I have just completed six months of consultations with first nations communities and employers on the renewal of the aboriginal skills and education training strategy. I look forward to an announcement in the months to come, but it clearly is our intention to renew and improve aboriginal skills development programs.
We have an enormous opportunity, if we can get this right, to address the underemployment of aboriginal Canadians and many of the labour shortages that we are facing. We intend to do exactly that through smart investments to help aboriginal Canadians get gainful employment.