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. There is a second component of what's happening right now in this space, and that is led, really, by staff at Executive and Indigenous affairs is to have discussions with modern treaty holders, specifically to determine whether or not there are opportunities to create MOU arrangements so that there can be more formalized agreements as to how procurement might happen on the land -- on the lands for modern treaty holders. That may well end up in something of the way that the Member is describing. Obviously, it's premature for me to conclude what that would look like...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we in the last government set up what's called the health recruitment unit. This is an entity that works in concert with a team lead from the health authority. So we have a human resource specialist and an authority specialist working together specifically focused particularly nurse recruitment. Mr. Speaker, they are seeing some significant outcomes and benefits. For example, we are now consolidating competitions, which means it's a much more efficient process. Rather than hiring individually, we can actually bring nurses into a competition for any and all...
Yes, Mr. Speaker. Happy to do so. The only -- what we -- the stage we were at, Mr. Speaker, is we're negotiating -- there is, of course, the infrastructure cooperation agreement with the Tlicho government, and so we were working with them to negotiate the final stages of a design contract. That may well even be signed by now, but certainly the last time I had checked in on it, we were at the final stages of that. That will go to design, and then from there, we will be hopefully jointly going to help get some funding to see this project to its completion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point, Mr. Speaker, I mean, looking at using AI technology in areas of infrastructure and actually replacing type of different infrastructure systems is beyond what I'm speaking to here. What I'm looking at here is how the public service is using AI really more in day-to-day functions. So, again, don't want to be overpromising in terms of what it is, but it's really meant to be guidance for the public service in how we use it in a public service context and not necessarily when it comes to, for example, battery systems. Certainly open to having an opportunity to...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the use of artificial intelligence obviously is a new area. It certainly is one that we are looking to provide better guidance to our staff on. So what we've done thus far, we looked to what the Government of Canada's doing, we've also looked at what the Government of British Columbia doing, and that is likely to be where we'll find the most alignment that can help us move this forward a little faster. And with that, we will be able to produce our own guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence, which I expect that and then training...
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput that Bill 31, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is correct, it does. The insurance premium tax that gets paid to the GNWT does take into account any increases in total gross premiums for the calendar year. So the premium tax is three percent on general insurance, one percent on fire insurance, and that is, indeed, based on the previous calendar years' insurance premiums. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 61)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, Bill MacKay as the deputy minister of finance. And on my right, Mandi Bolstad is the deputy secretary to the financial management board.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the intention around fairness. Mr. Speaker, I -- again, without -- I don't have the details of the procurement here in front of me, as I normally wouldn't. That is a level of operations that Ministers would be inappropriate to get my hands involved in and certainly not here. So, again, I do appreciate the concern for fairness. I certainly can commit that I'll double down on saying to the department that we want to ensure that we are being fair and that we are maintaining and adhering to all of the procurement principles that we have. But beyond that, Mr...
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Bill 30, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization) No. 1, 2025-2026, be read for the second time.
This bill makes supplementary appropriations for operations expenditures and borrowing authorization for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
