TORONTO - Students academically idled by a strike at Canada's third-largest university vented their frustration Monday at provincial leaders, saying their "political war" has delayed legislation that would force teachers back to work.

Last-ditch efforts to speed up a government bill aimed at ending the nearly three-month strike at York University were stymied Monday by the New Democrats, leaving students fuming.

"Everyone's upset, they're all talking about the debate," said York student Catherine Divaris, who helped organize a student coalition opposing the strike.

"This is just frustrating. They're just prolonging the inevitable, basically. The bill's going to pass -- it's just a matter of time."

Disgruntled students watching the political wrangling voiced their growing frustration on the social networking site Facebook.

"This is no longer about the students or getting us back to class, it seems to just be a political war between parties and ideologies," wrote Kiran Chahal.

The Liberal government and Opposition Progressive Conservatives were willing to sit until midnight to push through the back-to-work bill, but the New Democrats refused.

That means the legislation likely won't be passed until Thursday, and students will have to wait until next week to return to the classroom.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton, who has steadfastly resisted the bill from the beginning, denied he was playing procedural games that would ultimately hurt students.

"I'm sure the McGuinty government wants somebody to blame, but the reality is, there are very serious issues here," Hampton said.

People need to hear that Ontario is dead last among provinces for funding its universities and that York's administration didn't make much of a effort to resolve the dispute, he said.

One York student thanked Hampton for taking a stand.

"I would rather miss another week of classes and know that at least someone in Ontario is thinking about the bigger picture and fairness," Stephanie Martin wrote in an email.

The Liberals and Progressive Conservatives had hoped to pass the bill Sunday when Premier Dalton McGuinty recalled the legislature, but the New Democrats voted against the bill.

Hampton vowed to take all the time allowed under the rules to debate the bill, but wouldn't say whether he planned to stall it further by demanding amendments.

The Liberals say they've put safeguards in place to prevent further delays, such as sending the bill to committee.

Students could have been back in the classroom as soon as Tuesday if the government had only told the university to go back to the bargaining table, Hampton said.

"If the government wanted to stay until midnight, they should have thought of that last week," he said.

Debate got off to a heated start in the legislature, with finger-pointing on all sides over who was to blame for the 12-week strike.

The opposition parties accused the Liberals of sitting on their hands for weeks as the strike dragged on, while the Liberals deflected blame to the NDP for delaying the bill's speedy passage.

Progressive Conservative Jim Wilson erupted in a red-faced rant aimed at Colleges and Universities Minister John Milloy, accusing him of doing little to prevent similar labour disputes at other universities.

"Do something so that we don't have a massive provincewide strike," Wilson shouted during question period. "Either that, or resign, because you're completely friggin' incompetent."

With McGuinty absent from the legislature, it was up to deputy premier and self-described attack dog George Smitherman to lead the government's counterattack.

Smitherman accused Hampton of punishing York students, pointing out that the NDP supported back-to-work legislation last spring that ended a surprise Toronto transit strike.

"Why are you standing in the way of the opportunity for 50,000 students and their families deeply impacted to get back into the classroom?" Smitherman demanded.

The strike by about 3,300 part-time and contract workers began Nov. 6. The union's four key demands were job security for contract professors, funding levels for graduate students, indexing of benefits and the length of the contract.

Provincial mediator Reg Pearson was sent in last Wednesday to "bang some heads together," but by Saturday, McGuinty said it was clear the two sides weren't budging.

Tyler Shipley, spokesman for Local 3903 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the union is considering challenging the bill in court.

"Really, this is an attack on labour across the province," he said.

"While for our own 3,500 members, this is incredibly frustrating and difficult, the precedent that it sets for the province is going to have ramifications that I don't think the premier has really thought through."

York has seen three of the country's five longest faculty association strikes. Monday marked Day 82 of the current strike, while in 2001 there was a 78-day strike and in 1997 a strike lasted 55 days.

The lengths of those strikes are surpassed only by strikes at the University of Quebec in 1976-77 and Laval University in 1976, which both lasted about four months.

About 50,000 students have been affected by the York University strike, but 5,000 were allowed to return to class Monday.

Tenured professors, who are not on strike, were to teach the classes for students in four separate areas, including undergrads in the Schulich School of Business.

The union is holding a news conference at the legislature Tuesday, while York students are planning a rally at Queen's Park on Wednesday.