Deputy Premier Minister of Finance Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation Minister Responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains
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, Minister 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 Chair. Madam Chair, I have a schedule here before me but I think I'll want to be cautious. I know that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has been in Tuktoyaktuk recently and that representatives from infrastructure have been in Tuktoyaktuk recently looking at the school, looking at the progress that's being made, and what I'd like to suggest here, because there's active work happening and there's work actively happening to try to resolve some delays, so rather than reiterate information that might already be dated, I would like to work with the Member and the...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 158)
Madam Chair, you'd only see carry over if the amounts that were previously approved were not fully spent. So, again, if there's no need for a carryover, you wouldn't necessarily see it here, but it certainly hasn't disappeared from the infrastructure acquisition plan, and then it would reappear on the capital estimates coming through for 20242025 later this year. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 158)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I will be happy to do that, something to that effect moving forward. And that was our intention with the capital plan for August, and we can certainly do that when there's infrastructure sups as well. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 158)
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it's like watching a kettle boil. It's now not going to happen. And, Madam Chair, I do have numbers. I just want to ensure there's numbers - as I say, it does show, you know, revised budgets year over year and capital carryovers but I'm not convinced that what I'm seeing is showing a total project budget. As well, Madam Chair, I think there's a total project budget but that also - I'm not sure if that is strictly the infrastructure side of it or if it also included some of the other costs. So that is what I'd like to ensure if we're going to get this...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 158)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I shot a glance over to the Minister of MACA and he has nodded over as - to assure me that, indeed, they do provide that information. And I can say the information I have regarding the projects and their stages of completion does come from MACA, so they do monitor that along the way. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 158)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know that this project has not disappeared certainly, but let me just turn to perhaps Mr. Courtoreille again and see if he's - or perhaps we'll start with the deputy minister and see if he's aware of the state of the bridge or what amount has been spent. In short, we don't - I don't necessarily have in front of me the cash flow of every project. So it may be that we have to go away and get the cash flow of the project because I know that project has not - certainly not disappeared.
Actually, Madam Chair, I may have the answer now. There is work underway...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 158)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Fiscal Responsibility Policy isn't where the cap on the capital projects came in. That is an approach towards capital planning that we had imposed to put a cap on department spending of $260 million. That was introduced in 20232024, but it didn't exist in prior years, and it certainly didn't exist under the past Assembly, which is where a lot of projects wind up moving forward. So to the extent that if we hadn't put that cap in 20232024 and the 20232024 budget had started out much higher as it had been over the two, three, and many years before that, we...
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I certainly do have a list of projects, and I'm only hesitant in that it's because this is - these are communitydriven projects, I want to confirm there's no reason that I'm holding it and can't share it. But if there's not, then I'm certainly happy to share that at the very least with committee. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 158)
Madam Chair, again, it's a carryover amount. So it's an amount that is under this contract for this work and, you know, this is our - it's our asset right now. If there is work that needs to get done on it, we would need to ensure that it needs to. But that is the case, this is part of the contracting process. The money is still there. It hasn't been released. And it won't be released until we're sure that there are no deficiencies. If there's no deficiencies, the money does move out. Thank you, Madam Chair.
