And not only will they be dining there, Kenney will be presenting the restaurant's owner with the first ever "first ever "Minister's Award for Culinary Excellence in Multicultural Cuisine". I kid you not.

"...My constituents are asking me why the Liberal leader is refusing to fire his top political aide, Warren Kinsella. Was Mr. Kinsella’s comment about tucking into a “Bowl of BBQ cat” at Yang Sheng’s here in Ottawa done in his ‘official’ role as Liberal party spokesman?"

... is Jack Layton. So says the new radio spots the New Democratic Party plans to begin airing today. One spot argues that everyday families were "counting on Michael Ignatieff" to stand up to Stephen Harper but "he failed" in his first test as Liberal Leader. Now, "Jack Layton's the only leader strong enough to stand up to Harper and get us through this economic crisis," a female announcer says.

The grandly titled Standing Committee of the House of Commons on Foreign Affairs and International Development kicks things off with a meeting on Feb. 2 (why, that's just next week!... Indeed, the NDP, at least, is chomping at the bit to get the Natural Resources Committee going so it can grill witnesses from AECL, CNSC and NRCAN Minister Lisa Raitt about Chalk River.

In news likely to make headlines on blogs only, we have learned that the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association is demanding that federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff fire Warren Kinsella for what they allege are some racially insensitive remarks about Chinese food.

You are likely to hear politicians from each side advance a series of numbers from the budget that best supports their individual position. As you hear the spin war begin about the size of the deficit and the size of the stimulus package, the following might be helpful. Much of the following is based on the analysis of the budget by the economists at BMO Capital Markets . . .

Canada's government -- the government Harper now leads -- was the first country in the world to agree that 15-year-olds, no matter what they were doing on a battlefield and no matter whether they were part of a national army or not, are, by definition, victims of war crimes and not perpetrators of war crimes. Harper's goverment, like the Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin before him, has never asked Khadr's jailers -- the Americans -- if we can have him back so that Canada's justice system can examine the actions of one of their own citizens under the laws that govern all Canadian citizens.

I'm sensing that the government's communications strategy is to push out quite a bit of the budget ahead of time to gain control of the news agenda.

Up next: HRDC MInister Diane Finley at 1:30 EDT today in Toronto; Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in Edmonton at 11 am (Mountain); and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq at noon PST in Vancouver. Wonder what they might have to say ...

"...Can we find a name that better fits the rugged Pacific Northwest of the continent? What can we call the Canadian arm of a distinct bio-region that includes Oregon and Washington State, which geographers have for decades been calling Cascadia?"

Day did not elaborate on the reasons for Singh's change of heart and Day noted that Singh had, instead, invited Harper to visit India. If Harper accepts -- and why wouldn't he? - my bet is that Harper squeezes in a day or two in India when he travels to Singapore next November for the annual leaders summit of APEC leaders.