The Liberals have named a failed candidate who plans to run again in the next federal election as a director of the Hamilton Port Authority, a three-year appointment that appears to pay between $27,200 and $30,550 a year.

An order-in-council from March 28 shows cabinet signing off on the appointment of Jennifer Stebbing as a director of the Hamilton Port Authority, “to hold office for a term of three years, in the place of Melvin M. Hawkrigg, whose term has expired.”

Hawkrigg, according to the Port Authority’s 2016 consolidated financial statements, made $27,220 in 2016 and $30,550 in 2015.

Stebbing, an associate Lawyer at Ross & McBride LLP whose LinkedIn profile says she specializes in “estate planning and administration needs,” finished second to Conservative MP David Sweet in the Ontario Flamborough-Glanbrook riding in the 2015 federal election and has already stated she intends to run again in 2019.

In fact, she still has a Jennifer Stebbing – Flamborough Glanbrook Liberal Candidate Facebook page.

One of seven appointments and re-appointments to various ports in Canada, Marine Atlantic Inc., and the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada, officially announced Friday, Stebbing is the only Liberal candidate in the bunch.

Others, however, have donated to the party.

Darin Deschamps of Oakville, Ontario, who’s head of Investment Banking and Capital Markets at Wells Fargo Securities, was named as a director of the Toronto Port Authority, also for three years.

He gave the maximum, $1,525.00, to the Liberal party in 2016; $1,348.52 to the Toronto Centre riding association 2015; $1,121.57 to the Toronto Centre Liberal riding association in 2014; and another $1,200 to Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s nomination campaign in 2014.

Jim Spatz, a condominium and retail-store developer who attended a $1,500-a-ticket Liberal fundraiser last October that featured Morneau, was re-appointed as a director of the Halifax Port Authority for three years.

Though in recent years he’s regularly contributed to the Liberal party, he’s also been generous to the NDP and made a handful of donations to the Conservative party.

“The new appointments follow the Government of Canada’s open, transparent and merit-based appointment process – one that recommends high-quality candidates who advance gender parity and truly reflect Canada’s diversity,” the Liberals said in a press release Friday.

“I am pleased to announce that these highly qualified executives have agreed to serve in the transportation sector. Their appointment will ensure continued good governance. I also take this opportunity to thank outgoing board members Sharon Duggan and Melvin Hawkrigg for their valuable service,” Transport Minister Marc Garneau added.

At the same time, a CBC analysis by Elizabeth Thompson last week showed the Liberals are struggling to fill a backlog of appointments, with over one-third of governor-in-council positions vacant or occupied by an appointee whose term had already ended.

Those positions range from from federally appointed judges to tribunal members and directors of government agencies.

Overall, Thompson found 572 positions needing to be filled.