Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's new chief of staff, Peter Donolo, has a good sense of what needs to be done to turn the ship around and the experienced new people he's brought to the leader's office have the confidence of caucus, say Liberals, but it remains to be seen whether Mr. Ignatieff has the political skills to compete with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"I think Peter Donolo will shape Mr. Ignatieff to become political, or Peter Donolo will take a walk," said one Liberal MP who asked not to be named.

The MP said the leader reminds him of Robert Redford in the 1972 film The Candidate, particularly in the movie's most famous scene where Mr. Redford's character, the confused political novice Bill McKay, asks his campaign manager, "What do we do now?"

Absent/Paired Liberal and Conservative MPs on HST Vote on Dec. 3

Conservatives: Absent

1. David Anderson (Cypress Hill-Grasslands, Sask.)

2. James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake, Man.)

3. Jean-Pierre Blackburn (Jonquière-Alma, Que.)

4. Rod Bruinooge (Winnipeg South, Man.)

5. Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills, Ont.)

6. Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.)

7. John Duncan (Vancouver Island North, B.C.)

8. Helena Guergis (Simcoe-Grey, Ont.)

9. Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.)

10. Gerald Keddy (South Shore-St. Margaret's, N.S.)

11. James Lunney (Nanaimo-Alberni, B.C.)

12. Peter MacKay (Central Nova, N.S.)

13. Cathy McLeod (Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, B.C.)

14. Larry Miller (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, Ont.)

15. Terrence Young (Oakville, Ont.)

16. Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, Alta.)

17. Scott Reid (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox Addington, Ont.)

18. Blake Richards (Wild Rose, Alta.)

19. Lee Richardson (Calgary Centre, Alta.)

20. Gary Schellenberger (Perth-Wellington, Ont.)

21. Joy Smith (Kildonan-St. Paul, Man.)

22. Brian Storseth (Westlock-St. Paul, Alta.)

23. Greg Thompson (New Brunswick Southwest, N.B.)

24. Josée Verner (Louis-Saint-Laurent, Que.)

Conservatives: Paired

Pairing is the arranging, by the party whips, for two MPs, one of them from the governing party and the other from one of the opposition parties, to agree to abstain from voting on a particular occasion in order to permit one or both to be absent from the House. Their votes are thus effectively neutralized and the relative strength of their parties in the House is maintained.

1. Dean Allison (Niagara West-Glanbrook)

2. Dona Cadman (Surrey North, B.C.)

3. Lawrence Cannon (Pontiac, Que.)

4. Stockwell Day (Okanagan-Coquihalla, B.C.)

5. Bob Dechert (Mississauga-Erindale, Ont.)

6. Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.)

7. Daryl Kramp (Prince Edward-Hastings, Ont.)

8. Inky Mark (Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette, Man.)

9. Gerry Ritz (Battlefords-Lloydminster, Sask.)

10. Andrew Saxton (North Vancouver, B.C.)

11. John Weston (West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast, B.C.)

12. Alice Wong (Richmond, B.C.)

Liberals: Absent

1. Scott Andrews (Avalon, Nfld.)

2. Navdeep Bains (Mississauga-Brampton South, Ont.)

3. Mauril Bélanger (Ottawa-Vanier, Ont.)

4. Bryon Wilfert (Richmond Hill, Ont.)

5. Maurizio Bevilacqua (Vaughan, Ont.)

6. Gerry Byrne (Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte, Nfld.)

7. Denis Coderre (Bourassa, Que.)

8. Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Que.)

9. Mark Eyking (Sydney-Victoria, N.S.)

10. Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre, B.C.)

11. Mark Holland (Ajax-Pickering, Ont.)

12. Marlene Jennings (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Lachine, Que.)

13. Jim Karygiannis (Scarborough-Agincourt, Ont.)

14. Lawrence MacAulay (Cardigan, P.E.I.)

15. Gurbax Malhi (Bramalea-Gore-Malton, Ont.)

16. Keith Martin (Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, B.C.)

17. David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Ont.)

18. Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra, B.C.)

