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. So Mr. Speaker, again, I'm certainly following the numbers as well, and I'm pleased to have an opportunity to speak to them. You know, and again, certainly for the last couple of years, a lot of the impacts were seen largely as a result of what was happening internationally and nationally because of the pandemic. That said, there's there was, again, some preexisting this is particularly within the mineral resource sector which is such a significant contributor to our GDP and which has such a direct impact on the numbers that are being raised here. So the fact that...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm hoping very much that I have the right bill in front of me.
I am seeking to move, seconded by the honourable Member from Range Lake, that Bill 49, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 20212022 be read for the second time.
This bill would make supplementary appropriations for the infrastructure expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for 20212022 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 49: Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 20212022 be read for the second time.
This bill makes supplementary appropriations for the infrastructure expenditures of the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 20212022 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, a lot of the projects, in fact I gather the majority of the projects that are coming through the Mineral Incentive Program, are early stage or fairly low impact projects. So these are not they're at the front end of the life cycle, and they're not necessarily ones that would have a significant amount of disturbance. That said, Mr. Speaker, the Member's quite right, I am quite committed to promoting the fact that the Northwest Territories is and will be a growing leader on ESG environmental, social, and governance factors and so while we're at it, why...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I am the forms have gone out for 20222023, but let me be clear, I don't think we we don't want bad actors and nor do I believe that we are a wash of bad actors. It is expected that if someone's going to be getting funding to undertake any kind of work anywhere in the Northwest Territories that in order to do so, they're going to have to be compliant with whatever regulatory requirements apply to their project. And I will note I'm told that in the past, in fact ITI has declined to fund projects where their permitting was an issue within the...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's no plans right now to be piloting a fourday workweek. There are plans right now and work underway to develop a GNWTwide public service strategy, government you know, human resources strategy. So to the extent that we'll be engaging and available to members of the public service to have feedback and to discuss where and what they see as some of the challenges in terms of our you know, whether it's morale, whether it's opportunities to be better engaged, whether there's learning plans, whether there's other options, you know, that that's the kind...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 50, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 20212022 be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with that regard, again, we're looking at multiple departments all working together. ENR does have the lead in terms of developing right now and actively right now developing remediation economy document and strategy so that we best understand where the opportunities lie. ITI and ECE work together in terms of understanding what training opportunities exist and what our labour market needs are going to be over the next few years, including in the remediation sphere. So both of those things are underway. Again, all three departments are actively involved in...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Madam Premier. Mr. Speaker, we're always looking for opportunities. We are happy to work with any proponent, whether that's as a pathfinder of our own processes and our own regulatory processes, whether it's as a pathfinder of understanding what the federal processes might be. Mr. Speaker, obviously, for I shouldn't say obviously, but for any larger scale programs they are typically on the mineral resources side, they would involve often IBAs, SEAs, social economic agreements, impact benefit agreements, and so certainly to the extent that they're able to...
