Latest news with #JulianMorse
CBC
19-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
N.W.T. gov't renews consultation on potential Indigenous procurement policy
Social Sharing After years of consultation, officials with the N.W.T. government say the territory could have an Indigenous procurement policy by the end of 2025. The policy would aim to make it easier for Indigenous-owned N.W.T. businesses to land government contracts by giving them certain advantages in the contracting process. Yukon instituted a similar policy in 2021. The territory already gives priority to N.W.T.-owned businesses. The N.W.T. government first began consulting on a potential Indigenous procurement policy back in 2021, after it was recommended in a procurement review. Staff have now come up with a few options for what the policy could look like and are doing community consultations, with stops in every region of the territory. Only consultations in Fort Simpson and Yellowknife remain. Elizabeth King is a director of procurement for the territorial government. Speaking to MLAs at a committee meeting last week, she said "the goal" is to finalize the policy by the end of 2025. "That is a very efficient timeline but I think it still looks achievable, and I think we can do something that makes sense," she told the MLAs. MLA Julian Morse asked how the staff would ensure that non-Indigenous-owned companies aren't able to benefit from the policy through subcontracting agreements. "Let's say an Indigenous business wins a contract over, say, another local business that doesn't qualify and then subcontracts that work. Would that be considered a bypassing of the policy in some way?" he asked. "This is kind of a known issue," King said, adding this also happens sometimes to companies who get contracts through the current Business Incentive Policy for N.W.T.-owned businesses. King and Ben Singer, another director of procurement at the meeting, told Morse that the territory does have a system for penalizing companies that don't meet their commitments under the current Business Incentive Procurement Policy. As of June 2024, Singer said, companies have their payment adjusted downwards in proportion to how far they fell short of those commitments.
CBC
17-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Health staff gave up long weekend plans to keep Yellowknife ER open, official says
Social Sharing The public administrator of the N.W.T. Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA) says Yellowknife's emergency department will remain open over long weekend because health-care workers adjusted their vacation plans. The acknowledgement came during a public briefing for a legislative committee meeting on Friday. It was a chance for MLAs to question the health minister and Dan Florizone, the NTHSSA public administrator, on an action plan for the territory's beleaguered health-care system. Northwest Territories doctors have been vocal in recent weeks about staffing challenges so severe they're not sure how Stanton Territorial Hospital's emergency room will function. Florizone told MLAs at Friday's meeting that the emergency room will be staffed this weekend "because of the goodwill of the emergency room doctors and the staff who have cancelled their plans and adjusted. "I can tell you that this summer and this period is worse than we've ever experienced… but we're going to work really hard, that everyday we get a bit better." 'Those doors will never close' The meeting started with a presentation from Florizone about how he planned to improve the territory's health-care system. It was followed by questions from MLAs. Yellowknife MLA Julian Morse asked whether Florizone had listened to another committee meeting held late last month with members of the N.W.T. Medical Association, where physicians described the dire situation facing the territory. Florizone said he was surprised by the comments as he says NTHSSA officials have been meeting regularly with the N.W.T. Medical Association and are working on shared priorities. Health Minister Lesa Semmler also pushed back on the suggestion that the emergency department might close because of staffing. "Statements like that put the fear in our residents," she said. "Those doors will never be closed and there will be support and there are many contingency plans to do that." Incredible sacrifices amid systemic failures, MLA says Later in the briefing on Friday, MLA Shauna Morgan again raised the subject of staffing in the Stanton emergency room and said the physicians keeping it open are already being overworked. "Ever since COVID, we all like to talk about how health-care workers are heroes and they do amazing work and the sacrifices they make," she said. "We have frontline workers who are working and making incredible sacrifices despite the systemic failures around them." Morgan says she understands that the health department and NTHSSA don't want to alarm the public, but she said pushing overworked health-care workers to the breaking point isn't a viable solution. "What I want to see in these strategies and in the actions being taken, first and foremost, is that we stop assuming that staff will always take the extra load, they'll take those extra shifts, they'll not take these vacations," Morgan said. It was Morgan's comments that prompted Florizone to acknowledge the workers keeping the emergency room open over the long weekend. 52 small improvements Florizone also talked about his role as public administrator and what he and his team were working toward accomplishing. He told MLAs that his role as public administrator is temporary and once changes are enacted he will leave the position and a new governance structure will be established. He also spoke about a trip he took to Jean Marie River First Nation to see the health facility there. He described it as an eye-opening visit and said his priority is to ensure people in communities like Jean Marie River can access better health care, closer to home. Florizone said they are also taking suggestions from frontline staff and other organizations, like the medical association, about improving the system. He said the plan will be to listen to a suggestion for a small improvement and incorporate it to see how it works. Florizone says the goal is to make 52 small improvements in 52 weeks.
