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.
Madam Chair, if I could turn to to Kelly Bluck, please.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I can say we have departments of ITI, infrastructure, lands have all been involved, and the Stantec professional engineers out of Vancouver who do marine assessments are the ones that were involved. So I am hopeful that the information we get to the Member will allay his concerns. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is still you know, would certainly be my hope that we'd actually be able to get compensation for any repair work as a warranty on the bridge. Obviously that, or some form of insurance on the bridge. I don't have a final on that. The issues arose only just this summer. What and then the so the final completion of any repairs will be in June of 2024. But as I think the Member has previously mentioned or the Minister has previously mentioned, there was certainly work done adequate to ensure the safety of the bridge for continued usage and passage made...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Madam Chair, I'm not sure if we have an occupancy list necessarily with respect to planning, but if we do let me see if we can get it. I'm just conscious of the time. We certainly can provide that if we don't have it handy. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. On my left, Madam Chair, is the deputy Minister of Finance, Bill MacKay. And on my right is Perry Heath, the director of infrastructure planning at the Department of Health and Social Services.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know there was quite a bit of work done at one point with the community in terms of looking at a micro fishery. I don't think there's anything, again, in this plan. There was some training offered, and the training that was offered to community members from Fort Providence around particularly a winter fishery, as well as with respect to the summer fishery, but that would be running out of Hay River. And the last I understand is that there were there was an asset within the community for a small scale fish processing plant for local usage but I believe...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Madam Chair, I'll certainly take this back to ADM Brennan, but the information I have is that is actually part of the challenge right now, is NTPC is trying to still work through the relocation and get a proper cost estimate as to how that relocation takes place given that with a relocation you may or may not be able to reuse the equipment. So, again, happy to redirect that as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First, apologies to the translators. I think I'm speaking quickly.
Yes, so the short answer is most definitely there have been conversations with the federal government, including from the Premier's office but also from other Ministers' offices, including in particular ECC as our EMO lead, and their counterpart at public safety. The federal government is aware of the challenges created by this huge outlay of cash without an advance on what will otherwise be at least some amount of funding coming from the federal government to help offset those costs. The trick is I don't...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, point of clarity, Miramar does have its own dock so the two aren't to be confused, that there are different facilities in that area. This particular dock, when the Stantec Engineering assessment was done in 2022, they did take into account what remediation may be required, and so as I say, the amount that's being proposed here is taking into account what remediation work was recommended by the engineers in that assessment. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it certainly has been a long road coming. That is the wrong choice of words there. But it is still in planning. But staying in planning is important, Madam Chair. Sometimes these projects, as we've seen, advance too quickly without adequate planning and then wind up getting bogged down at the environmental assessment stage or in the geotechnical stage or whatnot. So it is my hope that that won't yet continue to happen here.
As I understand it, there were some challenges in terms of determining what type of contracting and what kind of a final routing there...
