After first announcing the dates of the annual youth parliament, Speaker Ted Staffen has now confirmed the legislative assembly will start its spring sitting on April 19.

Staffen sent out a letter last Thursday to MLAs informing them the youth parliament would be conducted April 19-21, including the teens watching question period in the assembly.

The letter further went on to invite the members of the legislature to meet with the high school students on April 19 for lunch '...from noon until the house sits at 1 p.m.'

The opposition criticized Staffen's inclusion of the events on the agenda, because Premier Dennis Fentie had not yet informed MLAs or the Yukon public when the house would be meeting.

The premier is required to give at least two weeks' notice of the assembly's sitting.

Staffen claimed Monday it was a mistake and he had simply taken the youth parliament's agenda from 2006 and changed the dates on it without looking at the rest of the time table.

He said the mock parliament is meant to match up with the territory's education week and would go on whether or not the house was sitting.

After Monday's kerfuffle, though, Staffen then sent out a notice to the MLAs in the afternoon stating the assembly would, in fact, be meeting beginning April 19.

This morning, Fentie issued a short press release stating he has asked that the house be reconvened at 1 p.m. that day.

'Members of the Yukon Legislative Assembly will be considering the 2007-08 operations and maintenance and capital budgets along with other bills during the spring sitting of the assembly,' the premier said in the release.

The Yukon Party government has been criticized by the opposition parties for not calling the house prior to the end of March to table the 2007-08 budget.

Fentie cited the Canada Winter Games as the reason for the delay.

Historically, the assembly usually meets prior to the end of the fiscal year.

The delay HAS resulted in a special warrant being issued through an order-in-council to approve $12.9 million to end off the fiscal year and another $285.4 million to cover this month's government expenses.