The territory's Highways and Public Works minister insists he did nothing wrong in referring a dispute over government vehicles to staff in his department.

'I didn't do anything,' Archie Lang said in an interview Monday afternoon, adding he's not even sure how the system works.

Throughout question period Monday, Lang was grilled by both opposition parties about a contract the Yukon government had with a local vehicle dealership.

NDP Leader Todd Hardy noted the government had a contract to buy 11 SUVs for just under $250,000.

After the local dealership involved, Metro Chrysler Ltd., missed the delivery deadline, it was assessed a penalty of $11,103. The penalty was designed to off-set the cost of renting alternative vehicles while waiting for the delivery.

When a complaint came forward to Premier Dennis Fentie, he referred it to Lang, as the minister of Highways and Public Works, before the penalty was reassessed to $5,590, it was argued in the house.

Lang said it was an internal process after the government was made aware of the issue. It's the same process anyone could go through when they have an issue with such a bill, he added.

He pointed out it's similar to the process property taxpayers can go through when they take issue with the value assessed to their property. The process allows for the value to be looked at again.

'The department has to justify what they charge,' Lang said.

'If a member of the community in the territory has a question about billing, processing, and if they feel they were unjustifiably penalized, then they can bring their complaint and resolve it internally with the government, and that's exactly what happened,' Lang told the house.

'In the discussions, the amount of money that the corporation was penalized was agreed on and the government agreed to it too. That was done on a management level.'

Lang again stressed he had no input on the amount the bill dropped after the complaint was made.

Speaking to reporters following question period Monday, Liberal MLA Gary McRobb told reporters he has documents which can't be released because, in the absence of whistle-blower legislation, a government employee could face serious problems.

'The premier referred it to the Highways minister and he gave the car dealership a big discount on the bill that was owing,' McRobb said. He argued the move was unfair to other businesses and contravenes contractual obligations in place.

Documentation the Liberals have received, but aren't releasing, indicate the order to reduce the bill came from the political level, he said.

If there are other cases like this, it raises a number of other questions, McRobb added.

In this case, the due process was 'short-circuited' by going through the political level, he said.

McRobb contended Lang may have been wrong by saying the matter was resolved at the department level, when the documents he (McRobb) has suggest it was resolved at a political level.

'We have the documentation to prove that,' he said.

Hardy also noted the documents were sent to various MLAs.

'My take on it is political interference, and it shouldn't be happening,' he told reporters Monday afternoon.

The contract was standard in that it outlined a fee if the 11 SUVs weren't delivered on time.

In this case, though, the business went to the premier, who went to the minister, who then directed his department to work out a new deal.

'That sends an extremely serious message to all businesses that are signing contracts,' Hardy said.

The NDP leader said the situation also made him bring forward the motion in the house that the government introduce effective whistle-blower legislation so that government employees acting in 'good conscience' to report unethical or potentially illegal activity will be protected from discipline or retribution from doing so.

Like McRobb, Hardy pointed out an employee could be in serious trouble if documents were released around the contract.

What the situation boils down to, he said, is political interference at a level it shouldn't be happening.

Hardy said he wants to know why the premier is interfering and what kind of direction he gave.

This morning, Highways and Public Works spokeswoman Doris Wurfbaum said the dealership was awarded the contract in September 2006 with the vehicles to be delivered by Dec. 29, 2006.

After a delivery issue, the vehicles were brought in throughout January and February 2007, with the final delivery on Feb. 19.

The original penalty of $11,103 was assessed based on the estimated costs of renting the 11 vehicles between the original delivery date and when they were actually delivered, Wurfbaum explained.

After the issue was raised, a compromise of $5,590.65 was reached in October between the department and Metro Chrysler. The figure was based on the amount the government had actually ended up paying for alternative vehicles, she said.

Both she and Lang noted that as a result of this case, the government is looking at revising its procurement policy.

The Star contacted Metro Chrysler this morning, but the person delegated to comment on the issue did not call back.