19. Rob Oliphant (Don Valley West, Ont.)

20. Massimo Pacetti (Saint-Léonard-Saint-Michel, Que.)

21. Bernard Patry (Pierrefonds-Dollard, Que.)

22. Yasmin Ratansi (Don Valley East, Ont.)

23. Geoff Regan (Halifax West, N.S.)

24. Michael Savage (Darmouth-Cole Harbour, N.S.)

25. Mario Silva (Davenport, Ont.)

26. Paul Szabo (Mississauga South, Ont.)

27. Dan McTeague (Pickering-Scarborough East, Ont.)

28. Michelle Simson (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.)

When Mr. Ignatieff (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ont.) took the reigns of the Liberal Party last December after the luckless tenure of former leader Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Que.) the first thing he did was bring in many of the people who worked on his unsuccessful 2006 leadership campaign to run his office. Interim chief of staff and former MP Paul Zed led the team until last summer when the leader's close friend Ian Davey took over. At that point Mr. Ignatieff embarked on a disastrous strategy by declaring he would defeat Prime Minister Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) Conservative government at the earliest opportunity. The Liberals dropped like a stone in the polls; an Ekos survey on Sept. 3 had both parties tied at 32.6 per cent, and by mid-October the Tories were in majority territory, at 39.7 per cent, while the Grits' numbers were even worse than the last election, at 25.7 per cent. And although last month the leader brought in a new team led by Mr. Donolo, who was director of communications under former prime minister Jean Chrétien, the Tories are maintaining their 10-point lead. And while some Liberals are cautiously optimistic, there's still uncertainty over whether Mr. Ignatieff's leadership can be salvaged.

"I think he became the leader and he got overwhelmed. ... I don't think the second step, 'Now I've got to win and become prime minister,' I don't think that has set in with him yet. That's the problem," said the MP.

The latest challenge for Mr. Ignatieff was the debate over the controversial Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), which the provincial governments of Ontario and B.C. want to implement. The leader, who has criticized the tax in the past, announced last week his caucus would support the tax, along with the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois. But Liberal MPs from Ontario and B.C. publicly voiced their opposition to the decision following a heated debate in caucus, fearing voters in the next federal election would punish them. In the end no Liberals voted against the tax, but 27 MPs were absent, representing more than a third of the 77-member caucus, although Mr. Ignatieff told reporters that on subsequent votes they would see a united caucus.

"In the Liberal Party we actually pride ourselves on different people being able to have different opinions from time to time. We also know that there are times when we show solidarity. ... It is something to be proud of as a party that we have people who can actually express different opinions. I don't see that on the other side of the House," said Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay (Willowdale, Ont.), who showed up for the vote.

Mr. Donolo's initial assessment was that the leader was dealing too much with the day-to-day concerns of caucus, which he's taken steps to delegate to OLO staff and MPs, said Liberal Whip Rodger Cuzner (Cape Breton-Canso, N.S.). Face time with the leader is in shorter supply than it used to be, with MPs having to go through Mr. Cuzner or former MP Karen Redman, the caucus liaison, and people from the party office being filtered through party liaison Heather Chiasson.

"Now more so they're wanting him to step back from that and look at things from more a view from 36,000 feet, a broader view and a broader range. He's taken steps to physically manage his schedule so he can do that," he said.

Mr. Donolo has brought more discipline and structure to the leader's office, which was seen to be more lax when Mr. Davey was in charge. One of his first acts as chief of staff was to send out an office-wide email informing staffers that there would be a stricter dress code in effect and they were to wear "business attire only," as apparently in the Davey-days some of the junior staff were showing up for work in jeans and t-shirts.

While before there were many junior staffers and a more horizontal organizational chart, now there are more experienced hands and it's clear who is reporting to whom. Previously the Liberal Research Bureau (LRB) and the OLO were essentially amalgamated, but now are two separate entities headed up by Brian Bohunicky, a former senior civil servant who also worked for several Chrétien-era ministers.

"Adult supervision," is a phrase many Liberal insiders have been using to describe the different atmosphere under Mr. Donolo. For instance, whereas previously the Queen Street branch of the leader's office was dominated by junior staff, now senior staffers Pat Sorbara, chief operating officer, and director of communications Mario Laguë are overseeing operations there. Another example of the gulf in experience between the Davey and Donolo OLOs is the leader's executive assistant, who travels with Mr. Ignatieff and acts as his perpetual right hand. Formerly the position was held by 20-something staffer Olivier Duchesneau, who was one of ten staff members to be let go when Mr. Donolo took over, and was replaced by Jim Pimblett, who was former prime minister Paul Martin's EA, and who also worked for Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty while he was in opposition.

The understanding among Liberals is that the plan is to play the long game, with another federal election far off in the distance. It's a welcome development for many, considering the polls.

"I don't think it's any secret," said Ms. Hall Findlay of the relief in caucus not to be heading out on the hustings anytime soon. "There's a much greater recognition that we have an opportunity now to take a bit more time to do some of the things that we need to do and that's welcomed by a lot of people."

In the meantime the party has shutdown its election war room, which was headed up by Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella, who has returned to his day job in Toronto. In the New Year Mr. Ignatieff will travel across the country to talk to Canadians about their hopes and dreams for the country in the lead up to a policy conference the Liberals are holding in Montreal from March 26 to 28, called "Canada at 150: Rising to the Challenge." The leader has spoken about Canada's 150th birthday, in 2017, in several speeches and it was also a theme of his recent book, True Patriot Love. He promised to hold the so-called "thinkers conference," inspired by similar Liberal policy conferences in 1960, and in 1991, in both of his leadership campaigns, however it always took a backseat to election preparation—until now.

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