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Alberta’s Wildrose Opposition is gearing up for a battle over its objection to the NDP government’s proposal to convene the legislature at 9 a.m.

Government house leader Brian Mason said the province wants to extend sitting hours to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesdays and 9 a.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays. The house would still convene at 1:30 p.m. Mondays.

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But its efforts to adjust the legislature’s hours to include morning sittings could spark the assembly’s first filibuster of the fall after the Wildrose delayed the first day of debate on the proposal.

“I think it’s a shame that they’re wasting so much time in this important legislative agenda because they don’t want to start work at a reasonable time in the morning,” Mason said Thursday. “Most Albertans start at nine or earlier. When I worked driving a bus, I started at 5:30 in the morning.”

A half-dozen Wildrose MLAs spent more than an hour taking turns speaking against Mason’s proposal in the legislature this week, party staff saying the official Opposition is preparing to stall as long as necessary.