A Liberal regime would make it illegal for the government to put savings in risky investments, party leader Arthur Mitchell told a news conference this morning in Whitehorse.

He was referring to the $36. 5-million former premier Dennis Fentie's government invested in asset-backed commercial papers five years ago.

"Both Mr. Fentie and Ms. (deputy premier Elaine) Taylor stood in the legislature day after day and said, ‘Don't worry, we're getting our money back,'” said Mitchell.

"It's now more than four years later, and despite repeated promises that our money was safe, Yukon taxpayers still don't know if we will ever see our $36.5 million again.”

Mitchell said nobody knows how much the territory will receive from the investment, or when that might happen.

"The problem is it's simply a number on the ledger at this point. We don't have access to the money and we haven't ever gotten the money back,” he said.

A few years ago, Mitchell said, similar investments were sold on the market.

"They go 40 cents on the dollar, sometimes 50, sometimes less. The money is only worth what somebody will pay you for it.

"I can tell you, ‘I have an old, used Jeep worth $50,000, but is anyone going to give me $50,000?' That's the problem.”

Mitchell said Fentie should have been paying closer attention to what investments the government was making. After all, the list of investments fit on one piece of paper.

"To use the Sesame Street analogy...which of these is unlike the other? It's a pretty simple thing to spend 10 minutes once a week looking at that piece of paper.”

The Liberal leader also promised to require the Department of Finance to provide new incoming governments with a report on the territory's finances within 15 days of taking office.

Last week, NDP Leader Liz Hanson promised an NDP government would provide an external review of the government's current financial situation within a month of being in office.

At this morning's press conference, Mitchell said that unlike Hanson, he trusts Department of Finance to be "able and willing” to provide this information.

Mitchell also promised a Liberal government would not increase taxes, would establish a contingency fund in each budget for catastrophic events and review the Yukon's purchasing policy.

"The most common thing that we all notice is at the retail level,” he said. "You go into buy a book and you see two prices on the cover. In the United States, it's $20. In Canada, it's $28.”

Mitchell thinks Yukoners deserve a better deal on what they purchase and wants to work to encourage the private sector to price its goods more fairly.

A Liberal government, Mitchell said, would also make sure Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent promise of a new resource revenue sharing agreement is kept and implemented.

Mitchell said we need to "get on this now” because the Yukon will reach its current $3-million royalty cap with all the new mining activity in the territory.