The Yukon Legislative Assembly will sit for nine days starting Dec. 1, Premier Darrell Pasloski announced today.

Commissioner Doug Phillips will read the throne speech on the opening day.

Supplementary budgets (extra spending added to the main budgetary estimates) will be tabled during the sitting but no new legislation is expected to arise from the abbreviated fall session.

"I am pleased that the House leaders have unanimously agreed to that start date and duration of the fall sitting,” Pasloski said in a statement.

"I am confident that all elected members will work hard on behalf of Yukoners during the upcoming session.”

The fall sitting will end Dec. 15.

The Liberals are "dying to get going”, according to Sandy Silver, party's House leader and MLA for Klondike, said this morning.

The Liberals dropped from five seats to two in the Oct. 11 election, which saw the Yukon Party form a record third consecutive government.

The Grits lost their official Opposition status to the New Democrats, as well as their then-party leader, Arthur Mitchell.

"I'm dubbed as the rookie MLA, and I think this is the perfect amount of time to cut my teeth and get to know the ministers and programs,” Silver told the Star.

By the time the assembly sits, it will be seven weeks since the Yukon Party won the election.

That doesn't seem to bother the Liberals.

"We needed the time. We're rebuilding our party,” said Silver.

"I'm sure the reasons why it took so long will come out of the laundry soon. But I do hope he was stalling for important reasons.”

The MLA and critic for eight cabinet portfolios said Yukoners should cut Pasloski "a little slack” since most of his caucus members are brand new.

The Liberals are now trying to reposition themselves into a right-of-centre party, as that is where both his and interim leader Darius Elias' core values lie, Silver said.

Silver, who is new to territorial politics, said he has yet to feel lost in his new position.

"Maybe that's just naive of me.”

NDP Leader Liz Hanson told the Star this morning she, too, is ready to "get at it.”

Hanson said she was surprised how late Pasloski's announcement came, but knows he needs to take as much time as required to get his team in order.

She encouraged the premier in their first face-to-face meeting in late October to call a sitting as early as possible so lawmakers could start working on the most pressing issues, like emergency housing.

"I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but this isn't just going to go away,” she said.

Hanson said she also hopes to get back to unfinished business from the spring sitting. Issues include dealing with changes to the Landlord and Tenant Act and assembling another select committee on the democratic reform process.

The party leader said that since moving into their new official Opposition offices, her caucus members, who include four first-time MLAs, have been getting briefed by community organizations and familiarizing themselves with government departments.

MLAs will convene on the same day Whitehorse voters will elect a new councillor to replace Doug Graham, now a territorial cabinet minister.