The festive season will be good to territorial politicians this year after a unanimous vote in the legislature Tuesday passed huge proposed raises for MLAs.

The legislation approving the increases is dated June 1. That means the pay will be retroactive to that date, assembly clerk Floyd McCormick explained this morning.

Community Services Minister Glenn Hart, who brought forward the recommendations as a bill, said this morning the June 1 date for pay was set because that's when the three parties agreed to the NDP's proposal for the report on MLAs' wages and benefits.

Former assembly clerk Patrick Michael prepared the report recommending the changes, which include raises to the salaries for all elected members of the house. The only decrease is to expense allowances.

The new salary structure will cost taxpayers an additional $520,000 a year.

Under the changes, the annual base pay for MLAs will rise from $38,985 to $65,000.

There will be additional increases for those in office positions including the premier, official Opposition leader, leader of the third party, ministers, speaker and deputy speaker. That may change each year, as the pay rates will be tied to the annual consumer price index.

Premier Dennis Fentie, as the government leader, will see his salary rise another $50,000 compared to the current $28,971 additional income he receives for the position.

Ministers and the leader of the official Opposition now Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell will receive an extra $35,000 annually on top of their MLA salary, compared to the current $21,147 for each.

Meanwhile, the leader of the third party, currently the NDP's Todd Hardy, will get an extra $15,000 compared to the current $4,229.

The extra pay for the speaker (Ted Staffen) and deputy speaker will be $25,000 and $10,000 respectively, compared to today's $7,049 and $5,287.

While it was a unanimous decision with little discussion to pass third reading Tuesday, McCormick said the assembly wasn't full when the vote was taken and it wasn't a recorded vote of members present.

While Fentie has been away from much of the sitting due to illness, he and cabinet minister Brad Cathers were the only members of the legislature to vote against the initial report by Michael.

Fentie has maintained that anyone entering politics for the money is going into it for the wrong reasons, and has stated he doesn't know how much he makes.

Cathers stayed away from yesterday's vote, as he had for second reading of the bill, along with a vote on changes to the retirement act for MLAs, which was also impacted by the pay raises.

When the report was initially proposed, Cathers noted that along with it not being a priority for the party, it was not a personal priority for him.

'I have no real interest in dealing with it,' he said earlier this year.

This morning, Cathers said while he recognizes the raises will still keep Yukon MLAs among the lowest-paid in the country, he still doesn't see it as a priority his constituents wanted him to focus on. He said he has higher priorities on where public money should be spent, he explained.

'That was my decision,' he said.

For a recorded vote to take place, there has to be two votes against it, he noted.

With Fentie away, he opted simply to stay away when voting was taking place in the legislature, Cathers said.