Finger-pointing and accusations regarding the Whistle Bend continuing care facility continue to fly – on Tuesday, coming from Premier Darrell Pasloski and Health Minister Mike Nixon.

In light of recent debate sparked by the NDP and questions in the legislature from the Liberal party, Pasloski said the two Opposition parties’ actions make it “clear” that they want the project cancelled altogether.

“They are attempting to alarm seniors with false information,” Pasloski said in a statement.

Last week, the NDP tabled a motion urging the Yukon government to halt action on the project until “proper” consultation with Yukoners had taken place.

The party backed up its motion with access-to-information documents it believes suggested the government had only started initiating meetings with stakeholder groups after the NDP hosted a September town hall-style meeting on the facility.

The documents show that the government began sending letters to seniors’ organizations and First Nations last August, asking if members were interested in hearing more about the planning of the facility.

NDP health critic Jan Stick believes that is less like “consultation” and more like “telling groups what’s already planned for them.”

Liberal Leader Sandy Silver asked several questions about the facility during Tuesday’s question period, including whether the expansion to 300 beds will be part of the design, and will translate to extra costs.

Pasloski avoided the question altogether and accused both the NDP and Liberals of wanting to “simply cancel this project.”

From that accusation, Silver offered a new idea.

He described a similar project occurring in Fort McMurray, Alta.

That proposed continuing care centre was initially planned to be built in the city’s outskirts – similar to some public concerns that Whistle Bend is too far from emergency services and other amenities and may make it more challenging for visitors to come to the facility.

The Edmonton Journal called the decision to move Alberta’s care centre from the original location to the downtown core of Fort McMurray a “rare moment of political co-operation.”

Despite it costing extra time and money, the mayor and MLA for the area agreed it was the right move to get the centre built in the best location.

“The situation is very similar to ours,” Silver said Tueday.

“Our project is not as advanced as the one in Fort McMurray – no construction contracts have been signed.”

The idea fell upon deaf ears. Pasloski criticized Silver for comparing the out-of-town Alberta project– nestled in a suburb about half an hour from the town – to the neighbourhood that’s about a 10-minute drive from the middle of downtown Whitehorse.

“I have had seniors tell me that those people on the other side of the house should get down off of their pulpit and maybe go help some of those family members and caregivers who are struggling to look after people now in their homes,” Pasloski said.

Cancelling or halting the project, he added later, would cost taxpayers millions of dollars as well as lost jobs and delays in providing necessary services.

“If the Opposition wants to cancel this facility, then I want them to go to the homes of the families trying to support loved ones, look them in the eyes and tell them why they aren’t important enough to warrant this facility,” Nixon said in a statement.

“Politics has to end at some point, and we need to get on with serving Yukoners. It’s time for (NDP Leader) Liz Hanson and Sandy Silver to put petty politics aside and personally declare their support for addressing this pressing health care need for Yukoners.”

Now in the request for proposals stage, the government will soon announce the successful bidder out of three companies that were shortlisted last June.

There is currently a wait-list for long-term care, sitting somewhere between 70 and 80 individuals for the territory.

The building with 150 bedrooms is expected to be completed in 2018, at an estimated cost around $270 million.

Twenty-six million dollars have already been allocated to begin construction of the facility in the spring capital budget.