Members of the National Assembly are split over whether the new hockey arena should be protected by law from lawsuits.
Parti Quebecois MNA Agnes Maltais proposed the immunity lawsuit in mid-May, and it's been locked into special hearings ever since.
Many MNA's including Quebec Solidaire's Amir Khadir and former ADQ member-turned-independent Eric Caire say the idea of protecting the arena from a lawsuit is offensive.
"We should do this within the rules," said Caire.
"We should listen to all the opinions that have been presented to us.... from the Canadian Bar Association among others" that the arrangements of the deal involving Quebecor and the provincial government are not necessarily legal.
He also said that while the provincial government should facilitate a deal for the arena, it should do so in a manner that respects all Quebecers.
Maltais said that on the contrary, denying citizens the right to challenge the arena's construction would be best for Quebec.
"I think it would be good for the democracy that we don't stop everything for the amphitheatre, for the Colisee, for the arrival of the hockey team, that we don't block this for a technical thing," said Maltais.
Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume and Quebecor president Pierre Karl Peladeau testified before the hearings on Thursday.
Both said that a failure to provide legal immunity for the deal would cause delays on the project that would force them to scuttle construction, even though the arena is not scheduled to be completed until 2015.
When the private member's bill is placed before house if any MNA says it must come up for debate, the bill will be postponed until the fall session.
However there is a possibility that Municipal Affairs minister Laurent Lessard will include legal immunity for the arena project in an omnibus bill to be presented before the end of the spring session.
But after a lengthy meeting Friday morning of the Liberal caucus, Lessard refused to say whether or not that would happen.
