The federal Liberals are open to amendments to their anti-hate bill that has been stalled at committee but it’s unclear if that would go beyond a controversial deal the party reached with the Bloc Quebecois.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser on Tuesday said the Liberals were open to changes that would refine the language around the contentious Bloc amendment removing religious exemptions to the hate speech crime, but accused the Conservatives of choosing to instead “obstruct” the work of the committee.

He said potential changes included refining the definition of hate in the bill, clarifying that reading religious texts wouldn’t qualify as hate speech and changing the requirements for consent of the provincial attorney, which is required before hate speech charges are laid.

But based on conversations with the Conservatives, Fraser said it’s clear there’s no opportunity for negotiations.

“We want to ensure that as we move forward with a proposal from the Bloc that we accommodate some of the concerns that we’ve heard from religious communities who don’t believe their religions constitute hate, but want to see that clearly reflected in the text of the bill,” he told reporters before Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.

“We would entertain amendments to that effect. But it seems in our dealings with the Conservatives that they’re saying there is no accommodation that can be made on the concerns that we’re raising, and are going to choose instead to obstruct.”

The Conservatives warned the Bloc amendment risked criminalizing religious teachings, and have resorted to filibustering meetings of the committee to derail study of the legislation.

Last month, the Liberals reached a detente with the Conservatives, agreeing to pause study of Bill C-9 and shift focus to quickly passing government legislation overhauling bail and sentencing laws.

That work finished up last week.

With the committee set to return to its study of C-9 on Monday, the Conservatives signalled they were prepared to restart their filibuster of the bill.

The committee meeting was ultimately cancelled.