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

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 , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, happy to do so. Again, that work was -- is due back this spring, and it would normally follow the process of going to committee. I'm happy to ensure that we are there as early as possible. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, none of -- these are broad funding agreements and some of them -- well, obviously, some that were -- are already have sunsetted with -- they were in the 2023-2024 line or 2024-2025. But for other areas, they are -- other grants and contributions, there's none that are necessarily specific to the Deline micro project. Now, that said, I know I have had outreach from Ek’Wahtide Gaudet in Roundup on this. We're certainly keen to examine and explore the possibility of micro hydro. I'm certainly very keen on it. So some of that is work that can be done within our...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll perhaps turn to the deputy minister in just a moment, but let me at least give a bit of introduction that the two for this year, for this fiscal, are the deferred maintenance programs. So that is where we undertake ongoing repairs to GNWT assets over the life of that particular asset or building. It's more under our capital estimates program, but we want to ensure that, of course, we are maintaining those assets on an adequate life cycle. Right now they tend to be between somewhere 30 and 50-year life cycle, depending on the type of building or type of asset. So...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, how about if I commit to having a plan for a plan? I don't have a final date at this moment in time, but I certainly have asked that we, as the 20th Assembly, walk out of here with that in place. So that certainly is my goal at this time. Our next step is for the working group to put forward their recommendations of what it will look like and with that, I expect we'll have a more firm timeline. But, again, it's certainly my hope for this at this moment that we are walking out of the 20th Assembly with this in place. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

I suppose someone has to ask it, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the issues surrounding there -- yes, with respect to more ensuring that we have staff available to undertake that request, and I can take it back away and look again at what some of those challenges at staffing were. What we have done and continue to do, Mr. Chair, is that there are more and more services coming available for E-services. I recognize before I even turn this back over that some folks will not be able to access E-services or won't be comfortable with E-services, but that certainly is an area that is taking a lot of the...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we already do provide certainly some information with respect to the amount of change or expected change that you would see in the capital planning process. The macroeconomic policy that we are looking to bring forward and to put -- apply a lens to will also include a consideration since there's obviously -- again, I shouldn't say obviously. Nothing's -- there's always open questions. But not having access to energy efficiency does, indeed, create risk of increased costs over time. So that would be part of that lens, and that is something that is coming through and...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this increase is fairly modest, just over $300,000 here. And it's, again, related only to the collective agreement. However, Mr. Chair, with respect to our capital plan that we are expecting to be delivering over the next year, we do have the James Creek maintenance camp rehabilitation project that is coming out of Fort McPherson region, and that one is expected to move forward over the next coming year. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an area of quite a lot of interest to me as well, and I was very pleased that the department was willing to undertake this area when -- beginning of this government. It is not only the Department of Infrastructure, Mr. Speaker. It involves municipal and community affairs, housing, as well as infrastructure. I can say that we certainly have come together as multiple departments. There is a working group in place, and what the next step is is to really put in place some recommendations of what it will look like to bring all the different pieces together to have a...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This has been raised now on a couple of occasions. There's not an active plan underway at the moment for any all-season roads beyond the Whati all-season roads that came in -- or the Tlicho all-season road that came into use just a few years ago. So, again, at this moment in time, no. But, again, I know it's been raised. What I would say the next major road in that area is probably with respect to the planning around the SGP, the Slave Geologic Province area, and I've heard suggestions that maybe there'd be a spur off of that, but this is all very much really just an...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so some work that we do certainly does already include using things like a GANT chart or other strategic tool. This was really meant to be one that would look, again, at that process from a different lens. So, you know, you can say, for example, if you use that lens and you identify a process that's not efficient, this is the committee that would be then led or tasked with fixing the problem. So even a small example would be using eApprove for approving monthly variance reports that come through and obviously -- I shouldn't say obviously. But Department of...