The Yukon's Liberal MP says most constituents he's spoken with don't want to see a federal election this spring.

'(They) think it would be a waste of taxpayers' money,' Larry Bagnell said in an interview from Ottawa this morning after spending the weekend in the territory.

Many Liberal opponents have said the current Quebec sponsorship money inquiry could lead to the early defeat of the minority government Canadians elected last June 28. That would bring about an early election, possibly this spring.

Testimony at the federal inquiry recently saw Montreal advertising executive Jean Brault claim the Liberals were involved in a longstanding scheme to secretly divert money into party coffers by granting companies lucrative sponsorship contracts. The testimony has implicated a number of government and party officials.

'It's obviously going to affect the party in general,' Bagnell said, though he added the sponsorship scandal was also an issue during the 2004 election campaign.

It was pointed out the federal inquiry wasn't underway during last year's campaign. The second-term Yukon MP said he hopes the inquiry will clean up the matter and punish those who were involved.

His constituents don't seem to be painting him with the same brush as those involved in the inquiry, he said. He later said he's had only one phone call on the matter.

Although a spring election could impact the Liberal party, Bagnell doesn't believe it would have a major effect on him.

He pointed to a number of positive events that have come to the territory from the federal government recently, such as the Northern Strategy announced late last year.

That initiative will see the federal government give $40 million over the next three years to each of the three territories to spend as they see fit.

'That's pretty exciting,' he said.

While a spring election could be a possibility, Bagnell is choosing to focus on his work as the Yukon MP and as the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, John Efford.

In his parliamentary secretary role, Bagnell said he is working on an upcoming announcement about the Kyoto protocol.

There's also extensive work unique to the territory to be done, he said.