UPDATED Orders of the Day - The Breitkreuz cometh. Possibly.

Anyway, style gripes aside, they're apparently carrying through on the promise to hold a weekly news conference to highlight "waste," which, at the very least, gives Siobhan Coady and John McCallum an excuse to miss the first few minutes of caucus. What variety of waste, specifically? I guess we'll just have to tune in -- or wait for the accompanying news release -- to find out. 

Also convening the press today: NDP MPs Peter Stoffer, Peter Julian, and Malcolm Allen, but not Nathan Cullen, despite earlier claims in this place; for some reason, I have a terrible tendency to confuse him with Julian. Apologies to all. 

Anyway, the trio will launch a bicoastal condemnation of the government's move to eliminate customs tariffs on imported vessels, which could, they will almost certainly claim, have a devastating impact on the future of the Canadian shipbuilding industry.

As previously noted, it is, of course, caucus day, which means that the House won't meet until this afternoon. On the agenda for today: More law-and-order bills, of course. Oh, and votes, although none quite so keenly anticipated as the one on the gun registry. Members will, however, decide whether to give a cautious second reading nod to Michael Chong's motion to make Question Period a less existentially painful experience for both spectators and participants.
 
Outside the Chamber, the Afghanistan committee gets together for the first time since the fall session began, with the first item of business on the agenda the election new chair, which may well turn out to be former Public Safety gavel-smasher general Garry Breitkreuz. To which all I can really add is, "Yikes." Breitkreuz, as those of us who sat through the hearings on that now mooted gun registry bill can attest, is not exactly what you'd describe as consensus-driven. The opposition parties may hold a mathematical majority, but if the chair fails to heed the advice of the clerk or the rules of procedure, there's not much they can do to impose their collective will -- well, other than moving non-confidence in the chair, and electing another Conservative in his place, that is, which is what led to the Great Procedure and House Affairs Meltdown of 2008. Then again, maybe Breitkreuz has mellowed over the summer -- or, alternately, he hasn't been tapped to take the chair at all. We'll see.

Also meeting this afternoon:  Public Safety, which is expected to whip through clause-by-clause review of the already much-studied S-2, the latest iteration of the bill to tighten up the sex offender registry. Its predecessor, C-34, was first introduced in 2009, and got a thorough going-over before this same committee back then, only to die on the Order Paper when the PM prorogued Parliament. This time around, the Senate got it first, hence the "S" in the title. but really, when you add up all the hours that various versions have logged in at one committee or another, it's probably safe to say that there's not much more scrutinizing to be done.

International Trade begins its study on the proposed Canada-Jordan Free Trade Agreement -- although not before getting an in camera briefing from the chief trade negotiator for the Canada-European Union. Why is it in camera? Who knows. Probably something to do with seals, if I had to guess.

Finally, Jason Kenney's much-touted immigration and refugee reform package goes under the microscope over at Citizenship and Immigration.