Caroline Wawzonek

Member Yellowknife South

Deputy Premier
Minister of Finance
Minister of Infrastructure
Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation

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,  Minster 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

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
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Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

I'll turn that over to the chief information officer, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, a company that is not BIPed can still receive a BIP adjustment. That is pursuant to one of the interpretive bulletins that's associated. If you go to the BIP web page, there's a whole list of interpretive bulletins. What it matters is whether or not there's Northwest Territories content or local content and if, in fact, there's so in other words, the company that's bidding on a contract, if they themselves aren't BIPed but their direct subcontractors are, including or if they have local content, they are still eligible to use the BIP adjustment or the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not privy to Infrastructure's plans for their dashboards for their projects but I can certainly take away the prospect of a dashboard for all of the IT projects that sit under Finance. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't have that level of detail. But let me start with the deputy minister and someone at this table might.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, with me today are Bill MacKay, the deputy minister of finance, and Rick Wind, chief information officer.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, October 31st, 2022, I will present Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not to my knowledge and, you know, and I expect that there wouldn't have been. I'm going back now somewhat in my memory now but there was early in early on I had spoken actually with proponents from Northwestel very early on in this stage, and it was quite clear to me that there's not a market case for this request. There's not a market for cell towers in this stretch of highway, even being the busiest. There's certainly not a market to cover the rest of the highways around the Northwest Territories or other rural remote regions all around Canada. And I...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

My apologies, Mr. Speaker. No, that's not it either, Mr. Speaker. I am well equipped; it's here.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Mr. Speaker, I certainly can say that there are costs, if I understood correctly, that we do cover the cost of having we do cover the costs of internet service for obviously all government services in the Tlicho. The operating costs for cellular on the highway, Mr. Speaker, as of, I think earlier this year, they were estimated at being at least $500,000 per year. That does not include costs for inflation; it does not include necessarily any costs if fuel continues to go up. And, again, that right now would be a minimum if that is what was sought. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I certainly am live to the redundancy. It's redundancy that matters, if I may, not only for Yellowknife but would bring potentially redundancy to South Slave communities and would certainly assist in protecting all of the government's infrastructure which impacts, of course, all of the Northwest Territories in a territorial or regional sense. So just to underscore that I'm certainly alive to it, and in the communications that the GNWT and Department of Finance is responsible for in responding to CRTC, who are supposed to be undertaking a review of services...