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On the eve of officially becoming Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff offered CTV's Power Play a glimpse of where he sees the party going and how he wants to run it. Here's a hint -- it sounds a lot like the playbook used by a U.S. president named Barack Obama.

In his upcoming acceptance speech Saturday, the final day of the Liberal's three-day convention in Vancouver, Ignatieff says he intends to focus on "vision," not policy.

"I think tomorrow's speech is about vision, what kind of country we long for," Ignatieff said in an interview with CTV's Tom Clark from the convention floor Friday afternoon. "A platform will come."

Ignatieff said the convention will serve as the start of moving the Liberals "into the 21st century" and "changing the culture of the party."

He was talking specifically about the Liberal Party's lack of grassroots fundraising support, which he acknowledged was significantly behind the Conservatives.

But he said that the Liberals will focus on improving their data collection on prospective voters and grassroots supporters, something Obama virtually perfected in his campaign for president.

"I want to create a party where that sense of contact with the ground is there," Ignatieff said.

The Liberals come into convention buoyed by polls showing them leading the governing Conservatives in popular support, and for the first time in years, lacking leadership infighting.

"The party does feel more united than any time in our recent history, that's the most important thing here," Ignatieff said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to be keeping a keen eye on the Grit convention, and on Friday urged Ignatieff to not push for an election.

"We just had an election," Harper said in Edgeley, Sask. "What we're looking for from Ignatieff and the other parties is, obviously, an opportunity to work together to advance the interest of the country."

The Liberals are expected to pull back from their recent habit of voting to support the government in confidence votes.

Ignatieff was mum on the subject Friday.

"The question is whether Mr. Harper wants to make Parliament work. . . I will try to make Parliament work," he said. "But it takes two to tango."

The former professor and journalist, who has already led the party for five months, will be formally named as Liberal leader on Saturday.

Former Grit PMs offer advice

Former prime minister Jean Chr�tien told CTV's Power Play "it's very important for leaders to be what they are."

Ignatieff "has to be himself," Chr�tien said, who spoke from the convention floor. "If he is not Michael Ignatieff, it won't work."

The former prime minister, known for being a political street fighter, is keen for his party to tackle the governing party.

"I think the Canadian people would like to have a new government at this time," Chr�tien said.

In order for the Liberals to pass a non-confidence vote, they would need the support of both the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois.

"The government now needs to Bloc to survive," Chr�tien said, adding that it would be a political disaster for Harper to be saved from an election by the party he has heartily rallied against.

However, another former prime minister, Paul Martin, wasn't quite so ready to dispense the political advice.

"I'm going to leave that up to Michael Ignatieff," Martin told CTV's Power Play when asked about forcing an election. "I can tell you people right here (at the Liberal convention) feel very good about themselves, but feel very worried about the country, there's a general apprehension about where the Conservatives are going."

Farewell to Stephane Dion

On Friday evening, there was a tribute to former Liberal leader Stephane Dion, focusing on his passion for the environment.

Dion led the Liberals for two tumultuous years, until he stepped down in December.

Dion said in a speech that he hoped the tribute could inspire the party to win the next election under Ignatieff.

Jean Chr�tien spoke highly of Dion's work in his cabinet during a speech Friday evening.

In classic Chr�tien style, his speech was filled with sarcasm and one-liners aimed at Harper, saying the prime minister has been "missing in action."

He also went after Harper for giving interviews to U.S. media outlets, and ignoring the domestic situation.

Ignatieff has distanced himself from Dion's policies, dropping the party's interest in a carbon tax, ending a non-compete agreement with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and shutting down a three-way coalition arrangement with the NDP and Bloc Quebecois.

Shift the party to the right?

Party strategist Steven MacKinnon told Â鶹ӰÊÓnet the convention is serving as a "reintroduction" to Canadians for the beleaguered Liberals, who were beaten badly in the last election, but are showing signs of recovery in recent polls, particularly in Quebec.

The convention is also giving party members an opportunity to survey their current makeup and "having them share in this new energy, this new thinking," MacKinnon said Friday, in an interview from Vancouver.

MacKinnon acknowledged, too, that the convention will further confirm where Ignatieff intends to take the party, which is more towards the middle of the political spectrum.

"I think that's where, in fact, his primary political beliefs are, and I think that is where the bulk of the Liberal party is situated," said MacKinnon.

"I think that, we obviously don't have a monopoly on good ideas -- but borrow ideas from the left and the right and I think that has served Canada well over time."

But some critics say the party is undergoing a bigger ideological shift than moving towards the political centre.

NDP strategist Joy McPhail told Â鶹ӰÊÓnet that what the Liberals are really going for in Vancouver is a "vanilla" flavour of politics that is inoffensive and uncontroversial.

"They are really trying for vanilla here and they're getting it, and I don't think that's good for a political party that still has many internal divisions that need to be worked out," McPhail said Friday in an interview from Vancouver.

McPhail said the Liberal party is moving to the right, which she claims is rubbing some members the wrong way.

"They're giving ground on the left side of the political spectrum and there is a lot of delegates that aren't happy about that," she said. "So they want to keep everything calm (and) under the radar."

Party business underway

Friday marked the second day of the three-day convention.

The party had scheduled a hefty series of morning and afternoon meetings on Friday that were scheduled to address party policy and election readiness issues, among other topics.

Liberal delegates will also have the opportunity to vote for various national executive members and commission officers, starting on Friday evening and continuing on Saturday.