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|Monday JULY 19, 2004 |
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icy
Chrétien-Martin relationship starting to melt
Jean Chrétien phones Paul Martin to
congratulate him and report on Putin trip
If the leader of
the NDP Jack Layton and, for that matter, the federal leaders of any
of the other opposition parties, believes that their role in the
next Parliament will be greater than before, well, they need to
think again.
The statements made by Prime Minister Paul Martin and other top
Liberal strategists last week indicated that this Liberal minority
government has one specific goal: to win a majority in the next
federal election. Period.
That means that the priority for Mr. Martin in choosing his Cabinet
ministers for his minority government is to find people who will be
able to keep the caucus united and to dialogue with other Liberals
who are close to former prime minister Jean Chrétien.
The relationship between Mr. Martin and Mr. Chrétien has been icy,
to say the least, and, according to many MPs who were defeated and
re-elected on June 28, told the Prime Minister as much during last
week's national caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The
Liberals told the Prime Minister that the internal feud was a factor
in the Liberals losing 31 seats in the last election, especially in
the province of Québec.
Lately, however, the relationship between Mr. Martin and Mr.
Chrétien has been upgraded from no-relationship whatsoever, to at
least a formal relationship.
Scott Reid, director of communications to the Prime Minister, told
The Hill Times that former prime minister Chrétien called
Prime Minister Martin shortly after the election to congratulate him
on the Liberals' election results and to update him on his meeting
with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
"Prime Minister Martin appreciated the call and the briefing on his
meeting with President Putin," Mr. Reid. "The conversation was
relatively brief, but very pleasant."
The fact that the conversation took place at all, can be interpreted
as a clear sign that the Liberals are trying to put to rest the
destructive divisiveness that has marked the party in the last few
years.
Needless to say, Mr. Martin has some tough challenges ahead.
Once PM Martin has his caucus united, he then needs to restore a
better relationship with the federal bureaucracy. The success of
many his ideas and getting them implemented will rely heavily on a
happy bureaucracy.
"They have to go through the bureaucracy," one top Liberal source
told The Hill Times.
This means that Treasury Board President Reg Alcock (Winnipeg South,
Man.), who is considered, rightly or wrongly, by the bureaucrats as
"the enemy," will at least change his portfolio.
Once Mr. Martin has his caucus united behind him and his party back
together, he will then deal with the issues, starting with health
care. He will prepare a program, says the top Liberal strategist,
that will appeal to Canadians. At that point, with the caucus behind
him, the bureaucracy on side, and with programs that Canadians will
subscribe to and support, the minority Liberal government will go to
Parliament, but Mr. Martin will need very little from the opposition
because the opposition parties have two choices: support the
government or force an election which Canadians don't really want.
So, who is going to be in Prime Minister Martin's government when
it's announced on Tuesday?
If you're relying on newspaper speculation, you can guarantee it's
not coming from the Prime Minister's inner circle. Contrary to what
was happening in the past, the real "inner circle" has isolated
itself from the media. All suggested Cabinet names reported up to
now have been the results of "educated" speculation but none from
the real source.
However, while members of the inner circle have been very stingy in
providing tips on names, they have given plenty of suggestions about
the criteria that will be followed in choosing the government: it
must be the executive that will bring the Liberals back into a
majority.
According to the same source, all the decisions were finalized
during the weekend, but the calls won't be made until Monday, late
in the morning or in the afternoon.
"All the names that will appear in the media during the weekend are
still highly speculative," said the source. This means that the only
credible list is the one that will appear in Tuesday's papers.
But, at that point, the scoop will be short-lived because at 10 a.m.
on Tuesday morning July 20, the new government will be officially
announced.
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