Government house leader Darin King has put forth a motion not to adjourn the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve, raising the possibility that the filibuster over Muskrat Falls bills could continue through the Christmas holidays.

King made that motion on Thursday afternoon, as members of Newfoundland and Labrador's legislature spent their third day in a row at their seats in the house of assembly.

House leaders from the three political parties were scheduled to meet on Thursday evening to figure out what will happen next.

The filibuster started Tuesday afternoon as the Liberals and NDP launched efforts to delay passage of enabling legislation that they say gives Nalcor too much power and which removes the Public Utilities Board from a meaningful role in setting power rates.

The debate took a controversial turn on Wednesday, when Liberal MHA Eddie Joyce sprang to his feet to complain about Natural Resources Minister Jerome Kennedy's comments.

"You're a fool," Kennedy said while another Liberal, Randy Edmunds, was addressing the house about the rights of aboriginal people.

"This is not the place to be getting on with that childish behaviour, Mr. Speaker, and I ask that the member withdraw the remarks," Joyce said.

Speaker asked Kennedy to withdraw remarks

MHA Glenn Littlejohn, who was in the Speaker's chair at the time, asked Kennedy to withdraw the remark, although Kennedy did so while reiterating his original point.

"In fact, what I said was that he doesn't have Grade 6 and he is a fool. I withdraw it," Kennedy said.

Another complaint brought another withdrawal from Kennedy, but with comments, eventually prompting Littlejohn to demand that Kennedy make an unequivocal withdrawal of his remarks or face being ejected.

Kennedy, who has been known for fiery rhetoric in the house in the past, stood on his feet with his hands on his hips, staring at the Speaker's chair. He eventually said, "I withdraw the remark."

Humourous moments

By and large, most of the debate on the filibuster has been more measured, and even humorous, with Education Minister Clyde Jackman noting Thursday morning that he was surprised to see two political opponents sitting together.

But there have also been breaches in decorum. Liberal Leader Dwight Ball said he wasn't too worried.

"It's something that I certainly don't pay a whole lot of attention to," Ball said. "It's part of what happens when you get people in a small room for a long period of time."

But NDP Leader Lorraine Michael said she prefers to see a high-quality debate than an exchange of insults.

"I really hate it when things get the way they got [Wednesday] morning in particular," Michael said.

"I really don't like personal barbs and comments and I really do appreciate it when the Speaker is strict with us."

Quality of debate debated

Government House Leader Darin King said the Opposition is failing to raise the bar at the filibuster.

"I would suggest to you that we need to focus on what's being debated in the house of assembly," he said.

"I'm not sure, if you checked Hansard, that there's much relevancy to a lot of what was said in that house last night other than finger pointing and name-calling and those kinds of things. Very little of it actually focused on the legislation that was in the house."

The filibuster focuses on Bill 60 and Bill 61, which the government introduced on the heels of this week's formal sanction of the Muskrat Falls project.