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. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to an aspect of the motion I haven't heard as much attention on, and so I wanted to take this opportunity. It comes at page 11 of the or I'm sorry, at page 11 of the Integrity Commissioner's decision. And he says, In reaching this determination, I have considered Ms. Nokleby's explanation that she did not leave Yellowknife after the YKDFN made it clear that she was not an essential worker because she was in, quote, emotional tailspin.
He continues on to say, The whole situation was no doubt stressful, as it was for everyone who evacuated...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I do I guess maybe this is where we will disagree. So there was at one time an estimate of a billion dollars. There's been inflation. There's been the passage of time. There's costs of fuel. So it is pretty easy to see that we are looking into the stage of being well past the billion-dollar mark. And as I've said, there's still one critical business decision to be made by potential steering committee meeting group as to the routing, and that will impact the costs. So I'm not in a position to say on my own which of those two choices it will be...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I think I have said before, we do have a final business case. The final business case does go to our steering committee first. This is the Indigenous government partners who are members of that watershed of the Taltson region who are still choosing to participate in the steering committee process. Mr. Speaker, so that work has been done. It is a lengthy, complex, and detailed. When while we may be able to share documents like that through the confidential processes of the House, I will not be in a position to put those numbers out forward on the floor of...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that does mean that we are getting a new definition, but sometimes what's old is new again. And so, really, what has happened, and what the recommendation of the panel was, is to go back to an earlier form of definition. So that definition will consider well, and it has to adjust the BIP to the definition of a northerner, what defines someone who's a northern individual. And it's meant now to be for six months of residency, not 12, which is really looking at a way of increasing people moving to the North and opening businesses. We had some instances that came in...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, aviation gasoline and jet fuel is exempted still for now. Who knows what the feds might do next? But it is exempted for now. But most certainly diesel, gasoline that powers all the trucks that carry a lot of our cargo, that carry the other fuel to heat the homes, that power the barges that bring our much of our resupply to communities, those fuels are under the carbon tax.
Mr. Speaker, I've said this before, that the federal government does go to international conferences, acknowledges the fact that other developing countries, developed without access to...
Mr. Speaker, I most certainly will not attempt to describe or explain what the federal government did or did not do with respect to the carbon tax. Mr. Speaker, I can say, just for the sake of information, that community electric power generation for communities is exempted. And obviously, again, our cost of living offset is meant to then adjust to the fact that we know that not only will expenses for in a household be going up, but business expenses go up and some of that will then spill over into individual consumers. And so what we tried to do was adjust our cost of living offset to...
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Bill 100, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures) 20242025, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to request a recorded vote.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, unlike the Member for Nunakput, there's quite a number of residents that actually, I think, are from Yellowknife South. I'm not going to recognize you all. I'm going to do one thing. I'm going to highlight that we have these nice little forms people can fill these forms out when they come and visit us here in the Legislative Assembly and they can tell you where they're from, which constituency they are. So if you are from Yellowknife South and you didn't fill it out, I'm sorry, I'm not going to get to you. But one person did. Mira Dunn filled out this...
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Bill 100, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures) 20242025, be read for the second time. This bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make appropriations for infrastructure expenditures for the 20242025 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 100, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures) 20242025, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
