Accusations of back room dealing for awarding the Dawson City sewage treatment contract flew from the opposition side during Tuesday's question period in the legislature.

"This project has not even commenced and already it is being shrouded in secrecy," charged Liberal MLA Darius Elias.

"Two companies pre-qualified. One was dropped with no satisfactory explanation. The one remaining company's bid is reported to be $8.5 million higher. The public has a right to know why."

But Public Works Minister Archie Lang said nothing will be made public until a final decision is made.

"The process is in the process," is how Lang described it.

Peter Densmore owns Ketza Construction, the firm disqualified from the bidding process. He takes a somewhat different view from Lang.

"It's totally bizarre," Densmore said Tuesday of Ketza qualifying to bid, then being disqualified during the proposal phase on technical grounds.

"You actually have to work pretty hard and deliberately to fail somebody, but that should've happened during the Request for Qualification (phase)."

With 17 firms - most of them Yukon-based - involved in Ketza's bid, which cost $150,000 to assemble, Densmore wants a better explanation.

"There's a substantial amount of work to be done and supplied by Yukoners," Densmore told the Star.

"In our view, the process is flawed, and we're looking for government to be accountable to the process."

But whether a mechanical treatment plant will even go ahead remains to be seen.

For decades during the summer months, Dawson has been in contravention of the federal Fisheries Act for the amount of untreated sewage it allows into the Yukon River. In 2003, territorial court Judge Heino Lilles ordered the town, in conjunction with the Yukon government, to install a mechanical plant within a year.

While the order was amended to allow for a sewage lagoon alternative, that was voted down in a 2008 referendum.

Last week, during a progress review, Lilles warned Dawson's mayor and town staff against ruling out any option. Either way, Dawson's sewage woes mus#t be rectified by 2011.

Dawson Mayor John Steins said the decision to award any sewage contract rests with a project team comprised of city and Yukon government officials. He believes that team will be fair in its deliberations.

As for what option would ultimately prevail - a lagoon or mechanical plant - Steins said the latter remains the preference.

"Let's put it this way: our efforts are focused on a mechanical plant, but the judge wants us to keep the lagoon option open," said Steins.

"All parties are concerned that perhaps the mechanical plant will be the answer to our waste water treatment conundrum ... (but) nothing has been awarded and signed as far as I know."

This morning, Premier Dennis Fentie challenged the opposition to take their allegations outside the legislature.

"They're inferring that there is a tainted process or the integrity of the process is compromised and using the immunity of the legislature to do that," said Fentie. "Be bold, go out in the public, make your claim and provide your evidence."

Catherine Harwood, the project manager for Public Works, confirmed that Vancouver's Corix Water Systems is the other contractor vying to build the treatment plant, but said it has not yet been awarded the contract.

According to Harwood, department officials planned to provide Ketza a full briefing today as to why its bid was refused.

"We need to know we're buying the best ideas from the best teams," she said. "(Corix) met all requirements in Request for Proposals."

But Harwood would not say whether Corix has won the contract.

"We have not signed the contract yet ... no final decision's been made."

That decision, she said, is expected in "weeks, rather than months."