The Hill Times

Caucus conference call highlights anxieties
Liberal MPs concerned over PM's leadership
Uncertainty over ministers' futures unsettles caucus 

Angelo Persichilli and Mike Scandiffio
The Hill Times

   Despite leading in several recent polls, the prime minister received a stark message that he should consider stepping down from key caucus executives.

  In a conference call held last week between members of the caucus's National Executive and the Prime Minister's caucus liaison Maurice Foster, several MPs expressed concern about the prime minister's leadership, according to Liberal sources.

  “The representative of the PMO participating at the conference call was clearly told by many of the MPs participating to the meeting that there is a big concern within the grassroots about the present leadership” a Liberal source told The Hill Times.

 Liberal MPs are increasingly anxious about their re-election chances as speculation grows that two key ministers: Finance Minister Paul Martin (Lasalle-Emard, Que.) and Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy (Winnipeg South Centre, Man.) may be leaving before the next election.

 It has been reported that Mr. Martin's advisors, Terry O'Leary, a former chief of staff to Martin and now with the World Bank, Ottawa lawyer Richard Mahoney and David Herle who is with the Earnscliffe Strategy Group have advises the minister to leave after he gives his economic statement in the fall.

 This has cause concerns among the MPs, especially among Martin supporters, who depict the finance minister as a key component to victory in an election which many say the prime minister will lead.

 Windsor MP Rick Limoges (Windsor-St. Clair, Ont.) said that if the finance minister stays and runs with the prime minister, the party "would have the best of both worlds."

 "He is an essential ingredient to the success of the party," said Toronto MP Joe Volpe (Eglinton-Lawrence, Ont.), a Martin supporter, who has expressed reservations about increased government spending.

 Several recent polls show the Liberals still well ahead of the Canadian Alliance. A poll conducted by Ekos Research Associates Inc. for The Toronto Star, show the Liberals with 48 per cent of decided voters while the Canadian Alliance trails at 18 per cent. However, several MPs consider the Liberal support is soft and spread thinly across the country.

 Martin supporters, sensitive to criticism that a departure by the finance minister,  may bee seen as a fit of pique at not getting a shot at the leadership, say the minister could leave over ideological differences with prime minister. They point to the prime minister's recent $700-million Atlantic program as evidence that he wants to return to big-money government programs. This would be at odds with the finance minister's own leanings toward a more fiscally  conservative platform including tax cuts.

 The threat of the finance minister's resignation is being seen by party members as an attempt to pressure the prime minister to step down. One senior party member told The Hill Times  that the minister's advisers were contacted and were warned that pressuring prime minister would only make him to stay on.

 Meanwhile, Mr. Axworthy is mulling over an offer to leave cabinet and pursue a position at the University of British Columbia. Mr. Axworthy has confirmed he received an offer but said he has not made a decision.

 Mr. Axworthy's departure would leave a hole in Manitoba politics as he has been one of the most powerful regional ministers.

 Manitoba MP John Harvard (Chaleswood-Assiniboine, Man.) is downplaying speculation about the minister's departure saying he "has not seen anything"  from the minister that he will leave. However, he admits he "can hardly be objective." "It's important that he stay," said Mr. Harvard.

 Whisperings over ministerial departures have also raised concerns with the prime minister. Sources close to the Prime Minister's Office said the prime minister plans to ask his ministers if they plan to run for the next election by the end of August.

 Sources told The Hill Times  that the prime minister must know who is going to be in the game for the next election before he announces the next cabinet shuffle which MPs and party insiders  predict to happen before the end of the summer.