And we're off!

At a few minutes past 4 PM a crowd of anxious journalists were finally let out of the gates to run up the stairs of the conference centre, collect their blackberries and cell phones and run across the street to the Hill. I will spare you any jokes about the running of the bulls, but trust me, the jokes were made.

More experts...

I just found some more press releases on my desk and should add these groups to the list before they send me panicked emails.

Federation of Canadian Municipalities (Jean Perrault, President)

ITK (Mary Simon, National Inuit Leader)

Sierra Club (Stephen Hazell, Executive Director and Celeste Cote, National Water Campaigner)

Expert alert!

The budget is still a sleep away but experts and eggheads of all kinds have been hard at work all day sending press releases to the Parliamentary Press Gallery to let us know they will be around come tomorrow for questions and quotes on the big book of numbers.

I am told the Railway Room, which is one of the committee rooms in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill, will be buzzing away with these people all day and so that might be a fun place to hang out for awhile.

For lack of anything else to write about at the moment I have compiled a list of these available talking heads. I will not be able to get to everybody but I am taking special requests via the comments function on this blog.

The lockup starts at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow and, naturally, you will not hear much from me until after we are let out, but I do promise to be typing away and will post when it is no longer illegal for me to do so.

Stay tuned!

Association of Canadian Community Colleges -James Knight, President

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives -Marc Lee, Senior Economist -David Macdonald, Alternative Federal Budget Coordinator -Armine Yalnizyan, Senior Economist

Canadian Construction Association -Michael Atkinson, President -Pierre Boucher, COO

Canadian Council for International Co-operation (This one seemed really exciting at first because the press release mentioned the United Nations Secretary General. Alas, it was only in passing.) -Gerry Barr, President and CEO

Canadian Healthcare Association -Pamela Fralick, President and CEO

Canadian Medical Association -Dr. Robert Ouellet, President

Canadian Union of Public Employees (National) - Paul Moist, National President

Canadian Urban Transit Association -Michael Roschlau, President & CEO

Conseil du patronat du Québec -In Ottawa: Norma Kozhaya, Research Director and Chief Economist -In Montreal: Daniel Audet, First Vice-President

Forest Products Association of Canada -Avrim Lazar, President and CEO

Fraser Institute (These people will not actually be in the Railway Room, but providing commentary nonetheless over the telephone from Vancouver) -Niels Veldhuis, Director of Fiscal Studies -Mark Mullins, Executive Director

Green Party of Canada -Elizabeth May, Leader -John Bennett, Director of Communications

Society of Management Accountants (CMA Canada) (It is unclear whether this expert will be in the room or just on the phone, but wow! What a lot of initials after his name.) - Richard Monk, C.Dir, CFE, CMC, CMA, FCMA, immediate Past Chair

Blogging the Budget

Joanna Smith is a political reporter in the Ottawa bureau of the Toronto Star. This is her first time in a budget lockup, so follow along as she conveys the chaos through fresh and over/underwhelmed eyes.