We won. We won big

Jean Chretien

The pair disputed the Liberal Party leadership in 1990, and already cool ties between them reached breaking point this March when Mr Chretien had to quash dissent from Martin supporters urging the 66-year-old prime minister to step down.

But jubilant Mr Chretien made it clear on Tuesday that he was in no mood to step aside, pledging to take Canada "into the 21st century on the right foot".

Mr Chretien indicated that Mr Martin would continue as finance minister, a job he has held since the Liberals came to power in 1993.

Critics confounded

Referring to a post-election cabinet shuffle, expected next week, Mr Chretien said he had "no plan to shuffle (Martin) at this time".

Many in Mr Martin's camp fear that if Mr Chretien stays on for five years, the 62-year-old finance chief could lose out to younger rivals like Health Minister Allan Rock or Industry Minister Brian Tobin.

The first real chance for a change at the top is a Liberal Party leadership review at a biennial party convention scheduled for March 2002.

Stockwell Day: Party took 66 seats

Mr Chretien has gone to the polls early on two occasions, and this time confounded critics within his own party for the decision to do so.

Those critics said Mr Chretien should have waited until early next year before calling the election, predicting the early call could cost the governing Liberals a loss of seats in parliament.

Instead, on the strength of the nostalgia sweeping the country after the death of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Mr Chretien's mentor, the wily "little guy from Shawinigan" increased his majority.

Mr Chretien insisted his decision to go to the polls early was was a good one.

No referendum

"We won," he said. "We won big."

Mr Chretien, a French-speaking Canadian from Quebec, is a long-time opponent of the movement in Quebec to establish a separate French-speaking state, independent of Canada.

And he took satisfaction that, for the first time in 20 years, the Liberals had outpolled the others there, winning 44% of Quebec's popular vote.

Mr Chretien said the results in Quebec confirmed his view that Quebeckers did not want another referendum on the independence issue.

Mr Chretien's Liberals won 173 seats in the 301-seat House of Commons with the populist conservative Canadian Alliance party led by Stockwell Day taking 66 seats, the Bloc Quebecois (which wants independence for Quebec) 37, the left-of-centre New Democrats 13 and the right-of-centre Progressive Conservatives 12.

Mr Chretien is planning to convene his old cabinet for a final session in Ottawa Thursday and is expected to announce a new cabinet some time next week.