The Yukon's opposition Liberals are protesting the way Premier Dennis Fentie is making appointments to government boards and committees.

Liberal MLA Don Inverarity said Fentie recently bypassed the legislative assembly's appointment process in appointing Bruce McLennan to chair the Yukon Utilities Board.

McLennan is a former Yukon government deputy minister who currently lives in British Columbia. He has been appointed to chair the board for six months.

Despite the short term, Inverarity said McLennan's appointment is an example of the premier skirting the legislature's rules.

"We've seen this before: the premier comes out and makes an interim appointment, and then expects the standing committee somewhere down the road to just rubber stamp that appointment, saying that the individual is a good individual," Inverarity told CBC News on Thursday.

"They may well be, but we've had time, I believe, in this particular case to actually call the committee and to search for someone that would be acceptable to all Yukoners."

Fentie refuted Inverarity's claim, saying the Yukon Utilities Board vacancy needed to be filled immediately because of construction deadlines for Yukon Energy Corp.,'s Mayo B hydroelectric dam expansion.

The opposition MLAs had been briefed on the urgency surrounding McLennan's appointment and no one raised any concerns at that time, he said.

"Under the timelines we're facing, with probably one of the most important applications before the utilities board in our history, it only made sense to go this route," Fentie said.

"Frankly it's a little surprising that long after we had that discussion, Mr. Inverarity is now taking this position."

Meanwhile, the territorial government has contracted a consulting company to recruit candidates for other board vacancies.

Recent newspaper ads ask qualified Yukoners to submit resumes if they're interested in being on Yukon Energy's board of directors, which has had four vacancies since four members resigned en masse last year.