THEN AND NOW — The House of Commons was a busy chamber on Tuesday, packed to the hilt for QP after a meeting of the full Cabinet. A lockup full of reporters, bureaucrats and analysts across the street busily pored over Freeland's long-awaited fiscal update. Everything was as newly normal as can be. And then that tweet from Freeland about her staff testing positive for Covid and news that she would deliver her fiscal update on an all-too-familiar Zoom call. Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU hastily convened a call among the premiers for 6 ET. It all started to feel like déjà vu. — Back to the future: The whole world learned in March 2020 that everything is normal until it isn't. Several premiers were already in Ottawa for a First Ministers' Meeting on March 12 that was cancelled hours before it got underway. BILL MORNEAU never got to deliver what would have been his last budget. If you worked in Ottawa, you stayed home if you could. Within days, those blockbuster Ottawa events felt like something from a different time. The same question on every Zoom catch-up: "How did we ever think this virus wouldn't cancel everything? How naive!" — The Omicron effect: Less than a month ago — before this new variant had a name —Tory MPs voted against a hybrid sitting format. They stood by centuries-old Westminster principles of parliamentary privilege and government accountability. When the motion passed, a handful of Conservatives steered clear of the chamber for reasons that produced piles of Hill gossip about their vaccination status and what it all meant for ERIN O'TOOLE's prospects. 641 days ago Tuesday, Morneau's 2020 budget was postponed indefinitely. Now there was Freeland, firing up Zoom. On Tuesday evening, Government House Leader MARK HOLLAND told reporters that Liberals would drastically scale back their presence in the Commons, and hold virtual caucus meetings this morning. Back in 2020, then-GHL PABLO RODRIGUEZ and his opposition counterparts showed a united front as they shuttered Parliament. Holland, however, is on his own. The Globe reports the Tories and Bloc both say they'll meet in person at caucus, while the NDP caucus will take the Liberals' approach. — "What fresh hell is this?" That was Trudeau, commenting on Omicron as he strolled the Rideau Hall grounds on Monday with the Toronto Star's SUSAN DELACOURT. HOW TO STAY AHEAD OF THE VIRUS — As the whole country catches up with an Omicron-fueled wave of infections, sports fans are still filling arenas and Canadians are prepping for holiday travel. Playbook asked SABINA VOHRA-MILLER, a health advocate and co-founder of the Vohra-Miller Foundation, how governments — and Canadians — should be responding to the new variant. — How long should governments wait to reduce arena capacities? It's already too late. This should have been done last week. We have to be proactive, not wait until things have gotten out of control. It is so much harder to get things back under control when it's already past that point. If the government says it's okay and safe for these big events to occur, people will think it's a safe activity. This is messaging that has to come from the government, because people who are not necessarily keeping up with the news don't realize that going to a game right now unmasked is not the safest thing to do. — How should families gather during the holidays? I've been recommending to people I know that for the next two weeks leading up to the holidays, they should try to reduce all their contacts and really make sure they're keeping themselves safe, and they may actually be able to have a small holiday gathering with family. It's about saving that risk up to do something that is more meaningful. I'm really concerned about what cases are going to look like after the holidays, given that people are not reducing their contacts and exposures right now. We know people are going to get together during the holidays. And this is going to cause exponential growth. I mean, there's already exponential growth. ISO BACKBONES — Quebec’s secularism law is once again polling politicians on their definitions ofs discrimination after FATEMAEH ANVARI, an elementary school teacher in Chelsea, Que., was removed from her classroom because she wears a hijab. The law prohibits public service workers, such as teachers, judges and police officers, from wearing religious symbols. NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH changed his stance on Bill 21 on Tuesday, saying his party would seek intervenor status if the case escalates and is put before the Supreme Court. Singh has previously called the law discriminatory, but when the debate came up during the campaign trail, he leaned toward a wait-and-see-approach. — Present-day Singh says : “I think it's a time to make it clear that if this case gets the federal level that the federal government should support the Quebecers that are opposed to this — should support the three million Quebecers opposed to it and just support those Quebecers who are fighting this discriminatory law in court.” DAYS WITH NO DOCS: 50 — The government is edging closer to the two-month mark since Cabinet was sworn in, and still the Prime Minister's Office has made no mention of new mandate letters for ministers. Playbook is counting. | 
