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 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I am just trying to confirm if there was I believe under the SEED directive it would be sorry, it's a SEED directive, and it's still open and available until March 31st of this year. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in 2022, the well, the actually, these aren't the detailed I have right in front of me here. Let me see, if I could just have a moment.

Sorry, so we're looking at breaking the amount down here that's before you, Mr. Chair. $475,000 is the request that's still remaining under the 2022 flood. There's been a number of previous budgetary requests. I should back up for a moment and note that the department isn't they're not appropriate as a base budget in order to do disaster response and recovery because obviously historical, you know, events vary wildly...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would be very happy to come to standing committee as soon as that decision is made. With that we can also bring forward to them an update on the business case as that will assist in determining what that business case should be once we, of course, know the routing. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is required to meet debt servicing or, colloquially, the interest costs on debt. So a couple of different reasons have contributed to this being higher than what was projected in the original budget. One is there's a component under the Deh Cho Bridge Bond for CPI and, of course, CPI has remained fairly volatile and much higher than what many experts across Canada continue to predict. So that bond, as a result, has been paying out much higher than what we might have projected and certainly would have hoped. Notwithstanding, in addition to that, there is a much...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't think I did do a very good job of explaining that one earlier, if I may.

So there's variability here coming in in part with the Child and Family Services Act that was revised as well as the federal Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children, youth and families, and with that there's been changes that result to the associated costs. So that has impacted where this is at. Some elements of this line item or this activity area are experiencing a surplus, but others are looking at the increases in foster care rates that are...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it's a separate agreement but it will then be otherwise subject to, you know, the other provisions. I mean, for instance, of when the RCMP negotiated their collective agreement, these RCMP officers are subject to that but this is separate a separate agreement from the usual or from the other funding agreement that we have for RCMP positions. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that would certainly be in the public accounts. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For this one, and I believe for several of the others, the agreements were either signed for the first time or renewed after the time when the business planning process had been completed. And so in such cases where there's an expected or a change coming to an agreement, if it's being renewed or if it's obviously again a new agreement that comes after the business plan cycle while materials that are before the House for approval as part of the formal budgeting process, then it would come forward as a sup. That is, yes, dealing with a supplementary appropriation, that is...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It was this is a new $1 million that came in from CanNor to support the wildfire relief efforts for businesses. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so in December of 2023, it was a nineyear agreement that was fully executed. So, you know, in that sense, can I say it's permanent I suppose not. It is nine years, though. So that's far into the future and certainly creates an expectation that and that includes these positions for the nine positions for 20232024 and the four additional ones for 20242025. Thank you.