Morning Update: Number of companies listed as Indigenous jumps sharply as Ottawa adopts procurement target

Good morning, The number of businesses eligible for a federal program that prioritizes Indigenous companies when awarding contracts jumped more than 40 per cent over the past year. But some community leaders are criticizing the program, saying it has overly broad criteria and is vulnerable to abuse. More than 800 new registrants enrolled over the year in the Indigenous Business Directory, a database of companies eligible to participate in Ottawa's procurement strategy for expanding the Indigenous economy. That jump, from 1,900 to 2,700 companies as of April, coincided with a federal plan, announced three years ago, that by this year…