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.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 25, Appropriation Act, (Operations Expenditures) 2025-2026, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, Mr. Speaker, it's -- I'd have to go back and double check just to ensure that I'm, firstly, understanding the nature of the financial question that the Member's asking, but I'd certainly be happy to go back and take a look at the arrangements that were being made. Again, this does date back to an agreement and an offer that was from 2014 and certainly happy to provide the Member with some further detail. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't -- the question changed a little as we went. There's not extended debt. The power corporation's purchase of the Hay River franchise, of course began back in 2014, was -- and was only just recently completed in terms of determining the value of the assets and the amount that might have to be paid under it. That process is also now a part of the GRA that is underway, and the costs of the assets and the amounts paid and what that may or may not do to any rates will be part of that process and will be reviewed by the public utilities board. Thank you...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department at this time, and MTS through the department, doesn't have specific plans to attempt to refurbish the Merv Hardie or to get it back up to speed. What investigations there has been has given a fairly high cost estimate to get it to be recertified pursuant to Transport Canada regulations. So at this point, more likely would be an attempt to sell the asset than it would be to refurbish it. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 55)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On a busy day like today, I'm afraid I might be missing Yellowknife South residents who I can't see from behind me. Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, we are a family friendly neighbourhood and I am happy to say we have two youth here that I will recognize from Yellowknife South. Aima Tabbaa and Olivia Costache, thank you for helping us as pages here in the House.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's been a long day. I've got a lot of papers in front of me, but I'm going to try and get this on the rails.
Let me start by saying, Mr. Speaker, I do believe that this budget process is a negotiation. It is a difficult one. It's a difficult one for everyone. Not everybody on Cabinet gets what they want at the Cabinet table. But we do have to come together. We have discussions about what the issues are, what our priorities are, what our constituents need, what our residents need, from all different sized communities here, from small communities to the...
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that Bill 25, Appropriation Act, (Operations Expenditures) 2025-2026, be read for the second time.
This bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make appropriations for operations expenditures for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. It also sets out limits on amounts that may be borrowed by the Commissioner on behalf of the government. It includes information in respect of all existing borrowing and all projected borrowing for the fiscal year and authorizes the making of disbursements to pay the principal of...
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Inter-activity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 from April 1st to December 31st, 2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fiscal responsibility policy puts up some guardrails around how we take on debt and for our debt management. But -- and while that's obviously something I'm happy to talk about that, and it's important to maintain those guardrails, we want to be in a situation where we're utilizing our debt ideally to invest in things that benefit future generations since those would be the generations that would be ultimately be paying off debts whereas operational expenditures, programs and services of today, ideally are funded by the operational budgets that we have today. So...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so last year we were able to see successful delivery using -- in some cases coming up and around the top and utilizing Tuktoyaktuk as a delivery starting point as well as relying on the Dempster Highway. Obviously, there are challenges with both of those routes, Mr. Speaker, but we certainly were able to use those over the last couple of years and have always learned lessons to help improve it. So now I don't want to say that that's for sure the only option this year; we are still hopeful. MTS monitors water levels. We work with ECC's hydrology team about...
