Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter will meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper today.

Dexter will stop in Ottawa on the way back from speaking at the federal NDP convention in Vancouver on Saturday.

He’ll be meeting with Harper on a range of topics, including the Lower Churchill Falls hydroelectric project, immigration and the new regional venture-capital fund with New Brunswick. Dexter’s director of communications, Shawn Fuller, also said the premier intends to thank Harper for his commitment to a merit-based, arms-length shipbuilding-procurement process.

Dexter will also take the opportunity to meet with opposition leaders Jack Layton and Bob Rae during the trip.

This is the second trip to Ottawa for Dexter in a month. He met with Environment Minister Peter Kent, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver and Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield on May 30.

Mega-projects like Lower Churchill Falls hydroelectric project also dominated that visit. Dexter said then he hoped to have a federal commitment for the project by the end of this summer.

Of course, other projects like the proposed convention centre and the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy contracts are also in intergovernmental limbo.

The June 15 deadline for an agreement on the convention centre project ‘ the third of such deadlines ‘ passed without word from the federal government.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Bill Estabrooks, who is the provincial minister responsible for the file, said he has made himself available to travel to Ottawa at any time to meet with  newly-minted Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel.