OTTAWA - Jean Chretien is urging Liberals to support Toronto MP Bob Rae as interim leader of the decimated federal party.
Sources say the former prime minister has been phoning dozens of defeated and re-elected MPs since the Liberal party's historic defeat in Monday's election.
The once-mighty party was reduced to third place with only 34 MPs. Even Leader Michael Ignatieff lost his seat.
Since then, MPs say Chretien has been calling around, promoting the idea that Rae should be interim leader for up to two years. That would give the party time to pick itself up off the mat before launching into a contest to choose a permanent successor to Ignatieff.
The party's much-reduced parliamentary caucus -- 34 MPs and 46 senators -- is to meet Wednesday and the top order of business will be to recommend an interim leader. Their choice would have to be approved by the party's board of directors.
An endorsement from Chretien -- the most successful Liberal leader in 60 years, with three consecutive majority victories to his credit -- could carry considerable weight, particularly among senators, most of whom were appointed by Chretien.
Rae insisted late Friday that he is not campaigning for the job of interim leader and has not asked Chretien to do so for him.
"Mr. Chretien is very much a free agent in life. He cares about the party and he is free to speak his mind," Rae said in interview.
"He's not acting on anybody's instructions. Whatever he's doing, he's doing on his own."
Nevertheless, some MPs privately say a backlash is developing to what some perceive as backroom machinations to install Rae, a former NDP premier of Ontario.
Since Monday's debacle, Rae has openly said the Liberal party needs to consider whether merging with the NDP may be necessary in order to eventually defeat the reunited Conservatives.
Chretien has also mused about a possible merger in the past and that's raised suspicions in some quarters that he's promoting Rae in a bid to hurry up the negotiations.
"There's a lot of us who think that Bob would be a terrific interim leader," said one re-elected MP.
"But I think people are concerned about Bob Rae being a stalking horse for the merger movement."
Rae's leadership ambitions pose another concern. He ran for the Liberal leadership in 2006 and again, briefly, in 2008 before withdrawing to allow Ignatieff to be acclaimed. With Ignatieff now on his way out, Rae has said he's considering taking another crack at the top job.
Some Liberals view the push to name Rae interim leader as a ploy to ensure he'll become the permanent leader. He could gain such an unfair advantage in the interim post that prospective leadership rivals would simply bow out -- a ploy used successfully by Ignatieff in 2008 to squeeze out his rivals, including Rae.
"If people try to rush it, there'll be a backlash," predicted another MP.
"On the ground, people are offended by this, by all of this manoeuvring ... It's symptomatic of the ills inside the Liberal Party of Canada. A lot of people are saying it's the same old, same old."
Some senior Liberals said Rae could satisfy the concerns if he were to promise not to seek the permanent leadership and to keep quiet on the merger idea.
For his part, Rae dismissed suggestions he's a stalking horse for the merger movement.
"There may be efforts to paint me into a corner but I'm not going to step into that picture ... I have no particular agenda on that subject."
He said he's only commented on the merger idea when asked about it by the media and, even then, only to say that it will be hard to avoid discussing the notion when so many people are talking about it.
"I don't see it as a priority for the party at the moment. I think the priority is rebuilding the party."
As to whether an interim leader should be precluded from running for permanent leader, Rae said the party must clarify the rules. He noted that the party's constitution does not contemplate an interim leader for longer than six months and is silent on the subject of whether someone aspiring to be the permanent leader can fill the interim post.
"Some of the people who are most vociferous in saying one precludes the other are the very people who were most adamant about Michael Ignatieff taking on the (interim) leadership of the party," he observed.
Rae said he'd be "quite happy" if the party found a way to conduct a straw poll or widespread consultation of party members about the person caucus recommends for interim leader. He noted that he argued for that kind of democratic mechanism in 2008, to no avail.
Some MPs argued that Rae -- or anyone else chosen for interim leader -- should not be precluded from running for permanent leader. If the interim leader turned out to be a hit with Canadians, they said it would make little sense to force that person to bow out of a full blown leadership contest.
Supporters, such as Montreal MP Denis Coderre, argue that Rae has the qualities needed to keep the party from sinking into oblivion while it starts the rebuilding process: He's high-profile, fluently bilingual and a good performer in the House of Commons and in the media.
But other Liberals are promoting other possibilities for the interim post such as veteran Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale, who has been calling MPs trying to drum up support. Goodale is not bilingual but some suggest he could name a francophone deputy leader, such as Montreal MP Marc Garneau.
Other names being floated include Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison and Prince Edward Island MP Wayne Easter.
