THE (LITERAL) FRONT BENCH — Playbook talks a lot about Cabinet committees as a strong indication of the executive branch's pecking order. But there's more to it than that. The Commons seating plan offers powerful visual hints of who's who in JUSTIN TRUDEAU's orbit. It's all about location, location, location. — Movin' on up: Defense Minister ANITA ANAND shifted from the second row to the first, three seats down from Trudeau. Rookie cabinet minister MARCI IEN sits directly behind her, visible behind the PM when he's speaking. Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY is Ien's neighbor. Whip STEVEN MACKINNON is right behind Trudeau, replacing MARK HOLLAND — now the House leader on Trudeau's left. KARINA GOULD, the government's face of childcare, is beside MacKinnon. — Similar digs: Several ministers didn't budge much. Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND sits to the right of Trudeau, and FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE is still right beside her. Trade Minister MARY NG keeps her second-row seat just over Trudeau's right shoulder. Infrastructure Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC remains in his spot beside the House leader. Heritage Minister PABLO RODRIGUEZ, Employment Minister CARLA QUALTROUGH and Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS shifted over just a smidge. — The formers: On the far flank of the front bench is where you'll spot MARC GARNEAU, JIM CARR and BARDISH CHAGGER — the three cabmins dropped in the post-election shuffle. Rumors have swirled that Garneau would head to France as Canada's next ambassador, but he tweeted he's staying put. Chagger's neighbor is NDP MP CHARLIE ANGUS, one of her chief adversaries in the WE Charity scandal. — On the oppo benches: The cluster of MPs surrounding Tory leader ERIN O'TOOLE is strikingly similar to its pre-election configuration. Notable changes: MELISSA LANTSMAN, a rookie MP and shadow minister for transport, sits directly behind the leader (and was sporting a Toronto Blue Jays mask on her first day in the chair). RANDY HOBACK, formerly a fourth-row resident, now has a front-row seat as shadow minister for trade and supply chain resilience. Tory MP MARK STRAHL used to sit in the front row. Now he's back in Row 4. Strahl's previous neighbor, SHANNON STUBBS, is now seated in the fifth row. MARILYN GLADU, another former front-rower, was also relegated to the fourth. Such is the cost of challenging a leader whose post-election hold on his job isn't exactly a sure thing — and when vaccinations are a persistent wedge. HALLWAY CONVERSATION — Playbook asked two key stakeholders: What do you need to see in the Throne Speech for it to be a success? BRIAN KINGSTON, CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association: We know the government committed in their platform to 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035 — a very ambitious target. If they're going to get there, we're going to need a very clear action plan to achieve that. What that means is far more ambitious investments into consumer incentives, more investments into charging infrastructure, and a bigger initiative to build consumer awareness around electric vehicles. The United States has committed $174 billion to winning the EV market. This includes consumer incentives and a massive national infrastructure rollout. If we're going to hit our targets and keep up with the U.S., we need to plan. JEFF MORRISON, executive director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association: We're looking for them to do what they said they would do during the campaign — notably, address housing affordability, particularly for low-income and vulnerable populations. Specifically, we're looking for them to enact their campaign promises regarding putting in place an urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing strategy; building more affordable housing supply by putting in more money through the National Co-investment Fund; developing a plan and a strategy to enact their promise to end chronic homelessness in Canada, which they also promised in the Throne Speech last year; and means to address financialization of housing, that notion of housing as only a commodity, rather than than what it is. MR. SPEAKER — Liberal MP ANTHONY ROTA won Parliament's first vote. The returning Speaker of the House of Commons will earn C$274,500 a year for the thankless task of keeping the chamber in order. Pro s can read about Rota's to-do list. Here's one item worth watching: — CHARLES ROBERT, the clerk of the House, is under fire for overseeing an unhealthy workplace after CBC News reported on complaints from several senior managers in Robert's administration. Tories want Rota to investigate the claims made against the clerk. An editorial in the Hill Times newspaper called on Robert to step aside and for his conduct to be fully investigated. — The speakership has its perks: There's the official residence, a country estate in nearby Gatineau Park known as The Farm. There's the honor of hand-picking an official scotch. (Typically, there's also a small apartment in Centre Block where the speaker can stay — not an option for most of the next decade as the building is gutted and renovated.) — Wisdom from the dean: As Playbook hoped, Bloc Québécois MP LOUIS PLAMONDON imparted advice to rookies in the House just before first ballots were cast in the Speaker's election. Plamondon brought the funny: "In my riding, there was an old mayor who was very skillful at always getting into the middle of a confrontation. Any time someone was questioned or harassed or insulted, he would be there. And one time a lady asked him, 'Mr. Mayor, aren't you tired of being insulted, harassed and questioned all the time?' And he answered, 'My dear woman, a good politician is a pillar. Sometimes a little dog will come along and take a little pee on the pillar and continue on his way. It doesn't hurt the pillar, but it hurts the dog a lot.' So to my young colleagues, let us be pillars." We don't totally get the punchline. We'll check Hansard this morning for the interpreters' official translation. POTATOES — P.E.I. Premier DENNIS KING was fuming on CBC's Power & Politics Monday, furious with a federal decision to suspend potato exports to the United States. He pointed the finger at Ag Minister MARIE-CLAUDE BIBEAU, who ordered the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to enforce the measure. — Why a suspension? As Zi-Ann wrote in our Pro Canada PM newsletter, potato wart fungus was detected in two fields on the island last month. Americans applauded the move. GREG DONALD, the general manager of the province's Potato Board, dismissed the move as "solely a politically based trade disruption." King promised to lobby hard for the "best potatoes in the world." (File this under: Serious Public Policy Issues That Also Meet Classic Stereotypes.) | 
