The Conservative Party thinks its just-completed moderate makeover means the Liberals will no longer be able to paint them as scary, right-wing zealots.

"The Liberals will continue to run on that. They have nothing else to run on. They're not going to run on their record and they're certainly not going to run on all their broken promises," party leader Stephen Harper told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

He also tried turning the tables by saying it was the Liberals who had a radical hidden agenda.

"Mr. Martin claims one thing and then his own party goes out and says it's for legalizing prostitution and for legalizing drugs. I think the problem with the hidden agenda is going to be Mr. Martin explaining why what his party says is different than what he always says," Harper said.

Peter MacKay, the party's deputy leader and former head of the pre-merger Progressive Conservative Party, told Question Period: "We're less susceptible to accusations of not having policies or hidden agendas -- all of that nonsense can be answered very quickly now."

During last summer's federal election campaign, the Liberals got mileage out of Conservative candidates who put forward right-wing positions on hot-button issues like bilingualism, abortion and same-sex marriage.

The Tories endorsed the traditional definition of marriage but tried to keep the abortion debate under wraps. Harper's position of not bringing in legislation to restrict abortion was endorsed by the party's grassroots.

On economic issues, MacKay promised the Tories would give the governing Liberal minority a tougher ride.

"We're going to be a rigorous opposition, we're going to be more aggressive in making our case to Canadians that this government needs to be replaced and that Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party are the natural governing alternative," he said.

Former Saskatchewan NDP cabinet minister Janice McKinnon tried to plant doubt about the new, moderate Tory image makeover.

"I still think a lot of Canadians will still be uneasy about who Stephen Harper is and exactly how right-wing his agenda is," she told Question Period.

MacKay denies rift

Over the weekend, MacKay became furious when Conservative MP Scott Reid brought forth a resolution calling for Western ridings to get more weighting -- and more delegates because of their greater membership numbers.

The proposal would have drastically changed how delegates are chosen for the party's convention. It also flew in the face of the merger agreement that united the former Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties in December 2003.

Speaking on CTV's Canada AM on Monday, MacKay said the issue was dealt with in a mature manner, and he denied there was any rift in the party.

"What I did was react to circumstances that I felt were critical to the future of the party," MacKay said.

"Clearly the membership shared that view and supported the efforts to keep the equality ridings provision there.

"And I think we showed maturity as a party. We showed that we can deal with divisive issues in a fashion that leaves us united at the end of the day."

What's next

The Tories' new approach will be seen in action when Parliament starts voting on enabling legislation flowing from the Feb. 23 budget, along with the yearly financial estimates.

Some of those votes may be seen as confidence matters, meaning if the Liberals lose, Canadians could go to the polls for the second time in less than a year.

Still, MacKay said there would be no abstentions such as there was on March 9, when the Tories sat out the vote on the Liberal budget.

Harper told his troops to be ready for an election at any time -- although he said he wants Parliament to work.

The last poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid gave the Liberals about 40 per cent support with the Tories under 30 per cent -- about where things were before the election was called last May.

With the Liberals holding 133 seats of 308 and the Conservatives 99, Harper said a switch of 20 seats between the two could result in a change in government.

While Harper's party needs gains in Ontario, where it holds 24 of 103 seats, it is completely off the board in Quebec, which has 75 seats (the Liberals hold 21 and the Bloc Quebecois 54). The Tories captured less than 10 per cent of the popular vote in Quebec in the June 28 federal election.

Senator Pierre Claude Nolin had this to say to The Canadian Press about the new policy platform: ""It's a positive expression that will appeal to all Canadians and also to many Quebecers."

However, he wouldn't predict an electoral breakthrough in Quebec based on the new policy approach.

With a report from CTV's David Akin and files from The Canadian Press