The who's who of the conservative world is gathering in Ottawa this weekend.

The meeting is being organized by Preston Manning, the former leader of the Reform Party, and the man who began the Unite the Right movement.

Heckling in the House of Commons, if you can even hear it over the cheering and clapping, is often rather banal. MPs tend to resort to predictable partisan attacks.

Sometimes, though, it gets personal, even very personal, like today.

This exchange took place just before question period, which itself was a pretty raucous affair. Ed Fast, the Conservative MP from Abbotsford, B.C., rose to congratulate his party on the passage of the government's new crime law, which had been hung up for a bit in the Liberal-dominated Senate.

That was when Liberal MP Shawn Murphy, from Charlottetown, who sits next to Fast turned in his seat towards the microphone and started yelling, "Get tough on crime, bring forth Brian Mulroney! Hang him high, hang Mulroney! Let's get this Mulroney before the courts as soon as possible and hang him high! We gotta get Mulroney, put a noose on his head, put a noose on his head. Get tough on crime."

Murphy is head of the Commons public accounts committee, the one that recently suggested citing a senior Mountie for contempt while it was probing management problems within the force.

CBC called Murphy's office for an explanation but he didn't return our call. His office said he was rushing for a flight back to his constituency.

The prime minister's deputy press secretary, Dimitri Soudas, was called as a witness today before a House of Commons committee looking into a media report that he tried to intervene in a dispute between the Department of Public Works and a developer from Montreal.

Soudas had company.

Who is the leader of the opposition?

There were a few extra pink ties being worn on Parliament Hill today.

Politicians were asked to sport pink ties to support anti-bullying day, a notion that follows a popular movement begun by Nova Scotia high school students, encouraging students to wear pink to protest bullying.

The Liberals are practicing the fine art of trying to have it both ways.

They are critical of the Harper budget while at the same time trying to justify why they will let it pass.

To defeat the budget would trigger an election and Liberals don't seem to be in a big rush to go to the voters no
matter how bad they regard the Harper government policies.

Both Liberal finance critic John McCallum and industry critic Scott Brison are sounding the alarm that the government is flirting with a deficit.

Reporters entering the budget lock-up have to give up their cell phones and BlackBerrys.

More than one was seen reaching for an empty BlackBerry holster.

Being cut off is something none of us is used to anymore.

If shoes could talk Finance Minister Jim Flaherty hopes his are sending a clear, prudent message.

Flaherty bucked the long-held tradition of buying new shoes on the eve of the budget.

Instead he opted to resole his old, black size eights. An indication of what to expect in the budget? You bet, says Flaherty.

"The world is watching." So said Defence Minister Peter MacKay as the debate on Canada's role in the Afghanistan mission got underway Monday in the House of Commons.

MacKay told MPs that the debate is one that will reverberate.

Maybe so.

Among other things, the federal government loves winter festivals.

It's been a flurry of spending over the past three weeks from the feds, with most of the action coming from Heritage Canada.

Close to 11 million has been announced for more than forty organizations across the country.

Last year, Liberal leader Stephane Dion promised that in the next federal election, one third of his party's candidates would be women.

It was an ambitious goal.

The overall percentage of women elected to the House of Commons has been stuck at roughly 20% since 1993.

It has been more than two years since Justice John Gomery released his final report in the sponsorship inquiry.

The scandal served as an effective platform to launch the Conservatives into power with a mandate to make government more accountable.

But today lawyers were still arguing about whether Judge Gomery was biased and his decisions tainted.

Some say politics is all about perception.

Stephane Dion may be trying to change his.

The discerning eye will notice Dion has changed his glasses.

He's updated them a bit. Instead of no frame, he now has a thin black one around the upper half.

Now, we realize this is the second blog about Dion's accessories (see blog about Dion's backpack), but small observations about politicians are often quite telling.

Of course, what we can't tell you is how a change of glasses changes the optics for an election.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion cleared up a little mystery this morning, something that has been nagging people on Parliament Hill for most of a decade now.

