The media paints Stéphane Dion as a weak leader, but one of his British Columbia candidates says the Liberal leader is just misunderstood.

“I don't know why the press aren't talking about this,” said Briony Penn, the Liberal candidate for Saanich-Gulf Islands. “This guy is so different. His style of leadership is so different from anything anyone has ever seen in Canada and it's going by unnoticed.”

To make her point, she told the story of Dion arriving for a press conference in Victoria off a plane from Ottawa on the day the tapes were released of Robert Dziekanski dying after being tasered by police at Vancouver airport. Dion hadn't heard them, but Penn had while driving to the event.

He turned to her and said, “You tell the press, what was your reaction.”

That trust speaks volumes, she said. “What does that tell you about his leadership style? Would Stephen Harper have done that? Stephen Harper wouldn't have even done that to his minister. Stephen Harper would have had to sit and control every word that was said and would probably have said 'no comment'.”

The media needs to give Dion more credit for his leadership style, she said. “This is a guy that's collaborative and people are really underestimating the power of that kind of leadership.”