A NEW PARTY (NOT REALLY) LEADER (SORTA) — The biggest parliamentary group of senators has a new face. Sen. RAYMONDE SAINT-GERMAIN will start a two-year term as facilitator of the Independent Senators Group on New Year's Day. Sen. TONY DEAN will serve as her deputy. — Senate standings: A quick refresher on who rules the roost in the upper chamber, a compulsory stop on any bill's journey through the legislative process — say, a raft of urgent legislation meant to burnish a re-elected government's reputation as a team that can get things done. The ISG leads the way with 42 members. The Tory caucus is second with 18. The Progressive Senate Group, a mix of former Liberals and more recent recruits, is third with 14. The Canadian Senators Group, a melange of Tories and Liberals and former ISGers, sits at 12. Six are non-affiliated. Vacancies have grown to a baker's dozen, including at least one empty chair in every province except Quebec. — Out with the old: Sen. YUEN PAU WOO is out after four years in the not-a-caucus's top role. That's the max allowed by the ISG charter. Saint-Germain, a solid recruiter of new members, served as Woo's deputy for his entire tenure. "The ISG is in excellent hands under the leadership of Senators Saint-Germain and Dean,” Woo said in a release. “I give them my full support." — A distraction: Woo's departure from the not-exactly-but-kinda leadership ranks of the parliamentary group comes as a relief to some senators. He found himself in hot water for public comments in the midst of chilly Canada-China relations. Woo, the former president and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, also voted against a motion to declare a genocide against Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province — and took more criticism than any of the 32 other senators who voted the same way. When Chinese authorities released MICHAEL KOVRIG and MICHAEL SPAVOR, and MENG WANZHOU also gained her freedom, Woo linked to a Toronto Star op-ed that claimed Americans, "assisted by Canada," took Meng hostage in the first place. TOP DOGS — Playbook can report a nearly full list of all-important chiefs of staff to cabinet ministers. These are trusted operatives who've impressed both the Prime Minister's Office and the minister they'll serve. They're crucial jobs that include running their own staff, liaising with the PMO, and keeping their boss on track (read: tell them things they don't want to hear). Two weeks ago brought news of a partial list. We have more names: — DOMINIC LEBLANC, infrastructure and intergovernmental affairs: JAMIE INNES, whose tenure with LeBlanc traces back to the end of the 2019 election. — JEAN-YVES DUCLOS, health: JAMIE KIPPEN, most recently the party's senior director of election readiness. — HARJIT SAJJAN, international development: ASHLEY WRIGHT, a former policy director to then-digital government minister JOYCE MURRAY. — STEVEN GUILBEAULT, environment and climate change: DOMINIC CORMIER, a senior political adviser in the PMO since 2018. — SEAN FRASER, immigration: MIKE JONES, who had been with the previous minister, MARCO MENDICINO, since 2019. — GUDIE HUTCHINGS, rural economic development: ALEX HOWELL, d-comm to MARYAM MONSEF before the last election — KAMAL KHERA, seniors: JUDE WELCH until next September, then LINDSAY HUNTER — who traces her trajectory back to the PMO in 2016. — The holdouts: Four ministers are now a week into the parliamentary session without a permanent top staffer: Mendicino in public safety; BILL BLAIR in emergency preparedness; and DAN VANDAL in northern affairs. Oh, and Deputy PM and Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND, whose former chief JEREMY BROADHURST is heading back to the PMO. — Speaking of PMO: When then-procurement minister ANITA ANAND was slogging through months of vaccine drama, CECELY ROY was Anand's first line of defense as press secretary. Roy left government in August for a gig at the CAN Health Network. But she wasn't gone long. She joined the PMO as a press secretary. DAYS WITH NO DOCS: 35 — More than a month has passed since Cabinet was sworn in, and still the Prime Minister's Office has made no mention of powerful Cabinet committee membership or new mandate letters for ministers — key documents that set the government's priorities. Playbook is still counting the days. COMMITTEES — Three government bills are off and running. They've all progressed as far as second reading in the Commons. The next step is to vote on them. If they pass, they will be shuttled to a relevant House committee. But as of this writing, there's nowhere to send them. All the action is still behind the scenes. On his way into Monday's QP, Government House Leader MARK HOLLAND offered assurance that something is afoot: "We are moving forward with committees very soon, so obviously that’s in the works." As former NDP MP LIBBY DAVIES advised Playbook, the speed of Parliament may depend on Holland's rapport with various opposition House leaders: GÉRARD DELTELL, ALAIN THERRIEN and PETER JULIAN. PROP-ORTIONAL RESPONSE — For all the Tory griping about cabinet ministers ducking accountability in a hybrid House, only four front-benchers called into QP on Monday: AHMED HUSSEN, JONATHAN WILKINSON, DOMINIC LEBLANC and STEVEN GUILBEAULT . They were booed roundly by the Official Opposition. One of them really got under the Conservatives' skin. — Moment of levity: Earlier Monday, Speaker ANTHONY ROTA politely reminded MPs that props, including masks, aren't allowed in the House — IRL or online — if they're used "to illustrate a point or promote positions." Abbotsford's ED FAST appeared to take that to heart. Fast rose on a post-QP point of order to protest a bike hanging on a wall behind Guilbeault, "presumably trying to make a statement about his environmental cred." Fast called the visible two-wheeler "an abuse of the traditions of this House." To that, a jovial DANIEL BLAIKIE rose from the NDP benches: "Only a Conservative could see a bicycle as a partisan symbol." The last word went to Rota, who delivered a partial victory to Fast when he asked all virtual participants to "make your background as neutral as possible." Playbook will keep an eye on Guilbeault's back wall. So will, we suspect, the Tories. ANOTHER MILESTONE — Defense Minister ANITA ANAND will lead a three-pronged apology Dec. 13 to any current or retired national defense personnel "who have been affected by sexual assault and sexual misconduct, including harassment, and discrimination.” Chief of the Defense Staff Gen. WAYNE EYRE will add his own remarks on behalf of the Armed Forces. Deputy Minister JODY THOMAS will round out the group on behalf of National Defense. Global's MERCEDES STEPHENSON said Anand's participation goes beyond the initial plan — and "answers the call" from advocates "for political involvement." — A new approach: One of Anand's first major acts as minister in early November was to support the transfer of military sexual assault cases to civilian courts. will apologize on behalf of the Government of Canada. THIS MIGHT BE RELEVANT — Nobody yet knows how the new Omicron variant, which scientists are working overtime to understand, could threaten Canada's border reopening. But as behind-the-scenes convos are now undoubtedly playing out worst-case scenarios, we have some hints on the government's thinking. Playbook put a question about border contingency planning to Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU at the tailend of his post-Three Amigos press conference on Nov. 18. Here's what the PM said: — For the record: "One of the concrete commitments that came out of this bilateral visit was a commitment certainly between Canada and the U.S. to renew a vision for the border, to look at how we can draw lessons from the pandemic, lessons from the past years, to strengthen our ability to continue to smoothly move goods and services while keeping people safe, while respecting our values. These are the things that matter, and I look forward to seeing that dialogue unfold as led by our minister of public safety and others." Pro s can read more on all the Covid-fueled border uncertainty in ANDY BLATCHFORD's Pro Canada PM newsletter. | 
