Something’s not adding up – but it’s not the Yukon Party’s math, insists opposition Finance critic Brad Cathers.

Cathers said Tuesday afternoon when the election writ was dropped in October 2016, the party’s spending forecast was still calling for a surplus by the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year on March 31.

It was less than the $9.5-million surplus the Yukon Party anticipated when it delivered its last annual budget in April 2016, but a surplus was still being forecast, he said in an interview.

Cathers emphasized that once the writ was dropped, spending decisions by the governing party were essentially put on hold through the election process and through the transition period to the swearing-in of a new government on Dec. 3.

Whatever pushed the annual budget into a deficit of $8 million is something Liberal Premier Sandy Silver will have to account for, because it wasn’t anything the Yukon Party did, Cathers said.

He emphasized how the Auditor General of Canada praised the Yukon’s financial position management in the annual audit of the public accounts delivered last October.

“Overall, the key thing is we would stand on our record of prudent financial management,” said the Finance critic. “It is not just us saying that, the Auditor General said the same.”

The premier, who also serves as the Finance minister, said Monday the deficit position for this annual budget was the result of decisions made by the Yukon Party.

“Coming into office, we understood that Yukon had a surplus budget,” Silver said in announcing a special warrant approving $29.4 in additional spending.

“There is no surplus; there is a deficit.

“Today’s warrant represents spending done by the previous government in advance of the election. The warrant reflects the financial costs approved by the last government but not accounted for in the previous budget.”

Cathers, however, suggested the real answer lies within the Liberal decision to avoid a legislative sitting to introduce supplementary budget bills.

Supplementary budget bills, unlike special warrants, have to be explained and debated in the legislature, he noted.

He said he doesn’t buy Silver’s “ridiculous” explanation that he didn’t want to hold a brief session beyond the one day he used Jan. 12 to appoint legislative committees because he didn’t want to have to defend a budget that was introduced by the Yukon Party.

Silver, said Cathers, has always spoke out against using unchallenged special warrants to introduce new spending – yet he chose to use one right out of the gate.

Communications officer Eric Clement of the Department of Finance confirmed today the annual territorial budget is currently in a deficit position of $8 million – though there are still two months to go where there may be additional savings.

How the budget was put into a deficit is something of a political discussion that department officials will leave to the elected members, preferring to wait until the end of the fiscal year to explain the territory’s financial position, Clement said.

The additional $29.4 million in spending approved by the Liberal government raised the total territorial budget for 2016-17 to $1.42 billion, up from the $1.39 billion in spending introduced last April.

On a per capita basis, the new $1.42 billion budget represents $37,173 in spending for every resident of the Yukon, given Tuesday’s most recent population estimate of 38,200 released by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics.

Monday’s announcement notes that 12 government departments need additional money, with more than half of the special warrant or $15.4 million going to the Department of Education: $12.1 million for operations and maintenance and $3.2 million for capital.