Michael Ignatieff told his caucus yesterday that he alone will deal with Denis Coderre, cautioning his troops to exercise discipline and not speak publicly about the controversy caused by his former Quebec lieutenant.
Saying he was disappointed with Mr. Coderre's behaviour, the Liberal Leader warned that "it's not for members of Parliament to comment on Denis Coderre."
"I will take care of that," Mr. Ignatieff said during his wrap-up speech at the closed-door caucus session yesterday morning, according to an insider.
This was the second consecutive day of damage control for Mr. Ignatieff and the party leadership. On Tuesday night, Mr. Ignatieff went to Quebec, appearing at a fundraising event in Laval that Mr. Coderre had organized.
Mr. Coderre, a veteran Montreal MP, dropped a bombshell Monday, announcing he was quitting as the Quebec lieutenant.
He didn't stop there. Mr. Coderre landed another blow on Mr. Ignatieff by accusing him of allowing Quebec politics to be run out of Toronto by a small coterie of unelected officials.
Loyalists say Mr. Ignatieff was stung by the comment. Yesterday in caucus he dismissed the charge, saying "the challenges we face in Quebec were created by Quebeckers and will be solved by Quebeckers."
Although some Liberal MPs have privately said Mr. Coderre should be removed from caucus, a senior Liberal source said that will not happen.
Mr. Coderre has not been in the House of Commons this week. But he will appear Sunday on Tout le monde en parle, a Radio Canada television program that draws more than one million viewers in Quebec.
Yesterday, as part of the healing process, Mr. Ignatieff also made a separate visit to the Quebec caucus, which met just before the national caucus. He received support from the members.
"Quebec is united behind Michael Ignatieff," MP Pablo Rodriguez said.
And Quebec caucus chair Marc Garneau said the media exaggerated the significance of the Coderre affair, saying he told Mr. Ignatieff "things are very good in Quebec" and "that the media has overblown the reality of Quebec."
"This suggestion that there are divisions is really totally false," he said. "The situation in Quebec is a solid one."
Meanwhile, the NDP released a new television ad featuring leader Jack Layton calling for an end to political "games" and election talk.
"Instead of facing another election, I'm working to get results for you," he says in the ad. "I'm also fighting to help out-of-work Canadians, as many as I possibly can. Mr. Harper, Mr. Ignatieff, enough games. Let's get down to work."
The NDP caucus held back-to-back meetings this week to debate their approach to the fall session. Mr. Layton told reporters the NDP won't accept any provocation from the government.
"If Mr. Harper starts throwing poison pills and poking people in the eye and adopting policies that are completely unacceptable and he knows it, well, then I think he's provoking an election," Mr. Layton said. "I think he should actually try to make Parliament work. We've been trying to do that in good faith. Let's see whether or not that's what's going to happen."
With a report from Daniel Leblanc
Bill Curry