Chretien's tenure as Canadian PM in doubt even if he wins

VANCOUVER, Canada (Reuters) -- How long Jean Chretien would stay on as Canada's prime minister if he wins the November 27 general election became the focus of the campaign on Friday, with one cabinet minister suggesting he might quit early and another saying he should stay for a full term.

Chretien has already won two mandates as prime minister and the polls say he is likely to win a third in the current election. But he is under fire for arrogance and has been putting out ambiguous messages about whether he intends to stay on, sometimes saying yes and no almost in the same sentence.

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Fisheries Minister Herb Dhaliwal said on Friday that Chretien would not be pushed into leaving.

"I think that within two to three years the prime minister would rather be out playing golf and improving his golf game," Dhaliwal told reporters at a rally for the ruling Liberal Party in Vancouver.

"I believe in that time probably he will go, but certainly he will not go if he is being pushed out. He will go at his own speed. If people try to push him, he'll dig in his heels."

Chretien's Liberals lead opinion polls with popular support of 40-46 percent, despite popular reservations about his own skills as prime minister. They are well ahead of the opposition Canadian Alliance party, which is polling 23-28 percent.

"I will stay for my mandate," Chretien told a television interviewer on Thursday. Seconds later, he added: "I'm seeking a mandate and in the third year, something like that, I will decide if I still want to do it (be prime minister) or not."

Cabinet minister Don Boudria, a close Chretien ally who is responsible for steering Liberal legislation through the House of Commons, told a news conference in Ottawa that he hoped Chretien would not quit early.

"I hope that he would want to stay with us as prime minister for a long time to come. Listen, he's only -- what -- 67 years old. At the age of 67, Ronald Reagan hadn't even been elected U.S. president," Boudria said.

Actually, Chretien is 66 years old.

Boudria added: "If there are some militants or others who think the prime minister has been around too long, there are many many more who see someone who has done a lot of good for Canada, knows how to govern well and has a lot more to add and to give us all before leaving public life."

Friday's rally in Vancouver was clearly designed as a show of party unity after persistent reports of back-biting among the Liberals, and it was attended by Finance Minister Paul Martin, who would be a top contender to lead the party if Chretien quits.

Martin is especially popular in Chretien's home province of Quebec. Many Canadians say he would make a better prime minister than Chretien, who has been in federal politics for 37 years.

It was only the second time that Martin and Chretien have appeared on the same platform during the campaign.

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