House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken has agreed to a request from MPs for more time to reach a deal on releasing uncensored documents regarding the Afghan detainee controversy.

Conservative House Leader Jay Hill made the request on behalf of all the parties, shortly before question period Tuesday.

The parties asked for an extension until Friday at 1:30 p.m.

The Speaker agreed, saying he will "wait patiently."

The documents deal with allegations that Canadian officials knew that detainees handed over to Afghan authorities faced a real risk of torture.

Milliken ruled two weeks ago that the government and opposition parties had until Tuesday to come up with a way for MPs to see the documents without jeopardizing national security.

Milliken said the federal government breached parliamentary privilege by refusing to produce the uncensored documents. But he also ruled that there are national security concerns that need to be addressed.

The opposition parties have been pushing to see the documents without redaction — blacked out portions — since December, because they believe they might show the government knew more than it says it did about the risk of torture to Afghan detainees.

House leaders have been meeting over the past two weeks to work out a deal that gives access to the documents without compromising national security.

After Tuesday's meeting, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson would not discuss the details of what is holding up an agreement, other than to say he was still "optimistic."

Consensus found

But according to opposition MPs, consensus has been found on the idea that the documents could be released to a committee of MPs from all parties. What remains to work out is how the MPs would settle disagreement about which documents can be made public.

"The real issue is what happens in the event that the majority of this group wants to use this document to pursue our obligation as parliamentarians to hold the government to account and the government ultimately says, 'Oh, no, that is too secret to be able to do that.' How do you deal with that?" said NDP MP Jack Harris after Tuesday's meeting.

When asked whether he feels confident an agreement can be arrived at, Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale said, "I'm hopeful. I think 'confident' might be too strong a word, but I'm hopeful. I think that there's a constructive attitude. We're down now to some of the tough and delicate matters, and this is where the crunch arrives."

Goodale indicated he was not keen on an extension beyond Friday. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff later echoed those sentiments.

"It takes a little time to work out the details. That's all that's going on, and at the moment, judged on what I heard from today's meeting, we're making some progress. But we need to make some more. This shouldn't go on forever."

If the parties cannot come to an agreement, the opposition could put forward a motion of privilege, finding the government in contempt of Parliament.

That could result in a snap election.