The Yukon Party has put forward a motion asking the legislative assembly be adjourned from April 6 to 18.

If passed, the 11-day break would come after the house, which began its spring sitting last Thursday, had convened for only five days.

The NDP and Liberals report the initial request came Tuesday morning during the house leaders' meeting.

Yukon Party MLA Brad Cathers serves as the government house leader and has submitted a motion in writing for today's order paper requesting the break.

Both Cathers and Premier Dennis Fentie declined to comment on the reasoning behind the request.

Fentie, however, is suspected to be scheduled to be away for at least part of next week at the Council of the Federation premiers' meeting in Montreal on April 11-12.

'Our position is totally against taking a week off,' Gary McRobb, acting house leader for the Liberal party, told the Star today.

McRobb said the move shows how insecure Fentie is about the Yukon Party's numbers in the house.

In Fentie's absence, in the case of a vote, the house would be tied with eight members sitting in the opposition and eight on the government's side. Speaker Ted Staffen, a Yukon Party MLA, would only vote in the case of a tie.

The $793-million budget tabled by Fentie last Thursday is currently being debated.

Klondike MLA Peter Jenkins, a former Yukon MLA who was commonly thought of as Fentie's right-hand man, however, told the legislature Tuesday he would be voting in favour of the 2006/2007 budget.

The move suggests Fentie doesn't trust the ability of the rest of his cabinet to continue to debate the budget in his absence, said NDP Leader Todd Hardy.

'He has to be right there controlling what they say,' he said today.

He added Fentie appears to be paranoid his cabinet may disintegrate in his absence.

When Fentie was away last November at a major aboriginal summit in Kelowna, B.C., he returned to a letter of resignation from Jenkins.

In recent weeks, there has been apparent tension between the Yukon Party and Education and Justice Minister John Edzerza. Edzerza has stated he considers himself a 'free agent' when the writ is dropped.

The move to adjourn the house only lends credence to rumours 'other wheels are about to fall off' the Yukon Party's cabinet, said McRobb.

'This is about Fentie trying to hold his team together while he's away.'

Hardy said the move is 'unheard of,' adding it disregards all the other MLAs who are ready to continue debate and sends the wrong message to the public.

'The government isn't strong enough to debate budgets without the premier,' said Hardy.

The house leaders tried to work out a schedule that would have moved the debate into budget allocations by department, but even that was denied, said Hardy.

'It's a one-man show now,' he said.

Hardy added the planning could have been done better to know the premier's schedule in relation to the proceedings of the house. The possibility of sending a Yukon representative to the meeting on the premier's behalf should have also been explored, he said.

Adjourning the house in this instance could set a dangerous precedence enabling the premier to adjourn the assembly whenever he is going to be away, said Hardy.

Fentie missed nine days of last fall's sitting to attend meetings and conferences.

'He's playing his own personal politics,' said Hardy. 'Don't shut down the public business so Mr. Fentie can go on another trip.'

The motion will move to the order paper tomorrow and must receive a majority vote to be passed.