Deputy Premier Minister of Finance Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation Minister Responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains
Caroline Wawzonek was first elected to the 19th Legislative Assembly in 2019 as the Member for Yellowknife South. Ms. Wawzonek served as Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance, Minister responsible for the Status of Women and the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. In 2023, Ms. Wawzonek was acclaimed to the 20th Legislative Assembly and returned to Executive Council as Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure and the Minister Responsible for the NWT Power Corporation.
Ms. Wawzonek holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary (2000) and a law degree from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (2005). Her academic journey included language studies in China and Taiwan, as well as legal internships in the Philippines and England. Born in Calgary, AB, she has called Yellowknife home since 2007.
After establishing her criminal law practice post-admission to the Law Society of the NWT, Ms. Wawzonek appeared in all levels of NWT courts and engaged in circuit court travel. She later joined Dragon Toner, expanding her practice to general litigation and administrative law until becoming a member of the 19th Assembly.
Since 2007, she has taken on leadership roles in the legal community, including the presidency of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories (LSNT), section chair for the Canadian Bar Association Northwest Territories Branch (CBA-NT), and committee membership in various working groups. Her community involvement extends to appointments in multiple Yellowknife organizations, and she received a national award in 2017 for her contributions to Canadian Women in Law.
Ms. Wawzonek, a mother of two, enjoys running, paddleboarding, and time outdoors.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, by maintaining our own system that complies with the federal rules, we do control how the COLO does get set. And what we have done in that regard, Mr. Speaker, although we adjusted it because there's a significant drop in revenue to the GNWT with respect to not having home heating fuel anymore, we did still maintain and do an analysis to ensure that the existing COLO amounts should still be enough to pay for the additional amount from the tax, so -- which is challenging at a time when diesel costs have gone up and fuel costs have gone up and...
Well, Mr. Speaker -- Mr. Speaker, I'm often in a situation where I have to just say I agree and then want to sit down. So I've heard the Member's statement earlier. The carbon tax is a challenging one for the Northwest Territories. We're at the front lines of climate change. We desperately need to see change in terms of the approach to overreliance on fossil fuels. At the same time, this is a jurisdiction that doesn't actually contribute, certainly on the part of residents, very significantly to it. So I hear that concern. And I hear it particularly from parts of this territory who are on LNG...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is quite correct. The current Liquor Act, which is still the old Liquor Act that we're operating under, has some pretty limited mechanisms and actually is quite out of date. So in the last Assembly, we were very pleased to see a change to the liquor legislation, modernizing it. Still need to get those regulations put in place. So this is, in some ways, the right time to be asking what those regulations might contain because we are at the point of being able to put those regulations together in a way that can, again, respect the different social...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know, because I did have the opportunity to sit down with the NWT Brewing Company.
Mr. Speaker, the brewery markup is what is at issue here. So right now, the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission has a general rate. For everything that crosses the border up into the North, there is a markup rate on all alcohol products here. And that markup rate does take into account the fact that we have fairly significant social issues that stem from overconsumption of alcohol and alcohol-related dependencies. So that is still part of what makes up that...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can say that when we went through challenging times right around Christmas time and New Year's time, and we certainly were involved in terms of how to come at that moment when it was already of concern to do inventory of what was in each community. So I expect that we don't want to be in that position again. We'll be making sure that this time around, having come to the point where we know what our resupply was over the winter road season, that we can then monitor that over the course of time. Norman Wells, of course, does rely on Imperial Oil as being...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the COLO amounts were reduced, they were reduced by -- and the number did take into consideration the amount of carbon tax that was still being paid for propane and for heating fuel. It's not a perfect measure. I don't have data on exactly how many households use what type of fuel or what combination of types of fuel, because there are certainly some that are using a combination of fuel, so that does make it more challenging. I can't reach into each individual home and say this is the amount of carbon tax you pay.
Well, Mr. Speaker -- Mr. Speaker, there's no exemption for anything other than home heating fuel right now after the fall round or spring -- fall round with the federal government. So I guess their response is that they've chosen not to do that. The ask also went from British Columbia. So we might even say, again, if it's a political matter, we have relatively small presence in terms of our representation in Ottawa. British Columbia has a very large presence in terms of their representation in Ottawa. They, too, did not get an exemption for LNG, which a number of their residents also rely on...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, that clarifies for me the comment, I think, made earlier about being extensive meetings. Because I've had one meeting. But I know when we were meeting with the Minister of health, because there's an alcohol-managed alcohol program here in the Northwest Territories and some interest in whether or not a local brewery could participate to support that, that's a very different question, Mr. Speaker, from asking whether or not the production cap needs to change, the markup needs to change, regulations around holding or transporting need to change. That does sit solely...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so, again, the general markup rate does apply to everything that's coming across this border, including, you know, the bigger companies or whatnot. I would first note, Mr. Speaker -- there's a lot of folks that listen to us here -- there are rules with respect to interjurisdictional trade, and that does apply to the cross-border sales of alcohol across all of Canada. So certainly anything we do when we make changes in this space do need to be compliant with the trade rules, trade regulations. But to the extent that we are able to create a system that is...
