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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Minister
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Statements in Debates

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me see if I can kind a list (audio). I think everyone is -- the work plan for 2025-2026, Mr. Chair, we have a -- there are some items that are in Gameti, the school, then Gameti has some upgrading. Yellowknife is getting upgrading to the Tatsaoti'ne building, a district heating system. Fort McPherson, Chief Julius School, heat recovery optimization. Sachs Harbour's school is getting heating upgrades. There's some funding allotted for LED lighting upgrades in both fthe Sahtu and South Slave that's yet to be completely finalized. Deh Cho, Fort Simpson, again...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had a sneak peek. I can tell you that it's going to be tabled here in the House next week so certainly don't want to give too much away. But in the theme of a teaser, let's say that the number of exits by resignations is down from 523 down to 480 in 2023-2024. The number of exits down -- and generally down overall from 951 in 2022-2023 to 810 overall in 2023-2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this project initially came to -- into play for the GNWT before my time even in this House. And so its initial conception did not go through the same exact processes that we have now put into place today. But understanding the kinds of potential outcomes -- and I'm just trying to get to the substantiation sheet where there's a macroeconomic analysis lens that has since been applied to the project, due to the time, to try and determine what some of the benefits would be. Sorry, Mr. Chair, I'm just looking through -- oh, Mr. Chair, look, it's coming right at me...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are the different funds from which they are -- to which they are allotted. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So since November of 2023, when I believe that's when the email went live, there have been three matters formally submitted all regarding different GNWT processes. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comment about being more proactive. We do -- we did also go through the process earlier this year in seeking suggestions about more efficiency and specifically directing that to the public service and in that regard received over 1,800 suggestions about finding efficiency from about 900 individuals with different ones raised by different people. So there certainly is -- there are...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so typically a large project like that, the planning estimates would come through the -- or sorry, this capital planning process if it gets to that stage. But, Mr. Chair, let me take a slightly different approach with this one which is to say, again, it is an MOU-based approach. And I have been very clear with the partners when I sit at that table that it is an MOU approach, that it is not a GNWT only project; it is meant to advance as a group. And, again, our next step was to try to create -- there's been a decision on a preferred route. There's been a lot of...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I mean, there's -- yes, I mean, I'll perhaps try one more time to direct it to the assistant deputy minister, but just to start out, I mean, there are -- projects that are coming in under the small cap fund or small -- that are under the definition of being small capital projects, so things that under the threshold of $600,000, those items would tend to be within each department which holds their own individual small capital projects. And then beyond that, at some time they do make their way in to deferred maintenance which puts them under the rubric of being an...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to say I have two young pages in the House working with us today. Khalif Joseph and Junaid Mutoola are both residents of Yellowknife South. Thank you for being here.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the GNWT is having significant challenges maintaining its operations. We are struggling in the health care system obviously with the health authorities running a fairly significant deficit that continues to grow, and struggling in the energy sector right now because of the lack of interconnectivity between our systems and the tremendous costs that continue to build up because of the reliance on diesel and the volatility of fuel. But our fiscal challenges aren't necessarily being driven by operations and maintenance on the highways. Those costs are going up. I...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 33)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We certainly can produce that. The information that's presented in this format wouldn't necessarily show it the way that I think the Member's looking at. So we'll produce that. And I think just better than that is I propose I'll probably table it in the House since that does seem like information that would be valuable. Thank you.