OTTAWA, January 29, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Buried in a National Post story today is a claim that Prime Minister Jean Chretien is determined to ensure Joe Clark is retained as the Conservative Party leader to avoid a unification of conservatives.
Quoting an unnamed source, the Post reports that “While the Liberals will be happy to further weaken the opposition, Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, wants to ensure the defections do not undermine Mr. Clark.” According to the sources, “Mr. Chretien told the Liberal caucus yesterday he wants Mr. Clark to stay as leader to ensure the small “c” conservative vote continues to be splintered, which allows the Liberals to remain in power.”“We don’t want to do anything to bring Joe down. We need him. It’s necessary for a split in the vote,” an MP quoted Mr. Chretien as saying.
See the coverage in the National Post: https://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020129/1270361.html