In her two months as interim leader of the BC NDP, Dawn Black admits it's rare that she's been able to get away from the Lower Mainland to visit other parts of the province.
However, the MLA for New Westminster-Burnaby say she's made an exception for the Nelson-Creston riding, where she's spending the weekend.
"In a little over three months, there isn't really time to [travel]," Black told local media during her stop in Nelson. "But I particularly wanted to come to Michelle Mungall's riding, because I was so impressed with the work she's done for the people in this community."
Black and local MLA Mungall are both relative newcomers to the B.C. Legislature, elected together in 2009. Since then, the interim leader says she's been impressed with her Kootenay colleague's presence in the party and the leadership role she's sometimes taken with the NDP's other female members.
"Michelle is kind of the future of the New Democratic Party," says Black. "Young energetic, smart, able to connect with people and attract the kind of people we want to attract to our party."
Black is the latest in a string of high-profile New Democrats to visit Nelson in 2011, following appearances by Mike Farnworth, Adrian Dix and John Horgan, the three frontrunners in the party's current leadership race. The party's leadership debate is also set to make a stop here later this month.
A similar number of Liberal leadership hopefuls also paid the city a visit, and Black says she doesn't think it's surprising the riding has seen a high level of political activity this year.
"I think there needs to be that emphasis [on the area], and it's a good thing," she says.
Nor does she think the NDP's upcoming leadership convention will bring an end to campaigning here and elsewhere in the province.
"We realize we're now in a compressed timeline," she says, adding members of the NDP are working on policies to present to whoever replaces her as party leader.
"One of my goals is to have that work done so when our new leader is elected on April 17 we can lay out a menu for the new leader and hit the ground running," she says. "Because I think we'll have an election before the end of this year."