Nope, it wasn't his grand plan for urban renewal, like the one he was laying out at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference.

Dion revealed the origin of his brown knapsack, the one he has been carrying around ever since he first became a cabinet minister in the mid-1990s.

It turns out the knapsack was a gift from fellow Liberal, MP Byron Wilfert from the Toronto-area riding of Richmond Hill, who picked it up at another FCM conference years ago and passed it on to Dion.

It must be something of a good luck charm, Dion is rarely seen without it.

Just before the meeting ended, word began seeping out of the room where the Liberal caucus gathers for its weekly get-together.

Apparently, some Liberals were getting nervous about forcing an election in the weeks ahead. Quite nervous, in fact.

The concern was about provoking an election over the Conservative budget, which is slated to be delivered February 26.

Now these rumours can be hard to confirm. Politicians are often willing to leak but not speak on the record about something as visceral as fear of an election.

So CBC News approached one of the more outspoken members of the Liberal caucus, Garth Turner, the former Conservative MP, who is in favour of going to the polls sooner rather than later.

Are your colleagues getting nervous, he was asked?

His reply: "Some of my colleagues would rather have their organs harvested without anaesthetic than go to the polls."

He went on to say that is a normal reaction in any caucus. And it probably is. But the frank description of that kind of political fear is not.

The House of Commons ethics committee had another full slate of witnesses ready for tomorrow. But there are some things you just can't control.

Elmer MacKay, a former minister in the government of Brian Mulroney and also a friend of Mulroney's current antagonist, Karlheinz Schreiber, won't be there. MacKay, the father of Peter MacKay, the current defence minister, had a fall, was taken to hospital and is unable to travel.

That is too bad because MacKay might have offered some important bits of information that could contribute to a greater understanding of this whole affair.

Oopsie. The Liberal auction has now been modified.

Concerned after questions were raised of improper fundraising, the Liberal party will now only accept bids from individuals at its auction tonight and only those bids to a maximum of $1,100, the legal limit for an annual political donation.

Also, the proceeds will not be handed over immediately to the Liberal party, but set aside pending advice from Elections Canada.

The Liberals still think their auction is appropriate and legal, but want to be "above board," an official said.

So, it turns out a tennis match with Bob Rae does indeed have a price after all.

Want to take in an Ottawa Senators game in the company of Ken Dryden?

A lunch with Michael Ignatieff?

Or a golf game with former prime minister Paul Martin?

All of these are up for grabs at a Liberal auction being held tonight in Ottawa.

And the price? Apparently "the sky is the limit."

The advertising for the event specifically says that any bid will not be considered a political contribution and therefore will not count against a donor's annual legal limit, which is $1,100.

The Liberal party's explanation: If you are paying for something and getting something in return for commercial value that is not a political donation.

Of coure, that is not how the Conservatives see this so-called auction. In fact, Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre has sent a letter to Elections Canada demanding it investigate the entire event.

But just how do you determine how much a tennis match with Bob Rae is really worth?

As for rumours that the auction will be cancelled? Priceless.

Liberal MPs left the Commons en masse today instead of staying to vote on the Conservative motion demanding the Grit-dominated Senate pass the Harper government's omnibus crime legislation, known as bill C-2, by the end of the February.

The exodus came as Speaker Peter Milliken called the vote.

As the Liberals walked out, Conservative MPs serenaded them with ''Na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye,'' a taunt favoured by sports fans when the home team is assured of victory.

Outside the chamber, the Liberals gathered behind parliamentary House Leader Ralph Goodale who accused the Conservatives of being the ones stalling passage of their own law and order bills by letting them linger on the Commons agenda all of last year.

Goodale said the Senate would not be bullied and will pass bill C-2 in a timely manner.

"Mr. Speaker, we'd like this motion to be less wordy before we vote against it."

With that, the NDP is trying to have the government's motion to extend Canada's military commitment in Afghanistan thrown out, essentially because it is too wordy.

