UPDATED - Orders of the Day - The delicate sound of (F-35 cost-related) thunder

UPDATE: Well, it looks like we've got ourselves a little friendly (or not so friendly) competition on the F-35-related news conference front. According to a this-just-in advisory, later this afternoon, NDP defence critic David Christopherson and public works critic Mathieu Ravignat will also share their latest thoughts on the latest revelations on the procurement process, and "call on the Harper government to take responsibility" for the myriad problems with which it appears to have been plagued. 

After the press conference wraps up, Rae is scheduled to head out on a non-F-35-related day tour, during which he will field questions from University of Toronto students, talk Old Age Security at a roundtable in Mississauga and, eventually, attend the Red Rose Ball in honour of former Progressive Conservative premier Bill Davis.

Also hitting the precinct off-session media circuit today: Sierra Club director John Bennett, who will join representatives from the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Safe and Green Energy - Peterborough to sound an alarm over the potential health and environmental risk if the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission grants Peterborough-based Shield Source Inc. a licence to "release radioactive tritium into the environment."

Meanwhile, Environment Minister Peter Kent will be on hand in Toronto to discuss the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which will release a summary report later today. A satellite media availability with Jacques Gourde will take place in Quebec.

Elsewhere on the permanent campaign hustings, the ministerial good news parade continues:

• Labour Minister Lisa Raitt continues to wend her way through New Brunswick, making her second budget-touting speech in as many days at a "meet and greet" hosted by the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce.
• Defence Minister Peter MacKay heads to Stellarton with new federal funding for local youth after launching a shipbuilding-related "supplier development information session" in New Glasgow. 
• Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore delivers one of his signature covering-all-the-bases announcements on "arts, culture, heritage and official languages" at the Markham Museum.
• Treasury Board President Tony Clement talks Open Government in Regina.
• Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney unveils "changes aimed at strengthening  provincial immigration programs" during a visit to the Morris Industries Showroom in Saskatoon, after which he'll head off to the local chamber of commerce for a roundtable on the budget.
• Various MPs will reveal support for local anti-homelessness initiatives.
  

Finally, back on Parliament Hill, students from école élémentaire publique Michaëlle-Jean will celebrate Day of Pink by holding "a short outdoor performance on the diversity theme" outside Centre Block, which, according to the advisory, will involve the 80-member student choir, dressed in Day of Pink shirts, singing Edith Piaf's La vie en rose "while dancing a flash-mob style choreography."  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.