OTTAWA - Like kids going to their first day at school, MPs will be donning their best suits and lugging freshly-filled briefcases back to work today on Parliament Hill for their last fall sitting before the next general election.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make a show of it, rallying supporters and colleagues a few blocks away from the seat of power in a campaign-style event.
Harper will outline his government's fall agenda at a speech this morning (10:45 a.m. ET) at an Ottawa convention hall.
Expect the prime minister to focus heavily on the economy and job creation.
The New Democrats will spend the lunch hour spelling out how they'll be opposing the Tories, at a news conference in the Charles Lynch Press Theatre.
Here are some of the other comings and goings expected in Ottawa and around today:
— Liberal MP Marc Garneau will ask for an emergency debate in the House of Commons on the decision to deploy members of the Canadian Armed Forces to Iraq;
— The CRTC will begin a second week of hearings in Gatineau, Que., into how Canada's television industry can keep up with technological change, with a focus on how Canadians receive TV signals, and how they pay for them. Witnesses appearing today include the Walt Disney Company and Numeris;
— Industry Minister James Moore will speak at The School of Public Policy's international trade experts annual symposium;
— And climate change activist Joseph Boutilier, who rode a unicycle 5,000-kilometers across Canada to promote action to prevent global warming, will hold a news conference along with several members of Parliament.
