A request by the territorial cabinet for an additional $300 million in spending without the legislature's approval has been stamped by Commissioner Geraldine Van Bibber.

An order-in-council signed last Friday approves another $12.9 million to finish off this fiscal year ending next week.

The special warrant for the $12.9 million is the second time Premier Dennis Fentie, who also serves as the Finance minister, sought additional money not accounted for in his initial $793-million budget forecast last March.

Total expenditures for 2006-2007 are now estimated at $917 million, or $124 million above the original budget.

A second order-in-council issued by the cabinet sought and received approval for $285.4 million to carry the government through the first month of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which will start April 1.

Official Opposition Leader Arthur Mitchell and NDP Leader Todd Hardy are calling the orders-in-council another display of arrogance by Fentie and the Yuion Party and disrespect for Yukoners and the parliamentary system.

Fentie, who was in Ottawa Monday to see the delivery of the federal budget, nor any of his cabinet ministers were available this morning for comment.

Mitchell said the premier's suggestion last week that his goverment was snowed under by the Canada Winter Games doesn't wash.

Government departments were being asked last September to begin budget submissions, Mitchell pointed out.

The premier's decision to wait so long into the year to call the spring session is more tied to the hopes Yukoners will be more preoccupied with their gardens, returning warmth and the longer days than with the territorial budget, said the Liberal leader.

Mitchell said special warrants are to address special circumstances, though with Fentie's continued use of them, it appears he has adopted them as standard practice.

It's not the figures in the special warrants he disputes, said Mitchell, but the principle involved.

'This is a parliamentary system, not a presidential system,' Mitchell said.

'Despite global warming, we are not yet living in a banana republic, and he is not called El Presidente; he is called the premier.'

Hardy said by not showing Yukoners what the government intends to spend in the upcoming year as soon as possible, the premier is prolonging uncertainty among the private sector and non-government organizations that rely on government spending and support.

Hardy, who is back in Whitehorse after receiving treatment for his leukemia in Vancouver, pointed out the Games started Feb. 23, though territorial governments have delivered annual budgets before that date in years gone by.

'I think he has a very low regard for the legislative assembly,' Hardy said. 'I do not think he likes to be in there.'

Hardy expects Fentie will call the legislature back on April 12, while Mitchell is predicting April 5 or 12.

The OIC approving $285.4 million in expenditures runs from April 1 to April 30.

Mitchell doesn't expect the annual budget will be passed by May 1 to approve spending beyond April 30, though the government will likely use an interim spending bill to carry forward beyond April 30 until the budget is passed.

Bruce McLennan, the deputy minister of Finance, said this morningYukoners will have to wait until the lastest supplementary budget and the annual 2007-2008 budget are tabled to get a full picture of what has transpired.

Generally speaking, however, the additional money required since the initial 2006-07 budget was tabled last March has not affected the Yukon's bottom line, McLennan said.

He said what the new orders-in-council don't show is how much the additional expenditures are offset by recoverable costs, such as new money flowing from Ottawa.

'What I can tell you is when you see the year end, when we bring out the next supplementary, the third supplementary, you will see that we still have a fairly healthy net resource position.'

McLennan also explained the $285.4 million is disproportionally high for one month of spending because there is a hefty amount of up-front financing that goes out at the very beginning of the new fiscal year.

Whitehorse General Hospital, for instance, receives its annual grant, which was $26 million last year, he said.

There are numerous other other up-front financial commitments in April, such as the annual Yukon College grant and the annual comprehensive municipal grants.

The OIC approving an additional $12.8 million to the end of this fiscal year are set out:

$8.24 million for Health and Social Services;

$1.83 million for Education;

$695,000 for Community Services;

$400,000 for the Public Service Commission;

$247,000 for Highways and Public Works;

$44,000 for the Women's Directorate;

and $25,000 for Environment.

The OIC approving the $285.4 million for spending in April is highlighted by:

$78.2 million in operation and maintenance funding for Health and Social Services, which also has departmental commitments for up-front financing to different organizations;

$30.8 million in O & M funding for Education;

$19.1 million in O & M for Highways and Public Works;

$15.4 million to Community Services in O & M funding, which includes the $12.6 million to cover the municipal grants;

$47 million in capital funding for Highways and Public Works;

$25.9 million in capital funding for the Executive Council Office, of which $25.7 million remains to be distributed from the Northern Housing Trust provided by Ottawa;

$7.4 million in capital funding for Community Services;

and $7 million in capital for Education.