NDP MP Libby Davies raised the matter on a point of order after question period Monday, arguing that House rules say motions should be to the point and not make lengthy arguments.

The motion in question is 560 words long and includes a preamble setting out eight "whereas" statements.

Davies says what the government tabled is almost more like a speech than a motion. She asked the government to withdraw and rewrite it; and if it doesn't, she's asking the Speaker to rule the motion out of order.

The government insists there is nothing wrong with its motion and it has no plans to rewrite it.

The Speaker says he will take some time to review the matter before ruling on it.

The NDP indicated it has no intention of supporting the motion no matter how it is written.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion was behind closed doors this morning, speaking to MPs and senators on the party's priorities and planning committee.

That is a committee that helps set the federal party's overriding priorities and right now Afghanistan is the big one on the table as Parliament gets set to vote on whether to extend the mission past 2009.

Today, Dion met with his deputy leader, Michael Ignatieff; the national election campaign co-chair, Senator David Smith; and about a dozen MPs and senators to hammer out the Liberal amendments to the Harper government's motion on the Afghan mission.

Dion emerged from this meeting firm in his position that Canadian troops should not be engaged in combat past 2009.

He said the Liberals support keeping Canadian soldiers in the volatile southern province of Kandahar until 2011 to help with development projects and security as well as the training of Afghan forces. But he stressed Canada's role should be a defensive, not an offensive, one.

Political junkies enjoy a good rumour, but many of them end up being too good to be true.

Take the example of news stories from Calgary this week of a stunning reversal of political allegiances in Alberta. Some Calgary news outlets reported that an influential insider in former Premier Ralph Klein’s Conservative regime had thrown his support behind a Liberal candidate in that province’s upcoming March 3 election.

Veteran Alberta Conservative MP Bob Mills is getting out of politics.

Mills called a press conference in his Red Deer riding Thursday to announce that he will not be running in the next election.

Conservative caucus chair Rahim Jaffer and Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Helena Guergis were engaged in October. They wanted to get married by June — at the end of the session. But the two Tory MPs, who have been dating for two years, are stymied.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is busy trying to forge a consensus on an extension of the Afghanistan mission past February 2009.

Harper met with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion earlier this week. Dion emerged saying he is sticking to his view that there should be no combat role past past February 2009 — that the emphasis should be on training Afghan forces.

Today two "behind the scenes" witnesses will appear in front of the House of Commons ethics committee's investigation into the dealings between Karlheinz Schreiber and Brian Mulroney.

Luc Lavoie is first up to bat. Best known to most for his deep voice and staunch defense of Mulroney for years and years, Lavoie was Mulroney's spokesperson up until December. He left saying he no longer had time for it.

It was Lavoie who was sent out to handle this whole affair the first time round in 1999. When Fifth Estate producer Harvey Cashore spoke to Lavoie about some of what he was investigating, Lavoie said there had been no exchange of money between Schreiber and Mulroney. He also, rather famously, said, "Karlheinz Schreiber is the biggest (insert expletive here) liar the world has ever seen."

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier can't seem to catch a break in this bilingual nation of ours.

Although his English language skills have improved noticeably since he was first elected in 2006, he still struggles with the language when having to speak off script.

Now, the Bloc Quebecois is accusing him of practicing too much and turning his back on the language of Moliere in favour of Shakespeare's.

When Justice Minister Rob Nicholson showed up to threaten the Senate on Wednesday, it looked as though he brought his gang with him for added muscle.

As Nicholson calmly explained that his government is willing to call an election at the end of February if the Senate doesn't give quick passage to his crime bill, behind him sat five other members of his party.

The Conservative government will increase the number of briefings it offers reporters on the Afghan mission in an attempt to be more open about what is happening there, International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda promised Wednesday.

She acknowledged the new plan is a direct response to criticism by the independent panel on Afghanistan, headed by former Liberal minister John Manley. It said the government has been too close-mouthed in its communications strategy and that this has not helped public understanding of the mission or of the many complex issues surrounding it.

