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. That project is led by the Tlicho government. So the funding that you see there back in 20212022 was to help them in terms of supporting their design and planning services. But then beyond that, it is a project led by the Tlicho government. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, on my left is deputy minister Bill MacKay. And on my right is deputy secretary to the financial management board Terence Courtoreille.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)
Madam Chair, let's hand this to Mr. Courtoreille, please.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there is a health working group jointly populated by the UNW and human resources, or Department of Finance. And there are regular meetings a variety of regular meetings between the Department of Finance and UNW and I am told that it's at an officials' level but that that is a standing item specific to the idea of recruitment services, health recruitment. It's a standing item at those meetings. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to present the 20232024 Main Estimates for the Department of Finance. These estimates support the mandate objectives for the Department of Finance, while continuing to meet the Government of the Northwest Territories' fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.
Overall, the department's main estimates propose an increase of $16.29 million, which is 5.1 percent over the 20222023 Main Estimates.
Highlights of the proposed main estimates include:
A $927,000 reduction to contract budgets in order to better align funding with actual...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)
Thank you, Madam Chair. There's not necessarily a line item that associates to interoperability but, Madam Chair, as the Member knows that's one of my new favourite words. It certainly is, I think, the goal in speaking in speaking with our new chief information officer, to get to a place of having more interconnectedness. There are, for example, SAM and DIIMS and programs such as that, that are now being rolled out across the whole of government which will hopefully support but also simply making it more of a priority in general because it takes people, and it does take resources to pay for...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)
Thank you, Madam Chair. So it is an initiative that comes out from the department of human resources, so Finance, and obviously is a headquarters functions but then beyond that, this is, again, the eight positions that we were just describing here in the main estimates have locations beyond Yellowknife. There's human resource officer positions now being added to well, I'm going to get it wrong now. To Inuvik and Smith, with a view to being much more closely to where those positions would be required. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Speaker, on January 16th, the Government of the Northwest Territories launched a new open data portal to provide a single point of access for existing GNWT data resources. This portal represents a significant step forward in our commitment to transparency and open government and it will be a valuable resource for residents, businesses, researchers, and anyone else interested in the data and information that shapes our communities and our economy. The open data portal provides easy access to a wide range of data including information on demographics, economy, environment, health, and many...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)
Thank you, Madam Chair. So, again, it's federal government rules that we're working within and, you know, I'd like to suggest it's we're basically putting up a shield to try to ensure that the full force of what the federal government is doing doesn't impact residents and businesses in the Northwest Territories. The total grants and rebates that are proposed here are $47.18 million. There's also almost $700,000 that is required to administer the program largely through the Canada Revenue Agency. We don't have necessarily the manpower to do it but it does still come with a cost. And then the...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the health recruitment unit does work both with or in three parts. There's health and social services, NTHSSA, as well as the Tlicho services or social TCSA, Madam Chair, to form working groups that are meant to have the human resources expertise on the one side but also then the TCSA expertise on the other side so that they can then develop together and identify together what the gaps are and how to respond to them. So I would certainly commit, Madam Chair, to perhaps getting some notes or some background as to where that working group is at from the with the...
