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, Mr. Speaker. I would have to look back over time and see the degree to which that has been considered but also whether or not that impacts any of the work that's happening. As I've said, for right now the work that is coming through in terms of some of the repair of potholes and ruts that have arisen over the course of the summer, that is getting dealt with as much as possible before too much snowfall. And with the snowfall, they are doing what they can to, you know, still monitor and do some ice blading, some snow plowing, to try to mitigate where there were some tough spots. So...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been a tough year -- or a tough season for a lot of the roads in the Northwest Territories, including this stretch of particular highway. There were some challenges this year with maintenance, Mr. Speaker. One of the contracts that had gone out -- it went out, and there was a request for a negotiated contract. That slowed down the procurement process. We were able to ask the existing contractor to continue to maintain the road but certainly not the same as having someone in place more permanently. So although the work was getting done, it wasn't...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all communities across the Northwest Territories need to continue to be invested in, and analysis gets done, whether it's department of health looking at long-term care facilities, whether it's education looking at educational needs, those processes continue. One of the things that does come to me from looking at the audit is the importance of having good planning, is the importance of having good records, and quite frankly, is the importance of having all of that consolidated in one place with experts in that area and that is something that we do now have...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, it probably is a bit of both departments here. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take that number back. That's a very specific number, and I'm -- while I'm familiar with the audit, I am not necessarily up to speed with what that number would be.
So in terms of the projected costs, we do have a fairly detailed analysis that's obviously been done when we got the audit in. We are looking at where costs are going over the course of time. There's some concern that we have seen with respect to the audit in terms of understanding the difference between the portion that...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very happy to say that I have a resident of Yellowknife South here in the room with us today serving as a page, Mr. Ben Mager. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following six documents: Plain Language Summary for Bill 11: An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act; Statement of Consistency for Bill 11: An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act; Inter-Activity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 (April 1 to June 30th, 2024); Public Service Annual Report 2023-2024; 2024-2025 Consolidated Budget; and, Northwest Territories Carbon Tax Report 2023-2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do want to give another shout out, as I have on more than one occasion, that when we first put out the Restoring Balance initiative, we went to the public service and the public service responded. We had over 900 public servants respond directly with over 1800 suggestions, many of which were directly involved in the planning of how to develop and build up the main estimates within that context, a number of decisions -- or suggestions around efficiencies, department amalgamations, even fleet management came up in the course of there. So those processes and...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a lot of the -- in fact, I would venture to say most -- the vast majority of our roads are maintained by contractors, third-party contractors, and not by -- directly by operators in the GNWT's employ. And, Mr. Speaker, yes, we can certainly always look to optimize that we are doing the best we can, so perhaps what I'll do is take that away and just have a direct conversation with the MLA to see whether or not there may be particular stretches, particular contracts, particular areas, that need another look and I'm certainly happy to have that conversation to...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have the relevant contracts now awarded and that will provide more consistency in terms of the maintenance that is occurring in that region. Mr. Speaker, there's also some particular contracts related to larger scale repair work, for example dip repair right at the crossing, so -- and along with a number of other projects. And, again, a couple of them certainly did get delayed over this summer season but I can say, again, that those are now awarded. And what I'd suggest with respect to contingency is ensuring that there's a wider degree of overlap in...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the paving project for the airport is right now expected to be over 2027-2028 and somewhere in the course of that, we will be able to include the paving of the bypass road. Thank you.
