Angry in the Great White North

The local Liberals in Nanaimo-Alberni are brimming with confidence.  They routinely finish a distant third in federal elections.  They don't have a candidate yet for the upcoming election.  Nor has anyone stepped forward to take the job:

Paula Waatainen, president of the Liberal Party of Canada’s local riding association, said party members will soon pick a candidate. She said a Port Alberni resident and a Nanaimo resident have yet to file their official papers.

“I think this is going to be a very competitive riding,” she said.

Well, don't wait too long.  The trick to being competitive is to be in the competition.  But Paula Waatainen has a plan for boosting Liberal fortunes in Nanaimo-Alberni.  She says having "leader" Bob Rae visit the riding would help a lot:

Waatainen said she hopes Bob Rae, Liberal MP for Toronto Centre, will visit the riding.

“I think a lot of the leaders hit the big cities,” she said. “It would be nice to get them into the small communities.”

The leaders?  Does she mean the senior members of the Liberal Party?  But the word "leader" is always reserved for the actual leader: Stephane Dion of the Liberal Party, Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party, and so on.

Even if Paula Waatainen was using the word "leader" in a loose sense, it's still interesting that of all the senior Liberals she wants to drop in for a visit, it is Bob Rae, and not Stephane Dion, that she wants canvassing with the Liberal candidate.

Would it be OK if Stephane Dion visited instead?  You know, in case Bob Rae is too busy.