The Yukon government’s recent announcement of a new fibre optic link along the Dempster Highway fell prey to criticisms Monday in the legislature.

Yukon Liberal Leader Sandy Silver badgered Community Services Minister Currie Dixon to admit that the government has neither a financial plan for the project nor the will to put out a public tender for companies to build it.

As Highways and Public Works Minister Stacey Hassard was travelling and not in the legislature, Dixon was the designated alternate for questions related to that department.

The 750-kilometre line from Dawson City to Inuvik was initially estimated to cost $32 million, with a maximum of $10 million coming from Northwestel Inc. – but the territorial government has been slow to publicly announce how much it will pay and who will own the line.

“The reality is that this project was announced with no financial plan attached to it,” Silver said.

Dixon reiterated the importance of the project, having been in the works for years.

The territory has been plagued by lengthy failures in telecommunications services for years – often due to contractors’ heavy equipment unwittingly slicing through the fibre optic cable that provides service to the territory.

“The simple reality though is that we live in a part of the country where it is not economical for businesses to do this on their own, so the Yukon government is stepping forward and has committed to invest in this project,” Dixon said.

“We haven’t committed to a dollar amount yet, (but) we have committed to the project.”

Aside from reiterating the ballpark estimate of $32 million, the minister also indicated that there is a “reasonable degree of expectation” that the federal government and Northwest Territories would be interested in providing funding for the link.

“We haven’t arrived at a final conclusion as to how much those investments will be, mostly because in both the Northwest Territories and the Government of Canada, we have relatively new governments, and we want to take the time to speak with them and discuss what the options are going forward,” Dixon said.

Cabinet spokesperson Dan Macdonald was asked whether the government has provided funding to the N.W.T.’s Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line. He confirmed that the Yukon government did not contribute anything to that project.

The N.W.T.’s fibre optic link along the Mackenzie Valley is costing about $82 million, up from previous estimates of $60 million and $70 million.

After tendering the project, the territory signed a contract last November with the winning bidder, Northern Lights General Partnership – made up of Northwestel and Ledcor, a Vancouver-based construction company.

It was decided that Ledcor will build the 1,154-kilometre line and Northwestel will operate and maintain it for 20 years once built.

Northwestel spokesperson Adriann Kennedy explained that it was Northwestel’s proposal to connect the Yukon’s existing fibre link to the N.W.T.’s soon-to-be-completed line – all in the name of creating a redundant telecommunications network.

“Our proposal included Northwestel putting forward $10 million of the $32-million building cost of the Dempster Highway fibre,” Kennedy wrote in an email.

An additiona $5 million of that total will be put toward extending the existing fibre infrastructure from Stewart Crossing to Dawson City, she added.

The company will also assume all ongoing operations and maintenance over the lifetime of the fibre, Kennedy explained.

“All told, our proposal had Northwestel contributing over 75 per cent of the total cost of ownership.”

It’s unclear whether the line will be solely owned by Northwestel, or will involve another entity.

Silver called the announcement a last-minute decision to be able to “check off the done box” before the 2016 territorial election.

Despite being supportive overall of a backup fibre optic link in the territory, Silver voiced concern over the lack of public tender for the project, unlike in the Mackenzie Valley initiative.

“What we’re concerned about is this government picking winners and losers and funnelling money directly to one company or another without any competition. This is what the Yukon Party’s position was until it seems like they panicked and decided that announcing something before the next election was more important,” Silver said.

While Dixon did not address the lack of public tender specifically, he pointed out that in years past, Silver has criticized the government for not moving faster on the project.

“Now he’s ciriticizing us for panicking and making what he calls a hasty decision.”

“We have studied this issue over and over. We have looked at the options. We have considered alternatives. We have looked at funding models and we have arrived at a conclusion.”

The Dempster link is expected to take two years to build.

There is no current estimate for when construction might begin.