Some are calling it Steele wheels deal.

New Democrat MLA Graham Steele says the Conservative minority government has agreed to ban Jakes brakes from an area in his Halifax Fairview riding as a pilot project. In exchange, the NDP will allow the House session to go into extended hours, starting today.

The legislature will sit from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., instead of its normal 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. session.

"It's a good example, I think, of how the parties are working together, need to work together," Mr. Steele said in an interview at Province House.

"You give us this, we'll give you that. And I look forward to more of the same as the session progresses."

In the fall session, Mr. Steele introduced a bill that would limit the use of the noisy brakes by large trucks in residential areas.

His bill would allow the local traffic authority to prohibit the use of Jakes brakes, which use engine compression to slow down trucks, in areas where the speed limit is more than 50 kilometres per hour. The use of these brakes is already prohibited in zones where the speed limit is 50 km/h or less.

"It doesn't matter that they are not going to call my particular bill forward, just as long as the objective gets accomplished," Mr. Steele said.

"I don't know the details of when. I've just been assured it will happen."

Residents of Fairview's School Avenue, which faces the Bicentennial Highway, have complained the brakes make a loud, rapid-fire noise that wakes them up in the middle of the night.

"This is an ongoing battle for that street and the next three over in Fairview," he said. "So if it took a minority government to achieve this, I say great."

Mr. Steele said he's talked to other MLAs from other parts of the province who have neighbourhoods with similar problems with the noisy brakes.

Government House leader Ron Russell denied he made a deal with Mr. Steele in exchange for extended hours. Mr. Russell, the province's transportation minister, said the subject of the Jakes brakes simply came up in conversation last week when the House hours were being discussed.

Mr. Steele "is putting kind of a spin on it that I wouldn't," Mr. Russell said. "Somebody said to me: 'Well, I understand one of our members wants to take our Jakes brakes bill through the House.' I said: 'Look, we've got sort of a temporary solution which we'd like to try out so we're going to do something.'"

Mr. Russell said he couldn't reveal exactly what the province plans to do because his department hasn't prepared the necessary paper work yet.

As for extending the hours of the House, Mr. Russell said he doesn't have to ask for them. He said he can order them, although the opposition parties could vote them down.