It's time for some housekeeping about the twin events Prime Minister Stephen Harper held Thursday on both coasts to announce the next steps and promote the winning bidders for the federal government's huge shipbuilding project.

First, let's take attendance.

In Halifax, with bells on: Defence Minister and Nova Scotia's representative in cabinet, Peter MacKay, introducing around his new bride, Nazanin Afshin-Jam.

Not invited to the event in Halifax: As reported by CBC Halifax, NDP Premier Darrell Dexter, who lobbied hard for his province to win the larger of the two contracts up for grabs. (Though the government did maintain all along that lobbying would not influence the contract decisions.)

Also not at the event in North Vancouver: B.C. Premier Christy Clark, who also did her best to make the west coast case for their share of the procurement.

But perhaps the most interesting thing to happen during Harper's coast-to-coast shipbuilding blitz took place during the question and answer session in North Vancouver.

More, after the jump...

(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

When you cover the political beat, indulging in a little tabloid guilty pleasure doesn't usually call to mind something you need to ask the foreign minister's office.

But a British tab piece about some of the gifts received by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from various trips abroad included mention of the gift of three pairs of shoes for the Duchess from Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.

Shoes? Did someone say shoes? The inquiring (mostly female) minds in our office wanted more details.

The Canadian designer behind the gift, and the low-down from Baird's spokesman, after the jump...

Hot on the heels of a big-name endorsement in competitor Mike Crawley's camp Tuesday, Liberal party presidential candidate Sheila Copps came out with a list of 49 56 endorsements of her own.

The list on Copps' campaign website features a rather liberal usage of the title "honourable."

Most style guidelines, including those of Heritage Canada, support using the "honourable" honorific for Senators, Supreme or Federal Court judges, and privy councillors (a title bestowed for life after one's swearing in as a cabinet minister or another senior role requiring top security clearance.)

Not all of the current and former MPs on this endorsement list are privy councillors. Indeed, those who are also have the initials P.C. after their names. (Current list of privy councillors here.)

While Copps is seen as a leading contender, who knew endorsing her bestowed such honours?

Liberals will elect the new party president at their biennial convention in Ottawa Jan. 13-15.

UPDATE: The list, still dated Jan. 3, seems to have been updated to remove the extra honorifics - and to drop four names from the previous list of 56: MPs Scott Andrews and Sean Casey and former MPs Jean Augustine and Yasmin Ratansi - although the promise of "many more to come..." remains.

A call to the Copps campaign yielded a full voice mailbox. We've sent an email and will update further when we hear back. 

UPDATED UPDATE: Malcolm Bernard, a spokesman for Sheila Copps, said the site has been updated and now includes all 56 names, including Andrews, Casey, Augustine and Ratansi.

Bernard said the site is organized by volunteers and "the endorsements are pouring in."

"We're making sure we're getting it right," he said. "We're sorting (the list) all out and adding to it in in real time, and they're editing it as best they can," he said.

There will be more endorsements, Bernard said.

"Lots of organizations update their sites throughout the day, including the CBC," noted Bernard.

A few weeks back, Youtube video of Conservative MP Rob Anders coming down with a case of the nods in the House of Commons caused a bit of a stir.

On Sunday, NDP MP Bruce Hyer appeared to suffer from a similar affliction during the NDP leadership debate in Ottawa. Unfortunately, he was seated just over the shoulder of two top leadership contenders, and his long blinks were very much caught on tape.

Video, after the jump...

Heritage Minister James Moore was at committee on Thursday, discussing the government's plans for War of 1812 commemorations next year (among other things.)

Many of the key battles, and the celebrations, centre on the Niagara region. But elsewhere in Ontario, and particularly in Eastern Ontario border communities along the St. Lawrence, the bicentenary will also be marked with legacy projects and historical re-enactments.

Gananoque, east of Kingston (pop. 5,000 or so year-round, but higher in summer tourist season), is one such community. Founded by a British loyalist along a key St. Lawrence River supply line for the British, Gananoque was the site of one of the war's earliest skirmishes. 

Now local businesses are hoping for a boost from next summer's celebrations.

But why wait to start celebrating? At least that's what Sue McDermid from the Gananoque Business Improvement Association thought when planning started earlier this fall for this year's Santa Claus parade.

More, after the jump...

Environment Minister Peter Kent still refuses to confirm reports Canada will withdraw from the Kyoto Accord.

Here's the minister speaking to the CBC's Julie Van Dusen on Parliament Hill Thursday, in advance of his trip to Durban, South Africa next week for the United Nations climate conference.

Video, after the jump:

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan and NDP MP Charlie Angus were both at the CBC for separate television interviews Thursday afternoon about the state of emergency in Attawapiskat.

Here's who said what when scrummed by reporter Julie Van Dusen, and what happened when they met on the stairs.

Video, after the jump...

Former bandmates-turned-NDP caucus colleagues Andrew Cash and Charlie Angus were a hit at the 2011 Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner with a modern political twist on the '60s classic "Eve of Destruction."

Video of their full performance, after the jump...

Later this week, the national executive of the Liberal Party will issue a "white paper" report that's said to be full of ideas for fixing what's ailing the now-third party.

Among the proposals: opening up party nomination or even leadership selection processes to some kind of "primary" election system, to encourage voter participation from the general public, not just party members.

The idea, much-discussed among both grassroots members and the higher echelons (including interim leader Bob Rae and party presidential candidate Sheila Copps) is not so much new as it is new-to-Liberals.

Surveying the action on Liberal blogs and Twitter so far, a few points stand out from the online debate leading up to the white paper's release.

More, after the jump:

Sorry ladies... it's that time again. Time for facial hair with a cause: otherwise known as Movember, when men who always wanted to see what they'd look like if they stopped shaving can try it out for charity.

Last year, the NDP's "New De-MO-crat" Mo-bros raised $16,000 for Prostate Cancer Canada and the Movember Foundation. This year, with a bigger caucus to recruit from and spurred on by the loss of former NDP leader Jack Layton after his public fight with prostate cancer, the New Democrat Mo-bros hope to surpass last year's fundraising.

Not to be outdone, MPs from other parties are also getting in on the act. Justin Trudeau, whose father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, also had prostate cancer, is the captain of the Li-Bros this year.

Justin shaved for the final time during an interview with Heather Hiscox on CBC News Network.

Conservative Larry Miller was the second MP to step up to the plate at the public shave-off the NDP hosted in the foyer on Tuesday morning.

But it was veteran NDP MP Peter Stoffer's sense of humour that carried the day, as his well-known moustache again bit the dust for a good cause.

Video, after the jump....