LLOYD ROBERTSON: Good evening. It's been argued that whoever controls memberships within the Liberal Party of Canada is nobody's business but other Liberals. Well, not anymore. The frosty February feud between leadership hopefuls Paul Martin and Allan Rock has found its way into new and very public corridors and caused the Prime Minister himself to make some moves even while he's out of the country. It's forcing Liberals in Ottawa to choose sides and has given the opposition a new opening to pounce upon a suddenly vulnerable government front bench. With the latest on the Liberal divide, CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Craig Oliver. Craig?

CRAIG OLIVER (Reporter): Lloyd, the rivalries in the unofficial Liberal leadership race have spilled over into the daily workings of Parliament and even escalated to included the Prime Minister himself. In their first Cabinet meeting since their unprecedented blowup the efforts of warring camps to paper over the cracks were hardly convincing.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN (1): Have you two spoken personally to settle things?

PAUL MARTIN (Finance Minister): We sat beside each other in the room, thanks an awful lot.

OLIVER: Asked about his seatmate Mr. Martin, Rock was equally terse. UNIDENTIFIED MAN (2): Just wondering about your seatmate? And how are you getting along?

ALLAN ROCK (Industry Minister): Any questions?

OLIVER: Even the Deputy Prime Minister could not disguise the seriousness of the divisions in Cabinet.

JOHN MANLEY (Deputy Prime Minister): Disagreement over party affairs, and I don't think that's gone away.

OLIVER: In fact, it is getting worse. Even though he is out of the country, the Prime Minister is accused of undercutting his potential successor Paul Martin by pulling his backers from influential committee positions.

SCOTT BRISON (PC-DRC - Nova Scotia): This is the Liberal taking their abuse of power from the Caucus room to the committee room. And Liberal leadership politics damaging the committee process of the House of Commons.

OLIVER: According to opposition MPs, Chretien's agent, the government whip, even pressured them to vote against Martin nominees.

BRISON: Well, I have never been whipped by the Liberal whip before. LORNE NYSTROM (NDP - Saskatchewan): This is I think a warfare between Martin and Chretien. Here are some very strong pro-Martin people, one of them wanted to be committee chair and another was a big supporter of his and so was Albina a supporter of his and all of a sudden, the Liberal whip comes in and said no. The government's choice is Sue Barnes.

 

ROY CULLEN (Liberal - Ontario): I think the Prime Minister decided that he preferred Sue Barnes over me, and I don't know why.

OLIVER: Perhaps this is why he lost the powerful chairmanship of the Commons Finance Committee.

CULLEN: I am pretty close to Paul Martin. Maybe that made the difference.

OLIVER: One Liberal insider described the atmosphere in the Liberal Caucus and Cabinet as toxic. At Caucus tomorrow, a number of Martin supporters are expected to line up and attack Allan Rock who's expected to respond in kind. Lloyd.

ROBERTSON: So Craig, why would the Prime Minister be asserting himself, apparently from overseas, into the business of appointments to Parliamentary committees?

OLIVER: Well, it's a question of protecting his position. Some supporters of Chretien note that at the review a year from now of his leadership, Paul Martin will control the high ground in the party and does and will try to bring him down at that review. By the way, in fairness to him, Paul Martin has consistently denied he has any intention of doing that and there is no evidence of that.

ROBERTSON: But the potential can be there for a coup d'etat.

OLIVER: Unlikely, but it could.

ROBERTSON: Now the matter of Alfonso Gagliano who was moved because of patronage allegations by the Prime Minister as Ambassador to Denmark, he seems to be in the middle of a controversy at the moment too.

OLIVER: Well, the Commons committee has voted to bring him back and face the bar of the committee and answer for himself and by the way, a number of Liberal supporters in the committee voted to do that. To bring back their own disgraced Cabinet Minister and embarrass their own government. I mean, these days, the Liberals seem to be providing their own opposition internally.

ROBERTSON: Now, it's not unprecedented to call these people to explain themselves is it, but it is less likely government members would be calling their own member back.

OLIVER: Very unlikely, and in the context of what's going on these days I would say even extraordinary.

ROBERTSON: Thanks very much Craig.

OLIVER: Goodnight Lloyd.

ROBERTSON: Goodnight.