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. Chair. Mr. Chair, so typically a large project like that, the planning estimates would come through the -- or sorry, this capital planning process if it gets to that stage. But, Mr. Chair, let me take a slightly different approach with this one which is to say, again, it is an MOU-based approach. And I have been very clear with the partners when I sit at that table that it is an MOU approach, that it is not a GNWT only project; it is meant to advance as a group. And, again, our next step was to try to create -- there's been a decision on a preferred route. There's been a lot of...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I mean, there's -- yes, I mean, I'll perhaps try one more time to direct it to the assistant deputy minister, but just to start out, I mean, there are -- projects that are coming in under the small cap fund or small -- that are under the definition of being small capital projects, so things that under the threshold of $600,000, those items would tend to be within each department which holds their own individual small capital projects. And then beyond that, at some time they do make their way in to deferred maintenance which puts them under the rubric of being an...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 32)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This project has seen an increase to its original budget, and it's likely to see some further increase. Mr. Chair, I don't get to do opening comments in terms of the topical areas we hit but I will say with respect to the IT infrastructure, over the last few years there's been numerous occasions where we've seen an early stage budget that winds up being significantly off, and that is something that the department, with the chief information officer, is trying to get a better handle on. Understanding the nature and the needs of the project more at the front end allows us...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would expect -- I expect that the project officers in the department, officials there, are already doing that. They've certainly been expected to do that for some time. We know that there's going to be more traffic on those winter roads this season just as there was last season when there was less barges. With no barges, fully expecting that road to be busy. So those meetings are already underway. Mr. Speaker, it was -- certainly, it was helpful for me to meet with some of those involved last year just to get a real picture of it, to have that opportunity...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 32)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So climate change considerations are part of the substantiation sheets. And -- yes, I mean, in this case with respect to the $1.9 million allotted, or roughly thereabouts allotted to maintain our basic infrastructure, it's -- this was not a consideration or a factor that, you know, went strongly really one way or the other. There was not a lot considered in this particular element. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 32)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is simply an amount that allows us to ensure that the existing infrastructure that we have -- technological infrastructure we have remains current. There are a number of assets that come due for support and that are -- whether that's servers, the networks, storage, telecommunications, all of which, I think -- you know, I don't want to presuppose or assume, but technology changes very quickly. It changes quickly on a government scale as well and so this provides us the ability to maintain some currency within that space by using this project budget. Thank...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 32)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And -- doesn't help. Mr. Chair, I was -- I'm looking at a blank page. Can I turn that to the deputy minister, please.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 32)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left I have Bill MacKay, the deputy minister of Finance. And on my right, Dave Heffernan, the government's chief information officer.
Mr. Speaker, nobody likes a short answer of one that just says no, but unfortunately this instance the short answer is no. The supplementary estimates are -- they come forward as having been gone through the financial management board to bring about issues or things that arise. One example is the collective agreement that was finalized, so this comes forward to bring a couple of collective agreements in. And I have to obviously comply with the collective agreement. Another major item in there was fire suppression funding. We have to pay the bill for our fire suppression funding. Another big...
