Manitoba Liberal Party Leader Dr. Jon Gerrard appears at the televised debate on Sept. 23, 2011, in Winnipeg.Trevor Hagan
Officials in the Manitoba Liberal Party tried to quell internal dissent in a three-hour meeting late Monday night.
They ruled out a merger with the Green Party that their leader had discussed, and suspended two directors who had talked about the issue.
"We're not muzzling the leader," party president Bernd Hohne said following the meeting.
"We're just clarifying that ... a merger or alliance was never on the table."
The clarification was the latest attempt to straighten out mixed messages that have emerged from the Liberal camp.
Last week, Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard said the party was looking at a range of options for greater co-operation with the Greens, and pointed to an alliance such as the Liberal-Progressive joint government of the 1930s as a possibility.
The Liberals have been struggling to remain on the political map in Manitoba. They were reduced to one legislature seat in last October's election and are struggling to pay off campaign debts. The Greens have no legislature seats, but garnered 2.5 per cent of the popular vote in the election.
While Mr. Hohne insists that a political merger was not being discussed, some Liberals said Mr. Gerrard indeed pushed for some type of formal joining of forces with the Greens in an internal meeting last month.
Harry Wolbert, a member of the party's board of directors, was given a 10-month suspension of his Liberal membership Monday night for revealing details of that meeting, Mr. Hohne said.
Sandra Hoskins, another director, was suspended for the same reason, Mr. Hohne added.
Ms. Hoskins was not suspended for a mysterious and confusing post on her personal blog last week, in which she lashed out at an unnamed leader, calling him a "tired old man" who is destroying his organization.
The blog did not mention Mr. Gerrard by name, but discussed a leader who has led a group "into the fray at least three times and the results have been worse every time."
Ms. Hoskins later said her comments were not directed at Mr. Gerrard, who has led the Liberals into four elections with a lower percentage of the popular vote each time. But in a later post on her blog, she said the comments might apply to Mr. Gerrard or other politicians such as Prime Minister Stephen Harper or Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.
The Liberals accept Ms. Hoskins' explanation, Mr. Hohne said.