Deputy Premier Minister of Finance Minister of Infrastructure Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
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, Minster 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. We'll certainly be carrying the message of the North forward as we do, as all my colleagues as Ministers do. We want to see the North prosper. We want to see businesses prosper. We want to have residents to have be able to put food on their tables. In the context of the carbon tax, Mr. Speaker, I realize it creates a burden and it's creating a burden at a time where times are already tight, inflation is high, interests rates are high. We're all seeing it in the North. And we want ministers to come from Ottawa and actually see it themselves.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There continues to be, Mr. Speaker, a number of different initiatives well, before I go any further, I want to give a shout out to the Arctic Energy Alliance. They do a lot of work in this space, and they receive a lot of funding from our government to continue the work that they do in this space in terms of energy audits and ensuring that there's alternatives and paths forward and to help chart those paths forward. So I'd certainly encourage everyone to reach out to them. There are also funds within our government, again, to help support businesses in their...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have answered that question this session already. It's part of the work that's underway right now. I can already say to the Member that we do already now have unified policies and objectives for procurement. That's a huge step forward. That is certainly a good starting place. There's a lot of information on the websites right now. New manufacturing guidelines, new manufacturing policy, new guidelines under BIP. And the definition right now, part of the delay there, is we are also working on an Indigenous procurement process with Indigenous partners...
Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to creating a public service that ensures underrepresented groups are genuinely included, celebrated, and supported to meet their full potential. It is a public service that strives to be welcoming, culturally competent, and free of discrimination; one that serves in a way that respects and includes the diverse population of this territory. Today, I am pleased to announce that the Department of Finance is launching its Diversity and Inclusion Framework to help the GNWT not only improve the diversity of the public service but...
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 89, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 20232024, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to request a recorded vote.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from Hay River North, that Bill 60, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 89, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 20232024, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of moments we've been waiting for. I wish to present to the House Bill 83, the Liquor Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't know that that's a specific action item right now under the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework, but it is certainly in keeping with the spirit of that framework. So certainly, as I've said, we do right now track, through ECE's official languages guideline, a list of communities that have different needs for languages but our understanding of the role of language and the place of language as part of delivering public service, I think is only ever improving. We can certainly continue to do a better job of that and to expand. So I'll...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I'd like to say is I'm going to make a commitment to looking at the impact of the policy. I don't know exactly yet what the parameters of it or a full review would be or where it might fit. But I certainly agree that if a public servant speaks one of our official languages, they should be receiving some sort of recognition for that. And if right now we're not achieving that through the way that the policy is being applied, then from what I understand of the policy and its overall intent, then I certainly do think that we can look at better...
