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 54)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I did not make the effort to hunt for those documents. Let me see if the deputy minister happens to know that detail, as well. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps, I'll just let the deputy minister continue on the explanation on the P3s, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have a date in front of me, and I'm sure that's because it's dependent somewhat on what happens with collective bargaining. What I will commit to doing is perhaps doing a bit of an either/or and trying to come up with a sense of what some different timelines might look like, subject to again the different ways that this might unfold.

Again, I want to emphasize the importance of having a conversation, having a consultation with the union. They're a key party in this work and in this process, so wanting to ensure again that that we look at whether we do it right...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that this number could well be into the hundreds. The requirement of having these forms is for any employee who is taking part in any outside activity. That could be anything as simple as volunteering as a sporting coach to having self-employment or to having some additional part-time employment, being on a board, et cetera. This is a good opportunity to make it clear that all employees should be filling out those forms, but it's really a number that is quite likely into the hundreds, if not beyond that, and it's done department by department. I have not...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps I will suggest that we direct this one to the deputy minister from the accounting perspective as to why we decided to include it on this line item here. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Internet service providers and Internet rates are quite heavily regulated in the Northwest Territories by CRTC. Certainly, we do have, at the Department of Finance, ongoing discussions with the major players in the industry here, but as I say, a lot of that is going to depend on the work that is being done with CRTC and not with GNWT specifically. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the projections obviously do get -- I think the Members will appreciate that they are being done continually, and particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, they were being redone every so many months. That will continue throughout the time of the pandemic because the pandemic has impacted on the government's position quite significantly, which is in no short order why we wound up with increasing the borrowing limit when we did in the first place.

I think at this point, Madam Chair, it would be appropriate to say that we will continue to do those updates...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thank you, Madam Chair. By doing this joint project, that is really meant to alleviate both sides of a concern, which is to ensure that staffing processes remain fair and compliant with best practices and with transparent processes, while also ensuring the expertise within the client department, in this case the health department. Hopefully, if the unit does achieve the targets that are being set to increase recruitment and retention of healthcare workers, then perhaps that is a question that I will be coming back to in time as to, if this is, in fact, successful, what that might mean for...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

As I said, there is right now an expression of interest open really to explore what options there might be, to see whether it's possible or how it would be possible to increase and improve cellular coverage on the highways in the Northwest Territories. Once we have that information in hand, I will certainly be sharing it with my colleagues in the Legislative Assembly, with a view to seeing, again, what we can do to improve coverage for all of the territorial highways. However, again, the first step is to get the information for that first stretch and to see what that can bring to us as some...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Madam Chair, if I could perhaps suggest the deputy minister is a better place to explain the supplementary reserve, please.