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, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'll work with my colleague, the Minister of Infrastructure, to see what information can be provided. I can say that research went out regarding what might be done to help encourage the use of electric vehicles. Having more charging stations was one of the recommendations that came with that research. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I have a number of documents for tabling, please. The Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 20222023; Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 20222023; Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories for the Year Ended March 31, 2022 Interim NonConsolidated Financial Statements; Budget Dialogues 2022: What We Heard Report; Recommendations: Northwest Territories Liquor Legislation Review; Public Service Annual Report 20212022; and, Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission 68th Annual...
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the definition of a northern business is subject to the review. There have been a lot of inputs on that. I would note I think it might well be the very same Member who had previously suggested that the definition of "northern business" should speak to the number of employees in the riding and that might make it interesting to determine whether or not Walmart should be removed or not. But when we are complete the definition, which will happen in the life of this government, we will then be in a position to update schedules according to BIP because we'll...
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I give notice that on Tuesday, November the 1st, 2022, I will present Bill 62, an Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, No. 2, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I type quickly but not enough to pull up schedule 3 in the space of time that the question was being posed. So it's not appropriate for me to be committing to what will or will not look like the final schedules when the final definition of a northern business is complete. What I can say, Madam Speaker, is I think there's a fairly reasonable possibility that there is an update to various company names and corporations, corporate documents, and that may be the explanation.
That doesn't change the bigger picture of what is the definition of a northern...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was doing well on short answers but I think this last one's going to be a bit more challenging.
There's a lot happening in the realm of the procurement review right now. There's been a lot happening in the last year with respect to developing a procurement strategy with Indigenous governments and working with them in concert with them so that any Indigenous procurement is done with Indigenous businesses and Indigenous governments assisting us in driving and developing that. But in the meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, there's also the public procurement side of what happens...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so the Member is correct that this is the portion remaining for the Mackenzie Valley fibre line to take it all the way up to Tuktoyaktuk. But the next major phase of bringing all communities up to a standard of having available to them of 50/10 service standard, right now the CRTC which, somewhat uniquely in Canada, regulates the provider here in the Northwest Territories has set it up such that Northwestel, by virtue of that regulatory arrangement, is undertaking the work to bring all communities up to a service standard of 50/10. I believe that 2025 is...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, construction contracts are monitored throughout. There are expectations to have monthly BIP content updates provided. They're monitored certainly by the departments responsible but procurement shared services does also share in that role. And I can say, Mr. Speaker, one of the changes that came about early in the process of the procurement review was to introduce vendor performance management, and that is something that's still fairly new but it has now been added into contracting provisions such that the contractor now knows that they will be subject to...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I certainly like the idea of a tracking mechanism. There may be some challenges to determine the cutoff points. And what I mean by that is at what size of or scope of software or materials do we begin to put on the tracker versus not. But perhaps I'll just ask if Mr. Wind could just speak a bit to the nature of some of the assets that we do have, what is tracked; again, there's probably room to improve that. I appreciate the suggestion. As I say, I do certainly want to spend a bit more time on it but at least we can get a sense of what we do now. Again, I...
