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OTTAWA — The Harper government seems to be having second thoughts about the wisdom of lumping major changes to dozens of statutes into one massive budget bill.

NDP House leader Nathan Cullen says his Conservative counterpart, Peter Van Loan, is considering a New Democrat proposal to split the 400-plus-page budget implementation bill into five separate pieces of legislation.

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Cullen expects to hear back from Van Loan late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

On Monday, Van Loan categorically ruled out splitting up the bill, calling the NDP proposal “just another attempt to delay this important job-creating bill.”

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But by Tuesday, a spokesman for the minister was no longer so unequivocal when asked about Cullen’s assertion that his proposal is under discussion.

Fraser Malcolm would say only that the government House leader is “constantly having discussions with opposition House leaders on all matters; we never discuss those in public.”