There's still a chance the minority Conservative government could fall in a late January budget vote, potentially triggering another federal election, however in an apparent attempt to work with the ruling party on mending the country's finances two senior Liberals met on Monday with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Grits Scott Brison and John McCallum seemed cautiously optimistic following their meeting with Flaherty, and said they urged him to take a good look at the country's economy before deciding on a stimulus package.

"It was a productive meeting," McCallum noted after speaking with Flaherty. "It was a business-like meeting, and we will certainly be conferring with our leader Michael Ignatieff to determine next steps."

When asked about specifics, he diverted the question.

"Before we can talk about what the fiscal stimulus should be, we need to know what is the state of the books today," said Liberal MP John McCallum.  "That was the primary focus of the meeting."

Bloc Leader Gilles Ducepe was also in T oronto, but wouldn't weigh in on the impending power clash.

"I am a Yogi Berra fan, I don't make predictions, especially those concerning the future," he said.

The Liberals, now under Ignatieff's leadership after former boss Stephane Dion resigned last week, have threatened to bring down the government when it releases its January 27 budget. There's still a possibility the Grits may try to form a coalition government with the NDP and Bloc Quebecois, although that could only happen if the Conservatives fall. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last week that he was interested in working with the Liberals on a budget that would benefit Canadians.

"He seemed more interested today in talking about the economy, and that's where we have always been," Brison remarked. "We do want to put people first. We want to focus on the Canadian economy and put the economy, people's jobs, people's savings, ahead of politics. We will do our best to make that happen."

Flaherty's latest economic update was roundly criticized for not including any concrete plans to stimulate the economy. That prompted the opposition parties to band together to vote down the Conservative government, which the PM managed to avoid by shutting down Parliament until 2009.

The Finance Minister didn't immediately comment on how he felt the meeting went.