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 , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 59)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today we're being asked to consider a Private Member's bill that touches on an issue that is important and deeply felt not only in this House, not only in our healthcare system, but obviously throughout the Northwest Territories and the Northwest Territories public service.

And let me begin saying clearly, Mr. Speaker, that nurses are essential. We don't want to see them leave. Their contributions to this territory's healthcare system are invaluable. Their contribution to the health and wellness of all Northwest Territories residents is invaluable.

The GNWT...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Supplementary Estimates, Infrastructures Expenditures, No. 1, 2025-2026 and Supplementary Estimates, Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization, No. 1, 2025-2026. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to have a representative from Yellowknife South acting as a page this week. Naya Nichols is a student at St. Pat's, and thank you for your service this week.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 57)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: 2025-2026 Consolidated Budget and 2024-2025 Northwest Territories Power Corporation Amended Capital Budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 57)

-- point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 57)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are actually just having begun the budgets dialogues process which gets feedback from residents about areas of particular need or pinch and what we might be able to see in terms of changes to the budget for the upcoming year. At this point, I don't have any preannouncements to make about next year's budget. I can certainly say that I hope people are tuning in and participating in the dialogues process so that we can get a sense of where there maybe some opportunities to improve our processes and peruse the budget for the benefit of all going forward...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 57)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the Honourable Member for Hay River North, the Premier, will be absent from the House today to host the western Premiers' conference here in Yellowknife.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 57)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Member has overstepped the bounds that there's making inferences here about the Minister's intentions and the Minister's process and what the Minister may or may not be doing, imputing negative motives and a motive that's not present. The notion that she's not working with the Member or the Members of this House is -- in my view, it's not fair. That's a mischaracterization. It's not a characterization of work that's happened on this file, that's been described in this House today, and that we have information, all of us, knowing about the...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 57)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll try to be brief, Mr. Speaker. I know we were all given some warnings on being so, and I'm probably the worst at that. Well, Mr. Speaker, it's a tricky one. We obviously during COVID saw a number of different types of relief issued in terms of industry specific or sector specific, or aviation sector for example, but also had money that went into the pockets of residents and didn't always find that that was perhaps the best form of providing people the supports that they, in fact, required. So, you know, and then, of course, during evacuation, we were able to bring...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 57)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this recently introduced measure was fairly targeted, and it was temporary. This is intended to be for one year only in the face of $300 million in losses to this industry that keeps people employed in the Northwest Territories. But to be clear, Mr. Speaker, what we did was we did not completely wipe out the fact that the mines are going to continue to pay property taxes. They are just paying a bit less. They were, up to this point, other than pipelines, which had the highest mill rate, the mineral resource sector faced the second highest mill rate...