Orders of the Day - The NDP comes out in support of #TeamPBO

New Democrat MP Peggy Nash hits the stage at the National Press Theatre to discuss the latest standoff between parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page and the government -- or, more specifically, the half-dozen or so departments that have refused to provide him with the information he says he needs to do his job.

According to the advisory, Nash will also "propose a better way forward", which may or may not include making the PBO a fully-fledged Officer of Parliament, and giving him the same powers to compel production of documents as is currently enjoyed by the auditor general and other parliamentary watchdogs. 

Meanwhile, after several days off the OotD radar, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair pops up in Saskatchewan, where he's set to deliver a guest lecture on the importance of youth in politics at the University of Regina.

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae spends a second day in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, where he will meet with the Central Labrador Economic Development Board, while Liberal leadership candidate Justin Trudeau pays a visit to Pickering.

Elsewhere on the post-Thanksgiving recess circuit:

• Environment Minister heads to Lake Louise to "move forward Canada's key environmental priorities" at his annual meeting with his provincial and territorial counterparts.
• On the east coast, Miramichi MP Tilly O'Neill-Gordon drops by the site of the former UPM Kymmene paper mill to share the details of a new lease for the local public service pay centre. 
• In Quebec, Transport Minister Denis Lebel scatters federal largesse throughout the Gaspesie and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions, with multiple projects expected to benefit from new funding.
• Back in Ontario, Minister of State for Sport Bal Gosal will deliver an International Day of the Girl-related announcement on the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship during a Hockey Canada press conference at the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame. Later this evening, he'll speak at a reception honouring gold medal winner Rosie MacLennan in King City.
• Conservative MP Dean Allison heads to Vineland Station to show his government's support for "Canada's flower growers."
• Moving west, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is in Winnipeg, where he will unveil, on behalf of his absent caucus colleague Leona Aglukkaq, a new initiative to "reduce unintended injuries amongst children and youth."
• Also out and about in Manitoba: Minister of State for Transport Steven Fletcher, who will attend, alongside provincial premier Greg Selinger, a sod-turning that will "acknowledge the start of construction of the new Active Living Centre at the University of Manitoba."
• In Saskatoon, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley hands out more money for youth programs during an appearance at the Saskatchewan Abilities Council, while in neighbouring Alberta, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews reveals new crime prevention measures during his visit to the Centre for Newcomers Society of Calgary.

Finally, later this afternoon, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will make himself available to the media from Paris, where he will have just wrapped up a tete-a-tete with his French counterpart on "a range of issues of mutual interest and concern."