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 78)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there was a decrease in the years just to give time for discussions that had been underway with the Tlicho government, and as a result of which the funding was moved to a different year to better align with the expected timeline of the project. The good news that I have this year is that those discussions are much further along. I am hopeful that there will be more formal announcements in fairly short order from now to allow the Tlicho government to be the lead on the project with support from the GNWT as appropriate but that this project now will be on track...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the registration of nurses is managed by CAN, not by the GNWT. So I don't know if I'd describe it as a barrier, Mr. Speaker, but certainly would want to ensure that we work closely with them. They do have a process for internationally educated nurses, and it would be that process that anyone obviously internationally trained would have to go through. Again, we certainly have looked at some opportunities that the GNWT could find ways to support folks who are foreign trained to make their way through that system, and I am happy to take that back and to see...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So some of the sunsets the Member is mentioning, we actually, earlier this week in dealing with the supp, were -- I was able to put forward that there's now a renewal of the low carbon economy fund -- I hope I've got that right. I think I might be missing an acronym, though -- and, which at the time of preparing the main estimates that had not been signed and approved at that point in time and so the sunsets were standing as sunsets. But those funds were -- are now being reinstated through that funding program with the federal government.

The second part of the question...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 78)

Mr. Speaker, again, there's some of the groups -- the housing corporation may well be able to more quickly move to set up an office there. That does not necessarily make it an administrative region. ITI may have a superintendent. That does not necessarily make it an administrative region. There are some government services -- TCSA already -- where does that fit into an administrative region? Which departments need to establish new positions? Which departments could move positions? It is not as simple as simply saying there is a new region, and everything is sorted. It is more complicated than...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there is funding available at this point for Fort Providence -- or sorry, for the Fort Providence-Kakisa transmission line under ICIP and waiting final federal approval on being able to sort of announce it publicly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, not necessarily. The challenge that we have, some years ago, before I was in government, there were more regions -- or sorry, more specific services offered specific to the Tlicho region with some reporting, but it wasn't necessarily capturing services that would be, for example, funding that gets issued to district education authorities or funding for services that cover multiple communities or services across highway regions for instance. So it -- it's going to be very difficult to fully capture everything that is happening within a particular region...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so first, nothing would be finalized before going through committee process and having an opportunity for that feedback. It is targeted for this spring, for full release in the spring, which certainly does mean we need to be moving fairly quickly on getting it out to committee. I mean, it was, I think, slated for really right around now to be coming forward, but I -- as I say, I don't know that it's -- well, it has obviously not fully hit the committee yet. So, I mean, when I say any day, it kind of is any day at this point but, again, assuring committee that...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I can confirm that NTPC did install modular units at Jackfish to increase the capacity. There were installations completed back in 2018 and 2019, and there's also a new 4.4 -- I don't know the capacity of those two, but there is a 4.4-megawatt generator also at Jackfish plant. It does remain, Mr. Speaker, that the system is still reliant on these -- on this single generation facility and so, again, that doesn't necessarily answer all of the challenges we have within the lack of a wider grid or redundancy in the grid but that element was taken care of. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 77)

That's me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a very detailed business case. It was developed back, I want to say roughly 2020, 2021. But, Mr. Speaker, the next question -- the second question that was asked as to whether or not we can afford it, the simple fact, Mr. Speaker, is that the GNWT alone cannot afford a project that is into the $3 billion although I might spin it on its head and part of the comment that was being referenced wasn't mine; it was by one of the other Members who attended from another -- as a representative for one of the other governments that's participating...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 77)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in some ways, although it's a bit cold comfort at this point, the deficit was actually predicted to be much higher but it was because of the fact that they were able to recoup some costs by way of increasing the revenues that it was not as bad as it might otherwise have been. Nevertheless, there's still some fairly significant costs associated. So for instance in terms of the fuel costs that continue to be high as well as an almost $2 million grants in lieu, property tax charge that was owing and that needed to be dealt with, and the fact that the fleet remains...