Caroline Wawzonek

Députée de Yellowknife Sud

Circonscription électorale de Yellowknife Sud 

Caroline Wawzonek a été élue pour la première fois à la 19e Assemblée législative en 2019, comme représentante de Yellowknife Sud. Elle a été ministre de la Justice, ministre des Finances, ministre responsable de la condition de la femme, et ministre de l’Industrie, du Tourisme et de l’Investissement. En 2023, Mme Wawzonek a été élue par acclamation à la 20e Assemblée législative et a réintégré le Conseil exécutif en tant que première ministre adjointe, ministre des Finances, ministre de l’Infrastructure et ministre responsable de la Société d’énergie des TNO.

Mme Wawzonek a obtenu un baccalauréat ès arts de l’Université de Calgary en 2000 et un diplôme en droit de la faculté de droit de l’Université de Toronto en 2005. Son parcours universitaire comprend des études de langues en Chine et à Taïwan, ainsi que des stages de droit aux Philippines et en Angleterre. Mme Wawzonek est née à Calgary (Alberta) et habite Yellowknife depuis 2007.

Une fois admise au Barreau des TNO, Mme Wawzonek a mis sur pied sa propre pratique du droit pénal et a plaidé à tous les échelons du système judiciaire des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, et s’est souvent déplacée dans les collectivités ténoises à cet effet. Elle a ensuite intégré le cabinet d’avocats Dragon Toner, élargissant sa pratique au litige général et au droit administratif jusqu’à ce qu’elle devienne députée de la 19e Assemblée.

Depuis 2007, Mme Wawzonek a assumé de nombreux rôles de leadership au sein de la communauté juridique : elle a notamment été présidente du Barreau des Territoires du Nord-Ouest et présidente de section pour la division des Territoires du Nord-Ouest de l’Association du Barreau canadien, et a participé à divers groupes de travail. Son engagement envers la collectivité l’a amenée à œuvrer dans de multiples organisations de Yellowknife et, en 2017, elle a reçu un prix national soulignant le travail de femmes canadiennes œuvrant dans le domaine du droit.

Mère de deux enfants, Caroline Wawzonek aime courir, faire de la planche à pagaie et passer du temps à l’extérieur.

Committees

Yellowknife Sud
Bureau

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Boîte
1320
Extension
12177
Vice-premier ministre, Ministère des finances, Ministre de l'Infrastructure, Ministre responsable de la Société d'énergie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
Mobile
Ministre

Déclarations dans les débats

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's nothing currently appropriated that's not well, if it's not showing up here, it's not coming in as an appropriation at this time. I think it is probably reasonable to assume that more is going to be needed before we get to the point of a polytechnic. But that, we'll have to stay tuned for that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, we are characterizing the events differently. I wouldn't characterize it as a saga nor would I say that the story has ended or is closed. As I had mentioned at the beginning, there are still confidential discussions underway. I am still hopeful to have a positive update here at the end that might close out the chapter. And at that point whether there are lessons to be learned in one direction or another, that would be the time to do that consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this is intended to go out to the operators. It's an extension of funding that is coming through the federal government in this case. Areas that we're targeting here is marketing and promotions, the operations again of tourism operators themselves, their capacity development, so training. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, you might recall that during COVID, we actually had increased the supplementary reserve to I believe it was $60 million. So that certainly is there is an option to increase. We kept it at 35, which is higher than it traditionally had been, and it may well be that for Budget 2023 we want to look at moving back up again. So again, certainly under consideration. As I say, that's a number that has moved around during COVID. So thank you, I appreciate the idea. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a joint decision made, quite some time ago now, between GNWT and Canada to attempt to market those two properties, Cantung and Mactung together. And that effort was underway to have a joint effort and a joint RFP out seeking to seek prequalified proposals. I believe that is the item that the Member was mentioning earlier with respect to the publication on the Supreme Court of British Columbia's court filing with respect to that not having yielded any positive results. But there do continue to be discussions by the GNWT, and we are stay remaining hopeful that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I wish there would have been the ability to give more of an update back when we were doing the main estimates as well. I think we all did. But it was really a time of significant transition and flux with COVID19 at that time so it was difficult to pin down exactly the timing or the amounts. So this is before us now.

With respect to more generally what's happening, there are efforts here to reflect a transition. That transition is not only out of COVID but into hopefully better system capacity given the impacts of COVID over the last two years and given...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it's an excellent question. I'm happy to answer it although the news isn't necessarily good.

If we exceed the supplementary reserve, essentially what we are likely to be doing is any projected surplus would likely get dipped into in a sense. So if there was a projected surplus and we run out of supplementary needs and we continue to have more needs, then we're likely eating into that projected surplus. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, and I appreciate the question as well. Again, I don't you know, I don't have the answer. I'm not going to necessarily suppose or say exactly for sure this'll be a special warrant situation or if there will be other tools used in this instance.

What I can state again is that, you know, that people should be using their insurance if they have it, going to the Disaster Assistance Relief Policy via MACA or by registering, and the policy is there, and we are going to adhere to it, and the money will be there for people who qualify. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is one resource that I would certainly encourage prospective applicants to take a look at. It is on the website. It's GNWT hiring Q and A. It describes some of the information about who's on a hiring committee, what equivalencies what kinds of equivalencies might be considered, how that's defined. But it does not go through job by job providing individual equivalencies.

I had the opportunity to speak with the Member before sitting today. I understand, we don't want people to selfscreen. We don't want people to think that they won't meet an equivalency...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, again, the Department of Infrastructure does manage the Regional Air Transportation Initiative, or RATI. It's a federal fund that is there to help maintain and reestablish regional air connectivity services across Canada that might have been impacted by COVID19. It's being delivered by CanNor, and that money did not all get out the door. But that is not the same it's not the same money as what Department of Finance manages for the purposes of COVID relief.

The RATI money was something that was helping to shore up services, shore up the airports. You know...