Denis Coderre took a decidedly conciliatory tone in his first public appearance since he stepped down in a burst of indignant anger as the federal Liberals' Quebec lieutenant last week.

Denis Coderre says he's still a Liberal, despite disagreement with leader Michael Ignatieff. (CBC)

During his guest appearance on Radio-Canada's popular Sunday night talk show, Tout le monde en parle, the Montreal MP (Bourassa) was more measured in his critique of Liberal Party leadership.

He qualified his incendiary comments — made last week — that the Liberal Party is run by Torontonians.

But he didn't take it back. "When the toothpaste is out of the tube, you can't put it back in," Coderre told host Guy A. Lepage, adding he did not regret his decision to speak out.

The former Liberal defence critic and chief Quebec organizer tried to explain to the live studio audience how an internal dispute over the riding nomination in Outremont escalated into a public scrap between himself and Ignatieff.

Coderre said his resignation was inevitable after the skirmish.

"If I have an agreement with a candidate for a specific riding and the nod from the party leader, in my head it's settled," he told Lepage.

Coderre hinted Ignatieff bowed to pressure from his Toronto advisers in overruling his candidate pick.

Ignatieff announced he would clear the way for former Liberal cabinet minister Martin Cauchon to seek re-election in the riding he represented for 11 years.

Coderre's candidate, businesswoman Natalie Le Prohon, was cast aside in what he described as an undermining of his authority. "It's simple: Did I still have the capacity to be lieutenant?" he said.

"I no longer felt I did, so I resigned. But I'm still a Liberal."

Coderre chose to sit out a weekend meeting of the party's Quebec wing to not distract from Ignatieff's speech.

"If it was a convention with Denis Coderre, well, the news would have been Denis Coderre," he said.

"I think the news should be: 'Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal Party of Canada and Quebec, and party faithful."

Coderre missed key Liberal vote in House

Coderre said he missed Thursday's no-confidence vote in the House of Commons because he was caring for his ailing father.

He reproached the Conservatives for fuelling the deficit and not helping unemployed Canadians. He also criticized the Tories' foreign policy.

But Coderre doesn't think his disagreement with Ignatieff will boost the Bloc Québécois.

"If the Bloc needs Denis Coderre to survive, it has a pertinence problem," he told Lepage.

With files from The Canadian Press