OTTAWA–The main contenders to replace Stéphane Dion as Liberal leader are putting the pressure on him to make way for a new chief early in the new year, rather than waiting until May as previously planned.

Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae have both made it clear they believe the party needs a new and permanent leader by January.

That's when Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government has promised to bring down a budget.

The Liberals will then have to decide whether to vote against it, a move that would precipitate either another election or a renewed call for Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to let the Liberals form a coalition cabinet with the NDP and govern with the tacit support of the Bloc Quebecois as the silent partner in a three-way deal.

"I think that Mr. Dion has to consider his options," Ignatieff told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

"There's an emerging feeling in the caucus that, given the importance of this (budget) vote in late January, it would be appropriate to have a permanent leader in place. The caucus is considering various options about how to do that."

Rae agreed the parliamentary crisis over the last week has changed the political landscape and forced the Liberals to speed up the leadership decision that had been scheduled to take place at a convention in Vancouver in May.

Former cabinet minister John Manley suggested, in an opinion piece published Saturday, that the party executive and parliamentary caucus should choose at least an interim leader as soon as possible.

But Rae said a closed-door decision by those bodies – both of which are top-heavy with Ignatieff supporters – wouldn't be the right way to choose a permanent leader.

"I think there's going to be a problem if some people decide that they can somehow anoint themselves as the people who are going to force this issue in that way," Rae told CTV.

"I think there would be a tremendous reaction in the party against that kind of approach."

Rae suggested instead that an accelerated leadership race, including televised debates and a vote by rank-and-file members, could be organized with the goal of installing the winner "by the middle or third week of January."

If Dion should decide to step down before then, he said, it would be all right for caucus and the executive to select an interim leader to fill in while the process runs its course.

Although Dion negotiated the power-sharing deal with the NDP and the Bloc that brought the Harper government to the brink of a non-confidence vote, the prime minister dodged the bullet by persuading the Governor General last week to let him suspend Parliament for seven weeks.

He has also mounted a massive public relations campaign, including anti-Dion television and radio ads, contending that a leader whose party captured just 25 per cent of the vote in the Oct. 14 election doesn't have a legitimate mandate to govern.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Many Liberals acknowledge privately that Dion's continued presence as the public face of the party has complicated efforts to sell the idea of an alternative coalition government.

They point, as an example, to the embarrassing communications snafu last week in which Dion's team was an hour late delivering a videotape to broadcast outlets offering the Liberal response to a televised address by Harper.

Read more about: