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 112)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad that my title has been corrected. I do feel better standing up with the right name for the right Minister.

On this matter, Mr. Speaker, firstly, there are a number of different things happening in terms of what's happening with the Mineral Resources Act regulations.

Firstly, with respect to the royalties portion, as the Member's already mentioned, it's a complex thing that's being developed right now. That element was opened back in February. Comments are welcome until July the 29th for public engagement. That was extended from April the 22nd all...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 112)

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, May 30th, 2022, I will present Bill 53, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 112)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, with respect to public engagement, there's a standard position which is that any operational or any draft regulations get no less than 30 days, and that's that will certainly be abided by that guideline. But, Mr. Speaker, it's my intention that we'll be going on for longer than that.

It is, you know, as I've been saying, and as been said here by others, these are complex regulations; they are going to require more time. So they'll be posted to the engagement website as usual. Information will go out through social media as well as through other more...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 112)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, this is an extremely complex piece of legislation that's going to be enacted and as a result, the regulations themselves also are unusually complex, and we are always being mindful at every step, again, of the process and of the work that's taking place with the IGCS.

Mr. Speaker, I can say, and in keeping in mind the rules that we have here in a consensus government, that back on May the 12th we did provide a list of the research documents completed as of that time to standing committee and, certainly, if there are documents within that that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 111)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, folks at home will sometimes hear us saying that we had questions in advance. I do want to acknowledge that the Member does give a bit of a head's up, and that's helpful for the more technical questions like this. It's not that we necessarily know the flavour that we're going to hear in the House but, Mr. Speaker, I have been doing some work to try to figure out exactly what has what more we could do to provide more and further information.

It's certainly my preference to be able to provide more and further information to members of the public or members of...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 111)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 51, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures) 2022-2023 be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 111)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a topic of conversation that I suspect will continue between myself and the Member for a long time. We simply aren't going to fly eye to eye on this one.

The current paper that is out for discussion purposes, Mr. Speaker, went to the SCEDI, to one of the committees of MLAs. It also went through the Indigenous governments or the Intergovernmental Council, IGC, the body the important body to work with composed of Indigenous governments. And when we initially got responses back on the paper, we took it back. We delayed it. Took that paper...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 111)

In favour.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 111)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did have the opportunity to speak yesterday in Committee of the Whole and made a number of comments at that point about consensus government and about the process by which the budget is built. I don't want to repeat all of that, Mr. Speaker, but I do have a few additional comments I want to make today.

Mr. Speaker, I'm very frequently asked what am I going to do about the debt ceiling, what am I going to do about rising costs of debt, what are we going to do about the rising costs of fuel, what are we going to do about the rising costs of living, what will...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 111)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House that Bill 51: The Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 20222023 be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.