Opposition MPs met with members of the Conservative government for about an hour Thursday, as they sought to make progress on a dispute over Afghan detainee documents.
The government has been reluctant to release documents they believe may jeopardize national security, while opposition members say they can look at any documents they please. The documents are believed to contain information about Afghan prisoners allegedly being tortured by Afghan authorities after being transferred from Canadian custody.
But after the Speaker of the House of Commons ruled in favour of disclosing the documents earlier this week, parliamentarians now have two weeks to agree to a system for MPs to view them.
In Ottawa, the early signs on Thursday were that each of the parties wants to achieve a workable deal.
Liberal MP Ralph Goodale said there was no confrontation during the Thursday talks.
"The better approach is to have all of us working at this together around that table," he said, speaking to reporters on Thursday morning.
"Insofar as the first meeting goes, that was the style of the meeting and the style of conversation. It was not, at this stage, confrontational. And I hope that we can keep that tone."
In an interview with CTV News Channel, Harper spokesperson Dimitri Soudas said the initial meeting was productive and the Conservative government hopes to make progress on the issue in the days to come.
He said the government will not force an election over the issue and favours reaching a deal with opposition members.
"We had a productive meeting today and let's hope that we continue in that spirit of co-operation," he said during an interview from Ottawa on Thursday afternoon.
Soudas said the government is "open-minded when we go into these meetings and our intentions are genuine."
NDP justice critic Joe Comartin said the attitude of Conservative members was "dramatically different" than it had been the day before.
"They were open to resolving this. They were expressing commitments to resolve it in a collegial fashion," he said.
The goal is to find a way for MPs view the documents without having information leak out that could harm Canadian troops or pose a security threat.
A range of solutions is being considered, including having former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci involved in sorting out the matter.
Iacobucci has previously been hired by the government to determine which documents can be disclosed without causing security concerns.
But because Iacobucci is working for the government, the NDP and Bloc have argued he isn't best suited to sort out the current dispute.
Goodale said the issue "has not been resolved."
NDP MP Jack Harris said it was not the party's preference to have Iacobucci's role expanded.
With files from The Canadian Press
