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 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So this is one of those examples where when there's changes being proposed and it's actually changes that are being proposed under the last capital plan, the departments are expected to notify MLAs of those changes and yet the Member for Monfwi did mention earlier to me this week that we should go through this letter, and I'm still happy to do that in more detail.

But just briefly, it's a situation where there's a surplus from one project, specifically a security fence around the North Arm Park, and so looking to take that. There's money that was allocated to an outhouse...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is certainly my anticipation that it will be, and we'll have actuals ready in the fall to know exactly what numbers we have available to spend on capital at that time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thanks, Madam Chair. So I mean, in short, yes, there's, I think, fairly significantly different processes that are undergone when a major industrial project by a private actor is trying to get various licenses versus an accounting exercise to go in and determine what the value of an asset is that reflects potential costs.

So, you know, I can't speak to every sewage lagoon or the size of it or every fuel tank. I can't say that the intention here is not the same as an obligation to return an entire mine site to a natural state. This is an accounting exercise to understand, you know, what would...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this is right now what's on what's on paper here is the anticipated extension to the Mackenzie Valley fibre line, and so indeed if that proceeds, it would just be an extension of that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, so it was Nechalacho that had come and used the site for their demobilization work, if I'm thinking correctly of the right event. And, yeah, and there are interests or options now by one of the existing gold mine operations, Gold Terra, looking at the Con Mine site. So there is a lot happening in that very specific geographical spot.

And I think what I can do at this point is simply to say that, you know, obviously we do maintain, as ITI contact, with all of those different entities and partners and can let them know that there's this potential for them to have...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

[Audio]

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, I agree with the comments earlier. This isn't actually a really positive and important transparency to all.

What triggers the obligation to book an asset under the asset retirement obligations is the fact that there's a legal obligation to do something with that asset. So it, you know, really doesn't change it doesn't change the legal obligation. It doesn't create the legal obligation. But there is now a number that an MLA who wishes to hold the government to account can point to and say, hey, you've got this asset booked and there's a certain estimate...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's and actually I there's I mean, there's a variety of different economic spinoffs that come. There's economic impacts for capital spending that come in the form of anticipated GDP impacts of almost $200 million. There's also labor income that comes over of a hundred million dollars. And then the taxation income that the government gets on people who not on people, but on the taxes people are paying when they are employed. So there's quite a high number of also 944 jobs are anticipated from this kind of a capital spend.

You know, and those of...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there were initial design changes, I think in fact still before my time in this role. There's not been further design changes in the interim. But might I just turn that over to deputy minister Strand to speak to briefly.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Madam Chair, on your right, Bill MacKay is deputy minister of Department of Finance, and on the left Terence Courtoreille is deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board.