Orders of the Day - Welcome to the NDP leadership race, Niki Ashton!

With the majority of MPs safely ensconced in their respective ridings for the week, the only partisan political event on the immediate horizon would seem to be the launch of NDP MP Niki Ashton's leadership campaign, which is set to take place later today in Montreal. Although it's not exactly a surprising development -- rumours of an imminent hat throw having swirled around Ashton for weeks -- by making it official, her entry into the race will bring the total number of candidates in the race to nine. 

On the Hill media circuit today: Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo and a delegation of First Nations leaders from Northern Ontario head to the Charles Lynch Press Theatre to "make a statement on resource development in their territory." 

Meanwhile, in Oakville, Veterans Affairs Minister Steve Blaney kicks off the Remembrance Week observations by delivering remarks and laying a wreath at the 10th Anniversary Veterans Appreciation Luncheon before heading to North York to announce funding for a memorial at the United Jewish Appeal Federation.

Other MPs with similar cenotaph/memorial-related funding announcements today: Gerald Keddy in Chelsea, Bryan Hayes in Sault Ste. Marie, and, moving west, Dan Albas in Penticton and Mark Warawa in Langley.

Saint John MP Rodney Weston attends a candlelight ceremony at the Ridgewood Veterans Wing.

Also out and about today:

• Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz "restates .. the importance of marketing freedom for Western Canadians" at the Inland Terminal Association of Canada conference in Saskatoon.
  
• Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver holds a teleconference to discuss his still-in-progress trip to China.
• Minister of State for Transport Steven Fletcher speaks at the Fall Conference of the Canadian Urban Transit Association in Toronto.
• Minister of State for Seniors Alice Wong discusses elder abuse at a roundtable in Edmonton.
• Senator Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis joins Quebec MNA Pierre Reid for the "official opening" of the Complexe Roger-Crevier in Magog.
• Conservative MP David Tilson makes an "important announcement" related to youth employment in Bolton.

Finally, ministers, ministers of state and MPs fan out across the country to deliver synchronized announcements on Citizenship and Immigration Canada's Provincial Nominee Program. For up to the minute dispatches from the precinct and beyond, keep your eye on the Parliament Hill Ticker below -- or, alternatively, bookmark it and check back throughout the day.