This week in the Legislature the N.D.P. faced challenges moving its agenda forward with the Progressive Conservatives being accused of using procedural tactics to slow the process down. Tuesday was the deadline for the government to introduce bills, and have a good chance of getting them passed by Summer.

Morden-Winkler M.L.A. Carrie Hiebert disagrees with suggestions the P.C.'s were stalling debate this week.

"We've been doing a lot of holding the N.D.P. government accountable for different things that have been happening in session, and so we did bring some matters of privilege forward this week, which was something that's important to acknowledge," she explained.  "One of your questions was  if we were stalling the process of introduction of new bills, or anything like that, and we definitely haven't been doing that."

Earlier this week House leader Nahanni Fontaine said the Progressive Conservatives were abusing the rules and tools of the House to manufacture the delays which prevented the introduction of several pieces of legislation. 

Hiebert was asked about the "matters of privilege" which the P.C.'s have been bringing up.

"We just really want to encourage fair play, we want to make sure the rules are being followed, so different MLA's have concerns about matters of privilege" she said. "We were able to bring those forward, and it was really good to hear, and then the Speaker decides whether or not those are matters are privilege. That's kind of what happened for a little bit of time this week, but again I just want to say all of those bills they (N.D.P.) said weren't being brought forward this week could have been done last week."

One of those was regarding the establishment of a seniors advocate office, something the N.D.P. promised in last October's provincial election.

"The N.D.P. government had ample opportunity last week to introduce their bills," noted Hiebert. "It's their job to be organized, but I was unable to debate a single bill, because the Government House leader, on their side, was absent from the House all week, so that's not on us at all. So, unfortunately, there's a few bills that didn't get brought forward, but again, there's some we're probably happy didn't get brought forward."

Because the N.D.P has a majority, the delays are unlikely to prevent the bills not introduced this week from becoming law, but could prevent the legislation from going to a final vote before Summer.

- With files from Robyn Wiebe -