Rocco Rossi is a key part of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's team. And by that, I mean, he's the money man.

Rossi was chief executive officer of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario where he was known for bringing in the cash.

That's essentially what's he been tapped to do for the Liberal party too. Of course, his official title is Liberal party national director.

Now, as you may have heard, the Liberals need dough. Not as badly as they did six months ago, but the party still lags far behind the cash machine that is the Conservative party.

So Rossi is pulling out all the stops. On July 23, Rossi is launching a — wait for it — kayak trip. That's right, a kayak trip.

It's called "Up the Creek WITH a Paddle," and Rossi will kayak from Kingston to Ottawa.

There's a whole other theme to the kayak trip too:

The next prime minister will be Canada's 23rd (hence the date), and Rossi hopes Ignatieff will be that No. 23.

So Rossi's asking supporters to donate 23 bucks. Or multiples of 23. Or volunteer 23 hours. You get the idea. The money will help Ignatieff's 23rd prime minister bid, which could come as early as this fall, if you are to believe some people in Ottawa these days.

Rossi will tweet and blog his adventure.

And just in case you're wondering, he's successfully tried this kind of stunt before in his previous fundraising gig. We'll see how well it works for him this time.

— Rosemary Barton