As Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell called on the Yukon government to review its overall investment procedures in the legislature Wednesday, NDP Leader Todd Hardy was seeking Premier Dennis Fentie's resignation from his Finance portfolio, if $36.5 million in investments go bad.

Meanwhile, Liberal MLA Gary McRobb called on the Yukon Party government to urge the legislature's public accounts committee to investigate the $36.5 million the government invested in asset-backed commercial paper.

All three proposals came out of the situation with the government's investments in the asset-backed commercial paper.

The money wasn't released on its maturity dates of Aug. 31 and Sept. 4 due to the market situation.

Instead, a decision is set to be made by Dec. 14 about what will be done. It's expected the funds will be put into longer-term investments, Fentie and Department of Finance officials have said.

Fentie was grilled throughout question period Wednesday on the matter after Mitchell and McRobb both brought forward their motions.

While the opposition parties have argued the investments were high-risk, Fentie, David Hrycan, the department's deputy minister, and other Finance officials insist the investments were listed among the safest.

'What I'm asking is that the Government of Yukon should re-examine its investment policy and have a look at what occurred this time and make sure it can never occur again,' Mitchell told reporters following question period.

While the premier stated the investments had the same risk as Government of Canada T-bills and the like, Mitchell argued he hasn't heard of anyone lately losing money with federal government investments.

'It's pretty self-evident there's a difference between these two categories of investments,' Mitchell argued.

In a briefing with reporters Wednesday afternoon, Hrycan also said the government invests in both Government of Canada items and the two other trusts which totalled the $36.5 million in question.

He noted the government uses both types of investments as a way of diversifying its financial portfolio and mitigating the risk by not putting everything into one investment.

It is up to Finance officials in the department, including the deputy minister, assistant deputy minister and Finance minister, to make those decisions on where money will be invested, Hrycan said.

In this case, officials were planning to roll the money over into further investments past its maturity date in August.

Mitchell said the matter needs to be investigated to ensure it never happens again.

'No former premier has ever put the Government of Yukon in a position to lose potentially up to $36.5 million,' the Liberal leader said.

Hardy also argued it's ultimately up to the Finance minister to sign off on investments.

'He's the Finance minister. It doesn't matter who brings the suggestion (on investments) forward,' Hardy said.

Ultimately, it's the minister who carries the burden of any decision made, he said.

'If he is so sure, if he is so confident, if this questionable investment ends up turning sour and Yukon taxpayers lose money, will the minister do the proper thing and resign his portfolio?' Hardy asked during question period.

After stating he wouldn't quit the role, Fentie went on to say the investments were backed by the banks and were among the safest investments the government could have put money into.

'We are making money in the millions,' Fentie said. 'Before we came into office, our investments were making a paltry $300,000-and-some annually.

'They are suggesting that they invested with a different policy. No, it was the same policy, but limited financial management ability.'

Following question period, Hardy said he called for Fentie's resignation because under Fentie's direction, the territorial government could lose millions of dollars due to incompetence.

'Incompetence should not be rewarded by staying in that job,' Hardy said.

Both he and Mitchell argued there were signs the asset-backed commercial paper investments were a bad decision, with other countries, such as Britain, losing money in similar investments.

'He rolled the dice,' Hardy said, noting he had made the observation five years ago.

McRobb's motion would see the public accounts committee investigate the matter specifically.

The all-party committee has the mechanism to subpoena witnesses as part of the investigation, he said.

'The public accounts committee could investigate this and find out the involvement of the government and exactly what occurred here,' McRobb told reporters. 'There's questions Yukoners want to know.'

Those questions include what involvement Fentie had along with other management board colleagues, and who was involved in the decision on the investment.

As chair of the public accounts committee, Mitchell could call a meeting and see if there's support to proceed with the investigation.

As for whether Mitchell will do that, he said: 'Stay tuned. I think it is something that certainly falls within the purview of what a public accounts committee is supposed to be doing because a public accounts committee is the committee that holds government accountable for how it spends its money and for how, obviously, it invests its money as well.'

With the government holding a majority of members in the committee, it could block the committee from proceeding with an investigation, Mitchell said.

'But in the interest of the public, that's (an investigation) what should happen,' he said.

After stressing the government's investments are not in the sub-prime funds in the United States, Finance officials said Ontario and Quebec also have similar investments which may be impacted by the situation as well.