The territory's premier is ready to spend money now that he has the room to dish it out.

In an interview following Thursday's delivery of the 2004-05 budget, Premier and Finance Minister Dennis Fentie said it's possible to spend the unprecedented $705.8 million he's going to shell out over the next year because of last year's budget and millions of dollars from Ottawa.

'It's fair to say, over the last 12 months, if we added in the extra health care funding, through the health accord fund (with Ottawa), that this government's increased the financial position of the Yukon government by some $70 million,' the premier said.

Besides the extra health care funding from Ottawa, he noted a number of other changes with the federal government. He also indicated last year's frugal territorial budget help free up some money.

But now Fentie can spend a lot more money and still not come close to being forced to call an election, thanks to the government's new accounting system.

The system spreads out the cost of all new projects over their expected lifespan, not the year in which the money is spent, which is what has been done until now. The budget now also factors in the value left on assets like schools and roads.

The new system means that instead of the Yukon being left with a $17-million accumulated surplus at the end of the next fiscal year, as it would have under the old system, the total is now $371 million.

The government cannot reduce that accumulated surplus below $0 without calling an election. Under the old system, Fentie would be close to that threshold. Not now.

The premier was asked if the real reason the Yukon is in a better financial position is due to the accounting changes.

Fentie would only say the new accounting system gives Yukoners a fuller picture of the government's financial position and the territory has 'an extremely healthy accumulated surplus.'

Fentie's budget blew away all previous records for Yukon government spending.

Besides the new, overall record of $705.8 million, the capital budget ($162 million) and the operation and maintenance budget ($543 million) are also new records.

He indicated Yukoners shouldn't expect a spending spree of this magnitude again before the next territorial election, which must happen within the next 2 1/2 years.

'We have chosen this budget to make some major expenditures towards the Yukon government,' said Fentie.

'We want to maintain fiscal prudence throughout the rest of our mandate. So, it was a conscious choice to use this budget as a budget where we will make some very significant investments.'

One of the budget documents shows Yukoners should not expect this much spending on capital projects in the future.

It indicates the capital spending in the final two years of Fentie's mandate will actually be more than 25-per-cent less than the spending this year.

A lot of the money for new projects in the budget is just for planning and design, meaning more money will be needed in future years for the actual construction.

But Fentie said his government can keep the spending down because it has planned for the future expenditures.

'We've, as I said, chosen this budget to advance those projects and the cost of those projects will be captured in subsequent budgets.'

However, with the new accounting system, the costs of those projects will actually be spread out over the next 20 or 30 years.

The premier touted his new budget as one which helps Yukoners both economically and socially.

'The budget is a well-balanced budget,' said the premier.

He touched on the raises in child benefits and the increase in income levels for parents to qualify for that money, as aiding people socially.

'We've reached out to those in need with a significant investment on the social side of the ledger.'

The premier also talked about the spending his government is doing to improve the economy. He indicated the budget is helping industries like mining.

'We feel quite confident that we're turning this territory in the right direction by investing heavily now to stimulate the economy,' he said.

Much of this budget was not a surprise to Yukoners, by design. Fentie and his ministers, leading up to the budget, announced many of the new projects.

'(We were) more astute in informing the public,' Fentie said of the announcements.

Informing the public before yesterday, the Finance minister added, will help to raise the level of public scrutiny of the budget and the legislature.

That being said, Fentie said there was some surprises within his budget.

'There's much more meat to the bone in this budget,' he said.

In delivering his record-busting budget, Fentie made sure to sweep up one more milestone the longest budget speech in memory.

For just over two hours, Fentie held the floor delivering the lengthy budget speech.

The government denied the speech was written by the same guy who directed Lord of the Rings.

However, members and staffers on both sides of the house were making jokes about the length of the speech.

Even Fentie, when he sat down with the media right after the speech, hinted at it.

'I'll be very brief here considering what was just articulated,' said the premier.

Long-time observers of the legislature can't remember a previous budget speech that rivalled Fentie's in length.

In recent contrast, federal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale spent exactly one hour on Tuesday announcing a budget with $183 billion in spending.

At $1,000 per hour alone to keep the transcripts of the legislature, Fentie didn't think he wasted taxpayers' money by mostly re-announcing a lot of what was in the budget for two hours.

Not all of the speech was about money. At one point, Fentie welcomed new N.W.T. Premier Joe Handley to the brethren of northern premiers and congratulated Nunavut leader Paul Okalik on his re-election.

Fentie didn't see this as a waste of time but as a sign of the government's interest in working together with the other territories.

During the press conference, Fentie threw one of his legs up on the cabinet table to display the brand new, black Florsheim shoes he bought for the occasion. Traditionally, the Finance minister buys a new pair of shoes to deliver the budget.

That tradition is maintained federally Goodale was photographed earlier this week showing off his new footwear. However, it has fallen by the wayside in the Yukon in recent years.

See opposition reaction, p. 6; editorial, p. 12.