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Coderre makes up with Liberals: 'We are a great party'

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CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Fri. Oct. 2 2009 7:40 PM ET

With Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff warning of potential "consequences," embattled Liberal MP Denis Coderre used a TV appearance and Facebook to try and patch things up.

"I think it's an opportunity to say that we are a great party," Coderre said in a clip released Friday from a French-language talk show appearance to air on Sunday.

The talk show clips came out days after Coderre resigned as the party's chief MP in Quebec. In his resignation speech, he accused Ignatieff of having too many advisers from Toronto.

Coderre's conciliatory tone on the show appears to have paid off. A spokesman for Ignatieff confirmed late Friday that the Montreal MP won't be kicked out of caucus.

Coderre had been "told that if he did go overboard he was out of caucus, so no (more) trouble will be coming out of there," political analyst Jean Lapierre told CTV Power Play host Tom Clark.

To make amends for the comments he made during his resignation, Coderre also spent time promoting a meeting of Liberals in Quebec City this weekend through his Facebook page and made phone calls.

Lapierre said that last week, only 78 people had registered for the convention. He said that after phone calls from Coderre's camp, between 500 and 600 are now registered.

"I don't think he'll make any more problems," Lapierre said.

The spat between Coderre and Ignatieff began when Ignatieff and Coderre disagreed on which candidate should run in a Montreal riding. Coderre refused Ignatieff's calls and skipped events, including Thursday's government confidence vote.

Coderre had said that because of his spat with Ignatieff, he felt compelled to quit.

"There was a reality we were confronted with," he said. "And I had a duty to say I was leaving my post.

"But that doesn't take away from the strengths of Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party of Canada."

-With files from The Canadian Press

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