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,  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

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 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there are costs associated with having the Canada Revenue Agency administering our tax collection in general. So I don't know that this is necessarily unique or distinct. The reality is it would cost a significant amount of money for the GNWT to do that and human resources capacity. And if they didn't do it, we'd have to do it. So it's sort of a one way or the other. It might actually be more expensive for us to have to start up our own entire tax collection and administration system. CRA is actually a fairly large I think surprisingly large part of the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Well, Madam Chair, perhaps more broadly then, I'll take a look at the regular reports that I do receive from the health recruitment unit and see if we can provide that so that Members have a better sense of what the work is that they are accomplishing.

I would say, Madam Chair, that they actually have seen some successes in terms of their hiring and some reduction in overall vacancies. However, of course, the market remains challenging so that's not to say that the situation is solved but it would be worth an update from them, and we'll provide that. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So the increase on expenditures here is the increase to the grants that are for various rebates benefits associated with offsetting. So there is the grant I mean, and this is, of course, all projected and premised on the notion that the what we anticipated in Bill 60 would pass which, you know, obviously is not is not guaranteed by any stretch. The largest amount would be for the large emitter program that we have, which is not a complete or a total remission of taxes paid by large emitters but only the amount that is planned for under the 72 percent. They right now...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that's a large and complex answer. I'll try to be brief. I'm mindful of the ten-minute time, but I'm happy to take more questions either in the House or in writing.

There's two parts to it. And firstly there is the work that's happening under the health recruitment unit, and in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Services, to really look at everything from the labour market supplement, for example, to other initiatives that were announced earlier last year, you know, such as travel with with travel incentives to bring family up. But on the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I hope not. And, you know, Madam Chair, I do have the opportunity to meet, and have been taking the opportunity myself and Minister Archie to meet with all the major airlines that are servicing the Northwest Territories, arising actually more from the lack of access to routing as oppose to worrying about their finances. And in doing so, it gives us an opportunity to have a better handle on what is happening in that industry. We've certainly not had any asks; I can say that. And if anything, Minister Archie and I are more concerned with seeing what they can do to expand...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. We certainly do track the timeliness of hiring processes across departments. I don't have that data in front of me, and it hasn't appeared in my eyes as I'm sitting here. So I will commit to get back to the Member with that.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that's correct. Approximately so, again, sometime in and around by August and let's say early fall at the outset. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, these positions are for the human resources health recruitment unit. There are really is a I can certainly actually provide the detail breakdown of where they are but let me just mine I'll turn it to the deputy minister, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I've been asked a lot of questions lately about revolving funds, and I haven't received a lot of positive response to them from the department, from their experts, and there's a number of reasons for that. One of them is if you start to put money into the revolving fund, well for one, if it sits in a revolving fund, it doesn't actually get appropriated and approved in the House. So in terms of being able to maintain control over what the spending actually is by the government, the minute it goes off into a revolving fund it doesn't get approved here. And I...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 149)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So when royalty payments come in, you know, end of the fiscal year and are reported upon and, again, keeping in mind the fiscal year for the mines themselves, then that is when the total contribution is known. So you would see it you know, probably this is an occasion where looking at the actuals and not just the budget is the way to go to understand what is actually in there. This is just the budgeted amount, again based on an average. It's not obviously what actually comes in. Thank you, Madam Chair.