While Justin Trudeau was present today, Andrew Scheer was not, for whatever reason. Lisa Raitt led off and she concern trolled about Unifor being on the advisory panel to name the panel that would determine the media tax credit, to which Justin Trudeau stated that they wanted views from employers and employees, and they wanted to save the media rather than Scheer, who wanted to destroy the CBC. Raitt railed that Trudeau was undermining the credibility of journalists, to which Trudeau reminded her of the job of media, which was why both employers and employees needed to be part of the panel, before accusing the Conservatives of hating organised labour. Raitt took exception to that characterisation, and demanded to know why he didn’t do better with this file, and Trudeau reminded her of the anti-union legislation her government passed before repeating his lines about hearing from employers and employees on the panel. Alain Rayes took over in French and he repeated the demand to remove Unifor from the panel, to which Trudeau repeated his lines in French. When Rayes listed Quebec journalists “uncomfortable” with this bailout, Trudeau repeated that the Conservatives hate unions. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and he railed about public service spending levels versus corporate funding, to which Trudeau wondered why the NDP voted against the Canada Child Benefit, which has lifted tens of thousands out of poverty. Singh tried again in French, and Trudeau listed measure they took like raising taxes on the wealthy and lowering them on the Middle Class™. Singh then demanded to pressure the American government to change the New NAFTA per the American Democrats’ demands, and Trudeau stated that they got a good deal and quoted Unifor President Jerry Dias’ praise for the deal — which led to peals of laughter from the Conservatives. Singh tried again in English, and Trudeau repeated the praise, adding in Alexandre Boulerice’s closed-door praise of the deal.

Round two, and Candice Bergen, and Guy Caron returned to railing about Unifor being on the media advisory panel (Rodriguez: This is a dangerous game and you are attacking the credibility of journalists; Your leader just said he wants to dictate the CBC’s content), and Mark Strahl railed that Unifor was bankrolling an anti-Conservative groups (Gould: We strengthened the rules around pre-writ ad spending; This is just one more way the Conservatives are trying to undermine our democratic institutions). Karine Trudel and Tracey Ramsey demanded changes to the New NAFTA (Freeland: Reopening this new deal would be opening Pandora’s Box and would destroy certainty). Gérard Deltell and Pierre Poilievre worried that Catherine McKenna was insulting Canadians’ intelligence (Champagne: It’s funny to hear you talk about credibility and the environment in the same sentence). Alistair MacGregor and Ruth Ellen Brosseau worried about Supply Management hoped that US Democrats would somehow help with that (Bibeau: Our Supply Management compensation working group is doing well and we’ll have more to announce soon).

Bergen: “We trust the media.”#QP (with thanks to @swear_trek). pic.twitter.com/njb1s2Sjom

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) May 28, 2019

Round three saw questions on criminal gangs coming into the country on Mexican visas (Goodale: The premise of your question is bogus, and CBSA has barred entry to a mere 0.04 percent of entries from Mexico), sea lice in salmon farms (Casey: Provincial authorities deal with outbreaks and there is funding in place to assist), Pharmacare vis-à-vis the New NAFTA (Petitpas Taylor: We are modernising the Patented Medicines Review Board, we joined the bulk buying with the provinces and are awaiting the Pharmacare implementation committee report), the closed-door Afghan memorial ceremony (MacAulay: I talked to the veteran and he will he at Normandy — which I think is the response to Clarke’s question from yesterday; Sajjan: An appropriate public ceremony will be organised and please stop playing politics with this), the spectre of a “soda tax” (Petitpas Taylor: We have been making it easier for Canadians to make healthier choices, and we have no plans for this tax), the Passenger Bill of Rights (Garneau: We are proud of this document and you should familiarise yourself with it), a Canadian detained in Oman (Goldsmith-Jones: I have personally been engaged on this file), the ghost of Energy East (Lefebvre: We respect our obligations to the economy and the environment as we transition to lower emissions), and the Trans Mountain pipeline (Lefebvre: A decision can be made by June 18th).

Overall, the day was slightly less obnoxious than it was yesterday, and I found Trudeau’s responses to the questions on the media bailout to be slightly better than those of the minister, as he highlighted the importance of hearing from employers and employees, and the Conservative history around organised labour — not that it really excuses the whole affair, which has become little more than an own-goal at this point. I also found Bergen’s insistence that the Conservatives “trust” the media to be more than a little rich, as her backbenchers are simultaneously yelling that journalists aren’t independent and that they’ve all been bought off (which is news to me). The NDP fetishising of American Democrat talking points got a bit more pushback today, which was better than just talking points of praise — though perhaps Trudeau and Freeland should lay off the praise from Jerry Dias while the while Unifor/bailout issue remain as the top concern (what was I just saying about own-goals?) We also finally got an actual answer from Ginette Petitpas Taylor today around the hysterical questions regarding the possibility of a “soda tax,” which she should have put to rest yesterday. Alas.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Candice Bergen for a pink short-sleeved dress with a quasi-houndstooth pattern, and to Rob Oliphant for a tailored navy suit and tie with a crisp white shirt. Style citations go out to go out to Larry Maguire for a tan suit with a light pink with a blue grid pattern and a medium blue tie, and to Leona Alleslev for a wrap dress with multicoloured horizontal stripes with a black jacket.