Caroline Wawzonek

Member Yellowknife South

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.
 

Committees

Caroline Wawzonek
Yellowknife South
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Extension
12177
Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure, and Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
Mobile
Minister's Office
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Statements in Debates

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Mr. Speaker, there's not a full-time dedicated position per se but, Mr. Speaker, the interagency engagement between the Premier's office and the federal government, that is a large part of the core work that happens at executive and Indigenous affairs, certainly on the executive side, so if you're in that department, I'm quite confident in saying, and believe I'm well placed to say so with the information I do have, that this is not a concern to the department, that they're confident that they are able to actively engage, and I do happen to know from the role that I'm in, Mr. Speaker, having...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

With respect to -- I did not have the opportunity to attend this briefing, Mr. Chair, so I don't know what may or may not have been said. But as far as reporting, Mr. Chair, maybe I'll turn that to the deputy minister to see if he can give that background, please.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we'll be able to provide that level of detail. I mean, I -- a little bit hesitant in that it's fairly specific numbers that were being proposed. But, again, we do track the 30-day mark. We do track how far behind we are on a 30-day mark of standard to provide refunds. And, yes, I believe we can break down what is owed individually, and I suppose -- let me leave it at that, Mr. Chair, and we'll see where we get. I also don't want to run into a situation where the breakdown results in it being identifiable if it's too particular and then we're identifying people who...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

If I could direct it over to director of shared corporate services, Mr. Chair, please.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So with respect to the Department of Finance, Mr. Chair, we are increasing positions in the Beaufort Delta and in the Sahtu to help support the FESS, or Financial and Employee Shared Services. And, you know, again, with respect to the broader GNWT, Mr. Chair, I mean, there's -- that's not an item that necessarily is under the priorities of the Assembly other than obviously wanting to, of course, ensure broadly the opportunity for ongoing economic development and -- but, yes, so I don't have a new priority or a new mandate item that is relating to that.

From the perspective...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The GNWT only has a portion of the Canol Trail, actually in fact I think a fairly small portion of the Canol Trail. The majority is still sitting with the federal government. And the last time I was updated on this there was some ongoing conversations with the federal government seeking to have them bring their portions up to a level so that this could, frankly, be an area that may well have a future tourism opportunity. But at this point, the majority of the trail is still federal responsibility. We have our smaller, much smaller portion of it.

I would say, Mr. Chair...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 41)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is standard practice for utilities everywhere in the country that there's not any provisions whereby they would compensate customers who might find themselves in circumstances if they have some damages so there's no difference here with NTPC. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 41)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there's a couple of factors that can be -- that can result in the increase. First is there is -- well, primarily is that there was -- there was and continues to be a plan to reduce the overall lease footprint and to get to a place where we have less footprint and therefore less costs, and that was being built in. Unfortunately, some of that work is taking a little longer to get to, and as a result so while they have reduced the budget for leases, they ultimately found that there was base rent, then base rent escalations by landlords and also operations and...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 41)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can tell you that with respect to the public health nurses, there were seven nurses involved. Community health had two staff involved. Public health practitioners had two folks involved. There was a physician -- one physician involved, lab technologists involved, two laboratory clerks involved, one medical radiation technologist involved. Obviously, some of those individuals, this is not necessarily full-time work and wouldn't -- would likely have required some additional efforts and additional time and staffing in order to manage the expanding workload. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 41)

That is accurate, Mr. Chair. Thank you.