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
Extension
12177
Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure, and Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Estimating or projecting $4 million at this point.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, again, the total project cost isn't the total necessarily that the GNWT's paid for it. I am providing the total project cost as an estimate. But, again, I'm somewhat constrained because it wasn't a total project cost by the GNWT. It was paid for by this other entity. That's the nature of having a P3 partner design and build a project and deliver it. And they ran into some significant issues in the course of that project, which we didn't then have to have the risk for. So the claim that was made and the settlement that was reached, as in the case of many...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm sure we can do that. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Mr. Speaker, I will give notice that on Wednesday, March 29th, 2023, I will present Bill 83, the Liquor Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, let me take that back to the department. I don't have a ready answer as to why that wouldn't be a chart that could be included. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Member's quite right. This is within what is termed the contingent liabilities that are budgeted for and that are reported upon. It's a larger sum initially. It comes it's in the public accounts. It's a larger sum. It's reported as an aggregate precisely because there's often either the discussions towards resolution aren't advanced enough to know whether they should be within contingent liabilities or they're at a stage where it would not be strategically wise for the GNWT to put itself out and say well, we think a matter should settle at X dollars...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

$125,000 plus $86,000, Madam Chair. And I just didn't do the math in time.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to provide a briefing, a briefing note or briefing in person with respect to, you know, monies we've had, challenges, perhaps opportunities to come, and what we might be doing to look for more money. Mr. Speaker, it's, again, certainly been my position, and I've communicated to federal ministers, that some of the funds perhaps weren't best tuned or well tuned to what the needs actually are and to where we are at in terms particularly around, again not only accessibility and availability, but affordability. That was not necessarily well...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Madam Chair, I do. However, I thought we were doing the infrastructure sup and so I have the wrong ones in front of me, Madam Chair. But if you'll bear with me a moment, I will be able to read the correct ones to you. All right, no, that's still not it. All right, Madam Chair, I'm happy to present Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 20222023.

These supplementary estimates propose a total increase of $44.1 million, of which $11.9 million will be offset by revenues from the Government of Canada. These supplementary estimates propose the following expenditures:

$6.3 million...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the GNWT hasn't borne the entire costs. So part of the costs here are actually being paid by this project entity, which includes Ledcor. They are the ones that were responsible for financing building and financing the line. So the costs that they've incurred are quite significant. The GNWT actually is not fully responsible for all of those because of the P3 arrangements, they undertook some of the risk, including some of the risk of cost overruns. Now so it's not so simple as to say that all of those cost overruns are entirely the GNWT's responsibility...