The 2023 Scholarship Application

Who can apply?

The Morrison Scholarship is open to any student from Newfoundland and Labrador entering their first year of studies from a recognized Canadian post-secondary institution in the field of Political Science, Public Policy, Social Sciences or a related field. If you intend to pursue another field of study (medicine, engineering, sciences etc.) but feel your commitment to politics, community, public policy or leadership is strong enough outside of school to merit consideration, please feel free to apply and indicate your rationale in your application. 

Applicants must:

• Be Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

• Have graduated or be graduating this year from a Newfoundland and Labrador High School.

• Be applying to study at a recognized Canadian post-secondary institution in political science, public policy, governance or a related field.

Scholarship Written Assignment 2023

To apply for the scholarship, you will need to upload a copy of your CV/Resume, and complete a written assignment. 

The written assignment has two parts. The first is a personal statement of 200 words or less, where you should tell us about yourself and your interests in politics, public policy, law, community leadership, and why you are interested in the scholarship. You should also outline why you would benefit from receiving the scholarship, and what studies you hope to pursue. This section is to be completed as plain text (unformatted), and will be submitted in the application form itself. 

The second part of the written assignment consists of a written briefing note which responds to the scenario outlined below. Detailed writing and formatting instructions can be found below. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us at info@morrisonscholarship.ca

Briefing Note Background and Assignment

• You are the Chief of Staff to Newfoundland and Labrador’s Minister of Health, the Honourable Patricia Doyle She has asked you to provide your recommendation regarding a health care policy decision.

• Recently, the province has been receiving higher than expected offshore oil royalties. The Premier has directed Minister Doyle to use a portion of the surplus royalties to make a one-time investment in the Province’s Health Care System. 

• Minister Doyle has in turn asked you to make your recommendation between numerous competing projects and priorities. Each option comes with its own set of financial, logistical and political challenges, and it is your job to identify those considerations, evaluate them and make your recommendation. The proposals are:

Air Ambulance Service

• A new Helicopter Air Ambulance System for the Island of Newfoundland only. This would provide high-quality paramedic care by helicopters based in St. John’s and Deer Lake which could respond faster than road ambulances to rural and remote communities.

Rural Hospital Upgrades

• Upgrades to 3 rural hospitals in Burin, St. Anthony and Carbonear. These upgrades would ensure the continued operation of each hospital and provide minor upgrades to the quality of care provided in each location. Patients would still need to go to St. John’s for the most critical cases. Without this funding these hospitals may be forced to reduce operations or ultimately close. 

A Second Metro Hospital

• A second hospital in the St. John’s metro area. This would replace St. Clare’s hospital and provide a second emergency room, surgical unit and acute care services in the St. John’s metro region. The proposed location for the hospital would be in the Galway area, which happens to be in the Premier’s District. 

Better Pay for Doctors and Nurses

• A modest province-wide wage increase for all Doctors and Nurses. This would put Doctors and Nurses on par with their Atlantic Canadian counterparts and likely lead to a modest improvement in recruitment and retention of doctors and nurses. 

Mental Health Support

• A new virtually based province-wide mental health care system. The system would provide basic levels of mental health counseling and support to everyone in the province, similar to what many employers offer through their Employee Assistance Programs. More complex cases would still need to be referred to the Province’s limited number of Psychologists and Psychiatrists. 

Your Own Proposal

• If you decide to come up with your own proposal, it should be reasonable and comparable to the initiatives proposed. For instance, it should not be “Give everyone a family doctor” or “Solve all wait times.” There is no magic bullet or cure-all for the province’s health care issues.

The Assignment

• You can choose any two of the initiatives above, or one of the above proposals along with your own project or initiative. Don’t be afraid to pitch your own good idea!

• In a neatly formatted briefing note of no more than two single-spaced pages, please provide your recommended initiatives to Minister Doyle. You will need to explain clearly which initiatives you are recommending, and why you have chosen them over the others.

• Choices like these are hard, and you will never be able to please everyone. As such, your note should also address the inevitable criticisms that the Minister will receive from the opposition parties, the media, and the public, based on the initiatives you choose. 

Notes

• You should use your own knowledge and common sense to evaluate the pros and cons of each proposal. The risks and rewards listed are only some of considerations for each proposal, and are meant to guide you as you make your choice.

• You are not required to do any external research (such as costs or expenses - see below), however if you choose to refer to any outside articles, reports or data, they should be properly cited in footnotes or endnotes. 

• You should not be afraid to provide your opinion based on what you decide. At the end of the day the Minister will decide, but she is relying on you for your advice. 

• For the sake of simplicity, the cost of these initiatives will be the same. You do not need to provide costing or a detailed estimate of prices. We know that building a new hospital costs more than a helicopter, and in the real world of course costs matter. The purpose of the exercise is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal from a political and policy perspective.

• You do not need to be a health care expert, and there are no right or wrong answers. You will be evaluated on your ability to consider multiple perspectives on this complex issue, and to give a clear and well reasoned argument in favour of two initiatives over the others. 

Formatting

• A briefing note, maximum two single spaced pages. The Minister’s time is limited and she doesn’t have the time to review a 10 page novella. 

• Neatly formatted, well organized and easy to follow. There is no template, but it should look professional.

• Normal fonts only, Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial etc., and normal sized 11 or 12. 

• Assignments must be submitted in word or PDF format only.