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Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has cancelled a trip to the Arctic so he can stay close to home and manage the crisis in his party, especially among the troops in Quebec.

Mr. Dion will shuffle his caucus later this week, handing out new critic roles and realigning his team in preparation for the new fall session, according to a senior Dion aide.

Wednesday night, Mr. Dion was to travel to the North and spend three days in Yellowknife and make several stops in Nunavut. But an announcement late yesterday said he has scrapped the trip for now.

“… he felt that the priority was to be here on the ground making sure that everybody was 100 per cent focused to those particular milestones and initiatives …,” said the Dion aide, noting that the Liberal Leader had also just named a new principal adviser.

Brigitte Legault, the national vice-president (French) for the Liberal Party, described what is happening in Quebec right now as a “bit of a free-for-all.”

Mr. Dion has been under fire from within his own party since the Liberals lost a key Montreal seat last month and over comments attributed to his national director, Jamie Carroll, about hiring more Quebeckers.

The Liberal Leader has not made public appearances this week. Rather, he has been in discussions with his officials and planning moves to address the problems, including disunity and infighting.

Leaks to the media about internal party affairs which have rattled Mr. Dion's leadership appear to be coming mostly from Quebec.

Meanwhile, yesterday was the first day on the job for Mr. Dion's new principal adviser, Johanne Sénécal, a Liberal operative with a decade of experience in Quebec City and another decade in Ottawa.

“… we've got somebody who is … incredibly qualified to deal with the management and refocusing of our efforts in Quebec,” the Dion aide said.

Ms. Sénécal replaces former Chrétien cabinet minister Marcel Massé, who had to step down because of health issues. She was Mr. Dion's chief of staff for three years when he was a minister in the Chrétien cabinet, and comes into the office as the top official. Although Andrew Bevan continues as chief of staff, she is to call the shots.

Ms. Sénécal was recruited by Mr. Dion. And in a press release yesterday, Mr. Dion said that she will “lead” his team in the Opposition Leader's office.

Mr. Dion is expected to replace Mr. Carroll in the next few days.

This week, Mr. Carroll issued a strongly worded memo to senior party officials threatening to sue over the leak to the media of the controversial statements, which he denies making. He also said in the memo that he would stay in his position if he was given a unanimous endorsement from the party executive.

However, the executive is leaving Mr. Carroll's future to the leader. It met on Tuesday night, but did not discuss Mr. Carroll's memo or the comments, according to Robert Fragasso, president of the Quebec wing of the federal Liberal Party.

Both he and Ms. Legault say they support the leader.

“At the end of the day, the leader won't leave. I mean seriously,” Ms. Legault said. “We just have to stick together and make things work because the enemy is not us. It's the Conservatives or the NDP or the Bloc ... I think we need a little bit more direction [from the party in Quebec]. …

Mr. Dion has also appointed veteran campaign strategist Senator David Smith as the third co-chair of the national campaign. Mr. Smith, who supported Mr. Dion's leadership rival, Michael Ignatieff, served in key campaign positions during the Chrétien years.

With a report from Daniel Leblanc