It didn't take the opposition parties long to figuratively wipe the sheen from the Yukon's record billion-dollar budget, and from Premier Dennis Fentie's brand new budget shoes.

Shortly after Fentie - also the territory's Finance minister - finished delivering the historic spending projection on the floor of the legislature Thursday afternoon, opposition leaders roundly criticized it.

"The budget is bigger because Ottawa is sending more money," Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell told reporters. "After six years with this government, we're more dependent on Ottawa than ever before."

New Democratic Party Leader Todd Hardy described it much the same way.

"It may be record-breaking but it is record-breaking because the bulk of it is coming from transfer payments from Ottawa," he said.

Of the $1.003-billion budget, $682 million is a direct transfer from the federal government - a $48-million increase compared to the current 2008-09 fiscal year, which will end March 31.

When presented with the opposition parties' analyses, the premier dismissed them as "hogwash."

"To say that our fiscal arrangement is creating a dependency on Ottawa is simply absurd," Fentie said.

"We all, as Canadians, have a right to comparable services to any other jurisdiction in the country, based on comparable levels of taxation."

But where the billion dollars would be spent and questions over the government's accountability also rankled opposition leaders.

Mitchell said after the government's botched $36.2-million asset backed commercial paper (ABCP) investment in 2007 and the Watson Lake hospital "debacle," he has little faith in Fentie, or his government.

"With that track record, I don't have much confidence in this government to spend the budget well," the Liberal leader said.

The ABCP investment was originally a quick turnaround investment.

However, in the wake of the subprime mortgage collapse in the United States, the $36.2 million (16 per cent of the Yukon government's investment portfolio) remains tied up for another eight years.

The health care facility in Watson Lake, now the focus of a $25-million hospital project, remains an empty $5-million shell in Fentie's home riding.

Meanwhile, Hardy described the projected 2009-2010 expenditures as geared towards "bricks and mortar" with little thought towards investing in "human infrastructure.

"When Fentie says he wants to stimulate the economy, it's not just business, it's also NGO (non-governmental organizations) and first nations' governments," said Hardy.

According to budget documents, among the big NGO casualties are the Salvation Army, which saw its government contribution slashed by 69 per cent, the Yukon Women's Transitional Home Society that lost 13 per cent of its territorial government funding and Skookum Jim Friendship Centre, which took the biggest hit of all: a 79 per cent reduction.

(Health and Social Services Minister Glenn Hart told the Star this morning those numbers do not accurately reflect what these groups will receive.)

"If you look at these (transfer payment numbers) it's zero, zero, zero, zero (increases)," said Hardy.

"They've just frozen the funding, and in some cases reduced it drastically. These places employ a lot of people and they provide invaluable services."

On the subject of environmental concerns, Hardy said the budget cut several areas while ramping up industry spending.

"The government is cutting spending on ensuring we have sustainable fish and wildlife populations by eight per cent ... it's spending on environmental monitoring ... and pollution prevention by five per cent," Hardy said. "But its spending on non-renewable industries is rising by 27 per cent."

The premier and Finance minister defended the budget and hinted the Mayo B hydro extension, not included in the budget, is "close" to becoming a reality.

While the opposition parties have hankered for more investment in wind and geothermal power, Fentie is selling hydroelectricity expansion as the greenhouse gas-reducing flagship.

According to Fentie, the federal government could contribute as much as $85 million toward linking the territory's northern and southern grids. The cost of the project is estimated at $150 million.

With reliability concerns about the Yukon's aging hydro infrastructure, exacerbated by regular power failures this past winter, the Liberal leader predicts Mayo B's fruition will precipitate another territorial first.

"After the grids are connected, one of the first things we'll see is a Yukon-wide power outage," he said.