Hearing French spoken at the Nova Scotia legislature may be less of a novelty if an Acadian MLA gets his way.

Michel Samson, Liberal MLA for Richmond, wants the legislature to offer simultaneous translation so he and other French-speaking MLAs can debate or ask questions in their mother tongue.

The issue came up Wednesday in a rare French-only exchange during question period.

Samson posed a question in French, asking whether the minister of Acadian affairs supported his idea of having French translated into English during those occasions when he and other Acadians want to use French in the house.

Earlier this week Graham Steele, who is also finance minister, said simultaneous translation would likely be too expensive.

"I know many members of the house won't understand what the honourable member just said, but they can see he's very worked up about it," Steele said Wednesday.

If MLAs want a translation service, he said, he'll look into it — on one condition.

"Whatever the cost turns out to be, equivalent cuts must be found elsewhere in the assembly's budget. We are not in a position to be adding new things regardless of what the cost might be," Steele said.

Michel Samson took issue with that.

"It's the House of Assembly that votes on budgets, not the minister of finance. So if the house makes a decision to proceed on this, the minister of finance will be taxed to find the money to make it happen," he said. "It doesn't work the other way around."

Samson said it may not cost the province that much since Ottawa may help cover the cost, and all the province has to do is ask.

The NDP government expects to end 2009-10 with a deficit of $488 million. It expects to finish $222 million in the red in the coming year.