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Sorensen remains at post - for now

Re-organization of premier's office behind schedule

Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 16/02) - The chief of staff has not yet left the building.

A spokesperson from the premier's office said Lynda Sorensen's employment with the premier's office has been extended to Jan. 18.

Communications officer Drew Williams said the extension was required to complete a re-organization of the premier's office.

"That's just the period of time it's taking to hand over files," Williams said.

No one in the premier's office was available to disclose when the decision to extend Sorensen's employment was made or who made it.

Though a press conference that included the premier was called to announce Sorensen's resignation, it appears little or no notice was given of the extension.

"It would've been nice to know," said Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent, adding, "In the grand scheme of things, an extra week or two isn't a big deal."

Inuvik MLA Floyd Roland was another MLA who was not notified. He said it raises some questions in his mind.

"I would wait to see what she's actually doing that would keep her on any longer," Roland said. "Is this something that will happen again, or is it just to finish off a couple of areas."

When she announced her resignation, Sorensen said she it was because media pre-occupation with the chief of staff had brought the premier's office "under "constant attack."

Four days before that announcement, Kakfwi announced a re-organization of his office that would eliminate the chief of staff position.

Both moves came on the heels of a scathing report by a committee of MLAs. The committee suggested Sorensen and another senior official in the premiers office should resign for their parts in a surreptitious phone call made from the premier's office to Carol Roberts.

Roberts, then the conflict of interest commissioner, was not told that others, including Sorensen, were present during the March 26 speakerphone conversation.

Dent said because of the commitment to eliminate the chief of staff position, in his view the extension of Sorensen's employment is more than a personnel matter.

Roland said he is waiting to see details of the reorganization, specifically whether or not it will include adding more positions to the premier's office.

"If (Kakfwi) comes back and says we're adding a bunch of positions, he better have some good explanations as to why," Roland said.

If it does not happen beforehand, MLAs will get a glimpse of the new organizational structure when they review the department of the executive's budget. Initial review of the budget began on Monday.