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. And Mr. Speaker, that was a yes. Again, I'm confident that the folks that are applying are going to be going through the regulatory process so we will amend the 20232024 applications to be clear about that. And let me throw another yes out there.
We will again, for 20232024, happy to make it very clear that you can't have outstanding debts to the government if you're applying. That, again, that's already the case. The forms may not be express in that regard, and there's no harm in making that very clear, that anyone that's going to be getting funding from the government...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been an evaluation of the program done in June of 2020. I know some of that information and some of the matrices that go with it have been shared with committees. No, it has not all gone out to the public but that's not necessarily unusual. Not every evaluation or program review that is done by the GNWT necessarily goes public. In fact, it would be unusual for it to be otherwise. So that said, I'm certainly happy to take this away and take a look at, perhaps as the Department of Finance who would be more of the lead in terms of their evaluations...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I heard the Member's statement earlier, I already had a thought of pointing out the fact that there's the ability to work a compressed schedule already. There's the work the ability to work a flex schedule already. There's the ability to look at, you know, having deferred leave. There's actually a very flexible set of opportunities in many regards for the employees in the public service. So, you know, whether it's a question of there being some specific employees who may have requested access to some of those programs and being denied, those specific...
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 third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's sort of two parts there. In terms, Mr. Speaker, of knowing the processing side, that's much more complicated. It involves large tracts of land potentially. But, Mr. Speaker, with respect to the regulatory processes we have here in the territories, we already have the client services/client relations folks within ITI who are system navigators and well known to help proponents get through our system. There's a Mackenzie Valley operational dialogue that's happening right now with the regulatory bodies as well as with government to ensure that we are...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am quite live to the fact that February 2022 saw an inflation level at 5.4 percent higher than last year. I've certainly been watching inflation not only since 2022 began but since the fall. We've been watching what's been happening geopolitically obviously, as I know everyone has in the last few months, but also even before that with respect to supply chain issues. So, you know, I certainly want to be clear that the Department of Finance is aware of the challenges. We're aware of the financing impacts. We're looking at the impacts also from the...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to try this one again, Mr. Speaker.
This is I am moving, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 50, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 20212022 be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriations for operations expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 20212022 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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...
