Députée de Yellowknife Sud

Première ministre adjointe
Ministre des Finances
Ministre responsable de la Société d’énergie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
Ministre responsable de l’infrastructure stratégique, de l’énergie et des chaînes d’approvisionnement

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

Caroline Wawzonek
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

Déclarations dans les débats

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 23)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a policy in place from the financial management board that supports having our local producers receive a discount on the markup. So the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission places a markup on all cannabis products that come for sale in the North. For our cannabis producers here locally, any cannabis producers here locally, they get a 10 percentage point discount, which equates in real numbers to being almost a 30 percent discount on that markup. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

Madam Chair, just to note, I think I realize now. When there's these large funding pots, when they are already committed to capital projects, they'll show up in the capital budget. Sometimes you'll see them coming in under the operations budget but not when they're already tied to the capital projects. And but still happy to draw that distinction here. It's a people don't necessarily wouldn't outside this Assembly wouldn't understand the division, so I appreciate the opportunity to clarify that. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

I'll get ADM Courtoreille to answer that, please.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

We're on our own in the operations and maintenance, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe my colleague from ECE spoke a little bit about this just recently in the House. It would certainly come likely to that department to consider this. And there's a lot of change that has happened quite recently to the income assistance policies that make that system more akin to what a guaranteed basic income would be, but not necessarily fully the types of pilots that are happening elsewhere. And there's an awful lot already that's underway, and hopefully those changes make a big difference for those people who are experiencing them and they can go...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, that sounds to me like that is likely in relation to Mackenzie Valley Highway or one of the associated projects, Great Bear River Bridge for instance. So if that is the case, then that would not be reflected in certainly not in this particular instance. Or on this particular page, sorry. It would yeah, it would come in under the capital planning process for any any of the large-scale funding for large scale capital projects will be in there. The smaller scale programs that are here aren't subject to the same sort of carryover process. They typically...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe that is correct, that ECE is the only other department that has formal evaluators. I may be in error, but. So what we are doing with respect to GRI is in you know, where needed in order to maintain the schedule and the timeline that we have is relying on contract dollars and having support from outside in addition to the internal staff that we've already mentioned. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, let me just say, first of all, that the loss of the low carbon economy energy fund was a significant amount of money. It was significantly more than just what is shown here. I'm inclined to put it at yes, so it's closer to $5 million in total that we're losing. And I say that in that when we have had a loss of funding in that magnitude and there's some a program dollar that can be accessed through the federal government, yes, I am going to point people to go to the pot that exists elsewhere rather than take from the pot that has now been reduced by $5...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If we want to have a discussion, that means questions back and forth. So, well, if we're going to do that, Mr. Speaker, right now, I think it's also well-known we have, really, three large diamond mines that provide all of the royalties in the Northwest Territories, one of which is on the verge of closure; the other two are staying open for now but it's been pretty clear, and said many times here, that that shelf life is coming due fairly quickly. So in terms of what we do with that resource income, firstly, it's not perhaps as big as I would like it to be. But...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 22)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, given the uptake to date on EV vehicles, we do believe that we are in a position to have sufficient amount of charging stations. So there's charging stations in and I'll double check the year here; I'm sure someone's going to send it to me as I say this. But there will be sufficient charging stations to create a corridor from here to the border. And so, again, in terms of ruling out that by in 2024, a fiscal year of 2024. So with that, that provides that ability for hopefully more people to then begin to buy the vehicles, EV vehicles, since that does...