A call from Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams to defeat or amend the new federal budget may put six MPs in a delicate test of their loyalty.

Williams on Wednesday said he expects the six Liberals elected in the province last October to vote against the federal budget if there are no amendments that delete a controversial change — the premier called it a "maximum shaft" — that the province says means a loss of $1.6 billion over three years.

However, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was notably reluctant on Wednesday to commit to the amendments Williams had in mind, saying he could not back "hypothetical" scenarios at this point.

Williams said a change in the federal equalization program directly targets the offset payments, which are provided to provinces to effectively smooth over bumps in transfers, that the province receives.

Williams said the move is payback for the "Anything But Conservative" campaign that he waged in last year's election, and which no doubt helped elect the Liberal MPs.

"If the budget is not amended, or is amended in a manner that does not bring Newfoundland and Labrador back to the position that it was in before this budget, then I would be asking the Newfoundland and Labrador MPs to vote solidly against it," Williams told reporters in St. John's.

"I don't doubt for one minute that they would. I think that's basically why they were elected and I think they would do that."

'No one tells me how to vote'

One Liberal MP, though, said Williams should not make assumptions quickly.

"No one tells me how to vote," Random-Burin-St. George's MP Judy Foote told CBC News on Thursday.

Foote said the Liberal caucus from Newfoundland and Labrador has been making its case to Ignatieff, and hoping to effect change.

"He listened. He was very attentive. He understood and … we agreed that we have to find a solution, and that's what we're doing," Foote said.

"We're trying now to work out a solution, to make sure that what's being proposed isn't harmful to Newfoundland and Labrador."

Fellow Liberal MP Siobhan Coady raised the issue Wednesday in the House of Commons, attacking Prime Minister Stephen Harper for "his heavy-handed and vindictive approach to federal-provincial relations."

Denial and rebuke

That brought not only a denial from the federal government, but also a rebuke from Jack Harris, the NDP member for St. John's East.

"If my honourable friend from St. John's South-Mount Pearl is so upset with this budget, I invite her to join us in opposing it," said Harris, underscoring a split that erupted Wednesday between the Liberals and New Democrats after Ignatieff refused to defeat the government immediately.

Meanwhile, Ted Menzies, the parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, said Newfoundland and Labrador is not losing anything in offsets.

"[Budget provisions] will keep Newfoundland and Labrador on track with all of the other provinces. As I have said many times in the house, this Conservative government treats all provinces equally and with the same respect," Menzies said during question period.

Williams, though, has said that federal government officials have confirmed the provincial government's calculations.

Scott Simms, the Liberal MP for Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, said a possible conflict between the federal Liberals and Williams may feel like a replay of the fight leading up to the 2005 Atlantic Accord.