'It's definitely a go for broke budget,' NDP Leader Todd Hardy told the Star following the tabling of the $793 million 2006/2007 budget.

There may not be many surprises in the final budget of the Yukon Party government's mandate, but it still clearly indicates that it is an election year, said Hardy.

'(Premier Dennis Fentie's) rolling the dice and hoping the voters will put him back in based on it,' said Hardy. 'He's going to use this budget to try to convince everybody that if you don't have the Yukon Party, the territory's going to go into fiscal ruin. It's not true.'

Fentie seems to be promising something to everyone, said Hardy, citing money provided to various community organizations and the $200,000 given to Yukon museums.

'Even if they didn't ask for money, they are giving them money,' said Hardy. 'It's very simply to try to buy votes for the upcoming election.'

Fentie must call an election by November.

Based on the budget, though, Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell said he doesn't expect Fentie to be dropping the writ until into the fall.

'The date for everything happening is beyond the date of the mandate, so the message seems to be We've got it going, trust us and we'll get it done next time,'' said Mitchell.

'This budget is just one more chink in the armour. There's just a whole series of failures over time.'

Mitchell pointed to the $21.9 million in projected lapses for the year as an example of the Yukon Party's 'inability to get a project completed.'

The budget indicates $100,000 for the Dawson City multi-level health care facility and $2.3 million for a similar facility in Watson Lake.

The two are examples of Fentie's government announcing a project, not getting it done and announcing it again.

'That's not the best way to be operating,' said Mitchell. 'If you put funds in the budget, you'd like to think it's not just a wish list of everything people would like to see, but rather this is what you intend to do as we go forward and not have it then come back the year after and the year after because of an inability to get it done.'

Hardy agreed. 'A budget shouldn't be just about how much money a premier can spend. There has to be an accountability and recognition on what kind of impact it's going to have on people's lives and I don't necessarily see that in this year's budget.'

Hardy added, 'Almost nothing is going to be accomplished after four years of Yukon Party government. Just a lot of promises, a lot of money being spent, but very little to show for it.'

It is 'astounding' what the premier is laying claim to as his own, said Hardy.

'He's spending, as he admits quite happily, he's going for the largest budget in our history. It's like a contest for him. He keeps trying to break his record from the year before and spend more of taxpayers' money.'

Comparing solely main estimates to main estimates, this year's budget is the largest in the Yukon's history.

It tops the 2005/2006 budget, which hit $784 million only to be increased to $818 million after the supplementary budget was tabled last fall.

But despite the increased spending, Hardy said he is disappointed by the exclusions in the document. There was no specific funding for building the Copper Ridge school that was promised in the Copperbelt byelection.

Money to help Dawson City with its debt was also not allocated in the budget.

Mitchell also cited the exclusion of funding for a senior's care facility in Haines Junction as disappointing.

He added that funds to deal with the pension shortfalls at Yukon College and the Yukon Hospital Corp. appear to have been excluded for this year's budget.

Yet $1.7 million is allocated for the Alaska-Canada rail link feasibility study despite other pressing social needs, said Hardy.

Hardy, however, said he was encouraged by the $2 million placed in the executive council's operation and maintenance budget for the Substance Abuse Action Plan.

Mitchell said he was pleased with the $29 million coming to the territory for the Territorial Health Access Fund and the budget to hire a new surgeon and two general practitioners.

But, he added, the Yukon Party's spending reflects a dangerous trend.

'What we've seen is a government that's gotten huge increases from the federal government in money coming in and is continuing to still spend even more each year than what has been coming in so they've whittled away at the surplus,' said Mitchell.

'They came in and said they had to curtail the unrealistic spending trend of the previous Liberal government. They've gone much further.'

This year's budget provides approximately $25,000 in spending per person in the territory, said Hardy. But about $17,500 of the money is coming from the federal government, he added.

The transfer from Canada for the year is $558 million.

'Their fiscal accountability needs to be challenged. Sustainability has to be a part of any type of budgeting and it's not there,' said Hardy.