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, so, again, the carbon tax is not a tax of the making of the Government of the Northwest Territories. It is a federal tax. But by trying to maintain our own system to it, we're well placed or better placed, in my view, to be responsive to the needs of individual communities, including those of the residents in Nunakput. So what the Department of Finance has done is calculate what we would anticipate both the direct and indirect costs of the federal carbon tax would be and we've divided up based on three zones of the Northwest Territories high fuel use...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, there has actually been quite a lot of public engagement in the last six years, quite a lot of feedback provided, not the least of which even includes the dialogue within this House. That is not lost. There's always public servants listening to everything that's said here. There's public servants that attend every public briefing in standing committee. There's been public servants involved in this work, again, since 2017, getting a very solid and thorough understanding. And now the work has gone through a process of codevelopment with Indigenous...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to pick which question I'm going to answer, Mr. Speaker, but let me see how many of them I can get through in a reasonable amount of time.
There is a fairly detailed report, Mr. Speaker. It's extensive, it's lengthy, and it certainly is being produced in the context again of a massive project under the Mineral Resources Act to develop regulations that will apply to that entire act under multiple streams, including socioeconomic agreements, which right now, Mr. Speaker, are not policybased. They're one by one. That's not how we want to do this...
Mr. Speaker, I've had multiple opportunities, publicly, in terms of briefings with the Members from standing committee as well in correspondence that I had marked as not being confidential, detailing the outline. I am happy to table the approach here and will do so this session. Mr. Speaker, let me take up the argument and actually quote myself and things that I have said. Specifically, it's this: The federal government recognizes that small countries and developing countries are having to pay carbon tax even though they didn't have the benefits of industrialization at the same time as other...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not exactly sure what the question is with respect to the carbon tax. Certainly, Mr. Speaker, in regards to seeking out opportunities to find alternative fuel sources and energy sources, that is certainly always an effort that is being made, certainly led by my colleagues over in Infrastructure, under the energy initiatives, and that is something for which there is additional funding in this budget.
With respect to finding better alternatives for employment, that too, again, is a priority of the government and certainly is something that money...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 134)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is the final budget of the 19th Assembly. It provides a final opportunity to consolidate the work we have done during the 19th Assembly, set wheels in motion for the future, and ensure we end this Assembly in better financial shape than when we started.
In this budget, we show both responsiveness to the needs of the Northwest Territories and responsible fiscal management through a rightsized approach that recognizes needs and opportunities as well as our capacity to attain them.
This budget comes as we maintain stability across the Northwest Territories...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, at this point overall public awareness and opportunity for engagement with ITI broadly, and at different stages of the development of the Mineral Resources Act and its regulations, started back in 2017, back with the development of the Mineral Resources Act, back with understanding what the public's general desire and wishes were for that piece of legislation. There was a fulsome consultative process at that time. None of that is lost. All of that has filtered back now into the process of developing the regulations. And in the regulation...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, this work arises from the mandate document that is published on the GNWT's website, specifically under the priority commitment to adopt a benefit retention approach to economic development, a commitment that was agreed to on behalf of the Assembly, and then the mandate document that was determined thereafter where it says, host a socioeconomic forum with representatives from the mining industry, Indigenous governments, and the GNWT, to identify ways to work together to increase the socioeconomic benefits from resource development.