"We want to provide greater insight into the full scope of Canada's role in Afghanistan," Oda said. "Our goal is to better inform Canadians about Canada's activities on the ground," she said, referring to the good news stories about Canada's success there.

But when asked why the government had such a hard time communicating its good news stories, Oda shifted the blame to the media, suggesting reporters were at fault. "With respect, maybe I should ask you that question."

That prompted a handful of reporters to speak up and complain about the way they have been treated by the government when trying to find out more about the Afghan mission.

One reporter for the weekly Embassy Magazine said he'd been trying to set up an interview with Oda for a week and a half, and had not even heard back from the minister's office.

Oda said she would try and do a better job.

The Senlis Council, a London-based think tank that specializes in international policy, is urging Canada to stay in Afghanistan until, as the Manley report recommended, the job is done.

In its view, if Canada ends its combat mission in Khandahar at the current deadline, February 2009, no NATO ally will step up to take its place.

At a media briefing in Ottawa on Wednesday, Senlis officials said a Canadian withdrawal at that point would cause the situation in southern Afghanistan to deteriorate very quickly and all the work that has been accomplished over the last six years would be lost.

The council, by the way, is highly critical of NATO, calling it completely dysfunctional.

It is party night for many politicos in the nation's capital this Super Tuesday.

The hill's political junkies are making their plans to sip and sup and sift through the results of the Super Tuesday primaries in the U.S.

This kind of keen political watching happens all the time in the capital, of course, but tonight is not expected to be any kind of all-the-time night and so many are making special arrangements.

Monday night two different groups of celebrities gathered on Parliament Hill.

Some of the leading stars of Canadian English television joined MPs to meet and munch in the West Block's ornate ballroom.

The Canadian Television Fund organised the party and it provided the media with cheat sheets to make sure they knew who was there.

The federal government has given former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci eight more months to complete his inquiry into whether Canadian officials were complicit in the imprisonment and torture of three Canadians while overseas.

Iacobucci is taking a closer look at the cases of Muayyed Nureddin, Abdulla Almalki and Ahmed Al Maati. All say they were accused of having links to al-Qaeda and tortured in Egypt and Syria. They say their interrogators told them their information came from Canada.

Iacobucci's report was due last week but he told the government that deadline was impractical.

During question period it is often interesting to see who shows up in the visitors gallery.

Today, a political observer of a different sort was looking down at MPs.

Daniel Cook, the young boy who hosts the children's television program This is Daniel Cook, was in the gallery with his parents.

A new round opens today in the ongoing political negotiations over what happens to Canada's mission in Afghanistan post February 2009.

Stephane Dion and Jack Layton will meet later this evening in Dion's office to talk.

Layton and the NDP have a clear position on the mission's future: get out as soon as possible.

The Liberals say Canada's combat role must end by 2009.

Wajid Khan is back.

Well, in fact, he never really went anywhere.
But for months he was formally out of the Conservative caucus.

Khan was forced to withdraw from the caucus as Elections Canada investigated some of his spending.

Specifically, the fact that he lent a large amount of money to his riding association, but that is not illegal and Elections Canada saw nothing untoward there.

It saw differently however when it came to overspending. On that count Elections Canada determined Khan did overspend during an election to the tune of 30-thousand dollars.

But now Conservative Whip, Jay Hill, says Khan has "concluded" the matter with Elections Canada and is now fully a Conservative again. Hill didn't say how matters had been resolved.

You may remember Khan's only officially been a Tory since last year when he crossed the floor, leaving the Liberals behind and joining the government.

Khan's well-known for that and for one other thing.

Khan was asked to be the Prime Minister's special advisor on the Middle East in 2006 (he was still a Liberal at the time). He travelled and wrote up a report for the Prime Minister. It's a report the government has always refused to release and so, to this day, when Khan walks by or stands in the House of the Commons the one thing you can be sure to hear is, "Where's the report?"