The minister of Economic Development says a student who was turned down by his government for a spot at a veterinary college was 'screwed'' by the Department of Education.

Minister Jim Kenyon spoke to the Star Thursday and today about the controversy he's been at the centre of over the past few weeks.

It has revolved around the fact the Yukon has paid for a spot at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine for a student who works for Kenyon's veterinary clinic.

Documents the Star obtained through the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act show that while that student was accepted by the school and able to go because the government paid for the spot, another student was denied that chance.

Documents from the department and the minister of Education refer to a student who was eligible for the program, like the 2004 student, but denied access because the government refused to pay for the spot.

'Assuming that's true, that student go screwed royally,' Kenyon said in an interview this morning about the student.

The minister made it clear this would not be a case of him supporting an employee, like he has been accused of in the other case, because he has no idea who that person is.

While he wrote a letter of recommendation for the 2004 student who the government bought a spot for, he was not asked to write a letter for anyone in 2003.

After reviewing some of the departmental documents about this matter, Kenyon reiterated his stance in an e-mail.

'I will try to get further information on the 2003 student. Since the Dept. seems to admit that they met the Yukon Grant criteria, that would indicate that they got seriously screwed by the Dept. If that student wants to identify themselves, their MLA and I will fight for their admission this year,' he wrote.

He said he 'will fight every bit as hard' for that student if he or she is eligible, as he did for the other, who was also his constituent.

Kenyon said that in 2003, the government was looking to cut some money from the budget because of concerns that expenses were growing out of control.

At that time, Education Minister John Edzerza decided to drop the funding for the spot at the veterinary college because it had not been used in a couple of years.

Instead of putting the money into the budget and then have it not be spent, Edzerza chose to remove and then put the money into a supplementary budget if there was a student who needed it.

In a release he issued Thursday, Kenyon wrote: 'The management board (which is part of cabinet) issued a minute and distributed it to all deputy ministers and departmental finance officials.

'It directed departments that in meeting their 2003-04 target amount assigned by management board, there are to be no personnel layoffs, and no loss of program and service delivery to Yukoners.''

In the interview, Kenyon said he and Edzerza spoke together and looked over that minute. They agreed it meant that if a student came along who was qualified for the program, then the government would find the money for it.

'This clearly supports the agreement between the minister of Education and me that the funds would be returned if a qualified student accepted,' he said of the management board minute.

'It's absolutely definitive,' he said in stating the management board directive is definitive.

'The decision that John made and the way he put it was, I don't want to put the money in the budget and then lapse it again. So, why not leave it out, and if a student comes by, we'll put it back in again,'' Kenyon said.

However, the money was not made available for the student in 2003 and initially it was not going to be made available for the 2004 student either.

In his release of Thursday, Kenyon slammed the department for not making the minister aware of either student and not supplying this money for both students.

In that statement, Kenyon wrote: 'In April 2004, I received a letter from the student, which included a copy of a letter from the associate dean of the college, which stated the Yukon has advised us that Yukon is unable to continue with financial support in sponsoring a seat in the WCVM program.''

Kenyon doesn't think Edzerza made that call.

'I do believe that this decision was made by the Dept. of Education with no input or communication with the minister.'

In one of the documents, an e-mail on Feb. 26, 2004 from Carole Theriault of advanced education to that branch's head, Gordon McDevitt, she outlines what happened in 2003.

'March 31, 2003, sent a letter to Dr. (Jeremy) Bailey (of the WCVM) from Brent Slobodin (acting associate deputy minister), which indicated that the Yukon is unable to continue the financial support in sponsoring a seat in the WCVM program.'

Kenyon said that is contrary to the management board minutes indicating there would be no cut in services.

The minister has been slammed by the opposition in the past weeks for promising both the student and Bailey that the money would be available for a Yukon student.

Kenyon confirmed he did inform Bailey that the money was going to be put in because the management board had already agreed to that a year earlier.

Kenyon was asked why, if it was so cut and dried that the money would be put back, the department did not give it to the 2003 student and initially denied the 2004 student as well.

