Rumours of a potential pact between two of the four top Liberal leadership candidates swirled on Thursday at the party's convention as news of a meeting between Gerard Kennedy and Stéphane Dion reached delegates.

Various scenarios were being sketched out that could see dramatic shifts of second- and third-ballot support and surprise surges by either candidate beyond the front-runner Michael Ignatieff and his chief rival, Bob Rae.

Strategists have speculated about Ignatieff's and Rae's teams "loaning" votes to Kennedy to keep him in third place ahead of Dion, who would then be the next candidate dropped off the ballot after the trailing four bottom-tier candidates withdraw.

Kennedy acknowledged the meeting with Dion and said he plans to sit down with other candidates in the days to come.

"This will be a close race," Kennedy said. "Delegates are going to be making tough decisions and some of my fellow candidates may have to make difficult decisions.

"I want to make sure that they know what I have to offer. … So, that's something that will continue to happen, through the day, through the weekend, because that's the nature of this."    

Dion's camp played down the Wednesday night meeting as part of the campaign process.

"Yes, Mr. Dion did meet with Mr. Kennedy, as he's met and spoken to all of the other candidates throughout this process, and to many delegates, as well," said his spokeswoman, Orli Namian.

Volpe delegates courted

A possible deal between Rae — who holds the second-largest amount of delegates ahead of Friday's first ballot — and bottom-tier candidate Joe Volpe was also rumoured to be in the works after Rae defended the Toronto MP during a question-and-answer session with delegates.

"I've known Joe for a long time, and he's one of the most practiced, seasoned parliamentarians and politicians in the country," Rae said.

"And I believe he's somebody that has a lot to contribute to this race, and somebody who continues to have a lot to contribute to political life in Canada."

Volpe's delegates are being heavily courted ahead of the vote. Volpe, who served as a cabinet minister in Paul Martin's government, was fined by the party at the beginning of his beleaguered campaign for breaking rules in signing up delegates.

Also on Thursday, delegates rejected moving the party to a direct one-member, one-vote leadership process through a national poll, which means this weekend may not mark the last Liberal leadership convention decided by delegates.

With files from the Canadian Press