NDP caucus closes with open-to-media rah-rah speech by Mulcair

As the penultimate week of the winter recess comes to an end, New Democrats wrap up their pre-sitting caucus confab by inviting the media into the otherwise closed-door session for the leader's closing remarks.

Elsewhere on the Hill, Conservative MPs Rod Bruinooge and Rick Dykstra mark the 70th anniversary of the Ottawa wartime birth of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands with a Dutch flag-raising ceremony on the front steps of Centre Block.

Outside the precinct, just days after finding himself back in the headlines following a new report on the latest developments in ongoing investigation into alleged election financing irregularities, local Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro is scheduled to attend the grand opening of two new affordable housing projects in Peterborough.

Despite not making it onto the PMO-issued Notable Event list, it's fair to say that Del Mastro's appearance may attract a larger contingent of inquisitive reporters than similar events featuring local Conservatives in Fredericton (Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield) and Waterloo (Peter Braid).

Rounding out the Friday leg of the good news circuit:

• Veterans Affairs Minister Steve Blaney takes in the 2013 FIS Snowboard World Championships in Stoneham. 
  
  
• London-area Conservative MP Joe Preston continues a week-long series of events highlighting new defence spending by paying a visit to his local General Dynamics outpost.
  
  
• Finally, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz makes an appearance at the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association annual convention in Edmonton.