The government is saying nothing about allegations the chair of the Yukon Development Corp. (YDC) was overpaid by more than $19,000 last year.

Yesterday in the legislative assembly, Gary McRobb, the Liberal critic for the corporation, suggested the government broke its own law.

"The Yukon government has a rule capping the salary for this position at a maximum of $38,000 per year. It turns out, however, that last year this part-time job paid more than $57,000," said McRobb, who then demanded an explanation.

But none was forthcoming as Jim Kenyon, the minister responsible for the YDC, claimed the overpayment is a staffing matter.

"I can look at this but, again, I am not really comfortable speaking about personnel issues on the floor of the legislature," Kenyon said.

When Willard Phelps, who was briefly the Yukon's government leader in 1985, was appointed YDC chair in 2005, an order-in-council fixed the annual remuneration for the position at $38,000.

But according to Yukon Energy Corp. documents, Phelps was paid $57,197 in 2008 as chair of the Yukon Energy Corp. (YEC) board of directors, not the YDC board.

Following question period Monday afternoon, Kenyon turned down a request for an interview from the Star.

This morning, a cabinet spokeswoman said the minister has left the territory on government business.

The spokeswoman added the cabinet was preparing a response and suggested contacting the YEC, which is a subsidiary of the YDC.

"It's their personnel," she explained.

But YEC spokeswoman Janet Patterson put the ball squarely back into the government's court.

"The bottom line is, I work for the Yukon Energy Corporation so it's not appropriate for me to speak about the development corporation," said Patterson.

"The minister responsible really needs to be the one addressing this situation. From my understanding, it's a very straightforward answer."

But with a reticent cabinet, McRobb was more than willing to provide analysis.

"We're assuming the government is at fault here because they haven't provided any viable explanation," said McRobb. "When they don't talk about things, they're probably at fault."

An attempt to contact Phelps at his Carcross home was unsuccessful as his telephone number there is currently out of service.

Also unavailable was Premier Dennis Fentie. The premier often rescues cabinet members from sticky situations by responding to questions directed to them in the legislature, or by mopping up media queries afterwards.

But Fentie has yet to offer an explanation to the media and yesterday in the house, he left Kenyon to fend for himself.

"This minister shouldn't be trying to shift any blame to a public servant. It's the minister's responsibility," said McRobb.

"Again: Why was the chair allowed to exceed the maximum (salary)? The minister approved it. Was he unaware of his government's own rules?"

But Kenyon denied passing the buck and suggested McRobb's questioning was not based on fact.

"I'm not trying to shift blame to a public servant. I am not the one who is standing up in this house making what does appear to be a bit of an accusation," Kenyon said.