'I think that's the question of the century, and I can only think of two reasons for that,' he said.

'One, they weren't made aware of it and it's just simply horrible communication within a department; two, somebody's playing politics. What a great way to make someone look stupid, don't you think?'

As for whether he was attacking the department, Kenyon said: 'I'm clarifying an issue. I leave it to the bureaucracy to answer their questions. But they're not providing them with the data, and I can't speak for them without that data.'

When it was pointed out to Kenyon that it is virtually unheard of for a minister to publicly call a department to task, he replied: 'Don't you think they should sometimes?

'If somebody screws the pooch, kids, come on, it's time they be held accountable to it. And if they didn't, stand up and explain it. I'd love to see that. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.

'All I can say is what I know and I don't know much because they won't give it to me. Which gets me asking the question: why not?'

The minister pointed out that he has tried to get the same documents the opposition and media obtained via ATIPP.

In his release, he said the department would not give him those documents.

Yesterday, Liberal Leader Pat Duncan noted Kenyon's statement about not being able to get the documents from the Department of Education, and said he shouldn't meddle with the department.

He said that is a valid point.

'That's why I did not go into the department. I have dealt with the minister of Education's office ... which informs me that the department will not release the information to me.

'Nice to see Pat Duncan admit that she ATIPPed the information as well. The fact that a minister might have to ATIPP his own government simply supports the fact that the secrecy is in the departments and not in the elected officials. I appreciate her stating that clearly.'

In his letters to Kenyon in early 2004, Edzerza told his colleague he would not pay for the spot for the students because it was not as much as what is being handed out for other Yukoners for education.

Kenyon has noted that it was clearly the department and not Edzerza who had written the letter.

He said everybody in the country deserves the same access to what other Canadians have. This means, he said, there must be an opportunity for Yukoners to attend a veterinary college, even though the territorial government doesn't permanently fund a school like the provinces do.

By not paying for the seat, regardless of the cost, the Yukon is taking the right away from its people, and he believes that is illegal.

In the early summer of 2004, before this matter had been resolved, Kenyon obtained a legal opinion on his own about whether funding the seat for the 2004 program could put the Yukon in a bad legal position.

'I spoke with a lawyer on it and the lawyer was quite concerned that under the Human Rights Act, this person would likely win.'

'At that point, I went right to Dennis (Premier Fentie) and said, Sorry, guys, but we're in deep s--- here.' That's when Dennis appropriately put it back on the agenda.'

The first time Kenyon became aware that the department had obtained its own legal opinion, from the Department of Justice, was earlier this week when the Star reported that fact.

''Gosh, just after the (department's) legal opinion was gotten, it went to management board and passed,' he said.

'I'm suspicious that what they did was they finally got a legal opinion and said, Oh my God, the MLA is right; we're going to get the crap sued out of us.''

As for Kenyon fighting for his employee to get the funding so she could go to the school, the minister is unapologetic.

'I'm not using anything within my ministerial capabilities. I am an MLA fighting for a constituent, and if somebody's trying to use the argument that an MLA cannot fight for a constituent, then I'm sorry.'

He doesn't think it's reasonable for an MLA to be told he or she can't fight for a constituent.

'I was never part of the decision-making process. All I did was bring this issue, finally, to the premier, the principal secretary, the chief of staff and the minister of Education that due to the misinformation coming out of the department, we had a problem that could cost this government seriously,' said Kenyon.

'The premier immediately did the proper thing and put it back on the agenda of management board. I did the appropriate thing and stepped out of management board and went and got a coffee.

'And management board looked at it and said, Hey, wait a minute, you're right.''

The Liberal party has argued that by even pushing the Education minister to fund this program, Kenyon involved himself in the decision-making.

The opposition has called on Fentie to axe Kenyon because he spoke out against the department.

Fentie, who is in Toronto delivering a speech to the Empire Club today, was unavailable for a comment on how he will deal with Kenyon's comments.