It isn't so much what's in the Speech from the Throne as what isn't in it, the opposition parties are saying.

'There's so much that was left out,' said Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell.

'Really, there's a lot less in the Speech from the Throne than was mentioned during the (election) campaign. So it's uncertain how many of the campaign commitments they intend to keep and when they intend to keep them.'

Mitchell pointed to the absence of a commitment to review the territory's outdated social assistance rates, amending the Workers' Compensation Act and the Children's Act, making changes to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and completing the educational review as examples.

Building a correctional centre, a new school in Copper Ridge and completing the Hamilton Boulevard extension were also notably absent, he said.

'The 2003 speech was brief and this one was only seven pages so it's even briefer.'

Acting NDP Leader Steve Cardiff agreed, stating, 'It was short.

'Some of the promises they made during the election weren't necessarily reflected in the Throne Speech.'

Cardiff pointed out that animal protection legislation and whistleblower legislation also receive no mention in the speech.

Cardiff said he was also disappointed to see no reference to social issues such as homelessness or affordable housing.

'This is a government that has a very strong and heightened social conscious,' countered Premier Dennis Fentie. 'That will continue through the course of the mandate.'

The government is currently working on amendments to the Children's Act, he said, and that piece of legislation will be passed during this five-year mandate.

The Yukon Party is also open to looking at social assistance rates, he said.

And the new Whitehorse Correctional Centre was not included in the Speech from the Throne, because it has already been announced.

'We are building one,' said Fentie. 'I think we've already announced that so many times that we felt it was not necessary to put that kind of detail into the Throne Speech.'

But there were other initiatives included in the speech that were previously announced, said Cardiff. The Mount Lorne MLA is filling in for Todd Hardy, who is currently in Vancouver receiving a bone marrow transplant in his continued fight with leukemia.

The speech made specific reference to the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act.

'It's legislation that was passed in the spring sitting,' said Cardiff. 'I mean, it's not new. Throne speeches usually contain new things.'

The therapeutic court directed at offenders with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder was also included in the speech despite its previous announcement.

'I feel it was kind of a cut and paste speech,' said Mitchell. 'There's some sections that you could take out of 2003 that have come back.'

Land for all Yukoners, making progress and completing land claims, making first nations full economic partners and continuing care facilities all have come back for second appearances, said Mitchell.

'The campaign slogan is in there about imagining a brighter future and we still have to imagine it.'

Mitchell, however, said he was pleased to see the government had made some commitment to legislative reform, referring to a section of the speech which stated the government is 'committed to working constructively with all members of the house to improve the operation of its committees and the proceedings of the legislature itself.'

Providing additional resources to parents with children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Down syndrome was also good to see, he said.

Cardiff said he was glad to see the environment is finally on the Yukon Party's radar.

The government has committed to building a climate change research centre at Yukon College, establishing a cold climate innovation cluster, updating monitoring and data collection of wildlife and protecting the territory's pristine environment.

'But their record on that in the last four years hasn't been all that great,' he said.

'Most of what we've seen has been under negotiation for some time previous and they got to sign off on it basically.

'The proof will be in what they can achieve when they have to start from ground zero on some of these environmental initiatives.'

The government announced very little of what it intends to do in terms of legislation over its five-year mandate, only stating that two supplementary budgets and some amendments to the Income Tax Act will be debated this sitting.

'This government seems to be awful shy when it comes to legislative initiatives,' said Cardiff. 'The proof of their commitment to what it is they're saying in the throne speech will be in the actions they take in the next three or four years to try to achieve what it is they say they are.'