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With the43rd parliament now officially open for business,Press Progress is warning its left-leading audience totake a closer look at the fine print of Team Trudeausto-do (or, in this case, try-to-do)list for the newly reconfigured minority House of Commons particularly the three glaring holes in the sections dealing with pharmacare, the environment and tax fairness, where, as per PP, the text suggests those pledges remain iffy.

There is, for instance, no explicit commitment to accept the findings of the governments own expert panel on pharmacare, which recommended a universal, single payer system, or even a clear definition of exactly what national pharmacare actually means.

The speech also lacks specific details on the goal of meeting the 2050 net zero emissions target laid out in the Liberal campaign platform, or any reference to the fact that Canada is already falling short of the previous Conservative governments targets.

And despite the fact that the speech commits the government to pursuing tax fairness .. there was no talk about closing the tax loopholes that overwhelmingly benefit Canadas wealthiest men, PP points out.

Theyre also not impressed by Finance Minister Bill Morneaus pitch to raise the basic personal exemption to $15,000 by 2023 and particularly, his claim that it will lift 40,000 Canadians out of poverty when the latest Statistics Canada suggests that lower-income Canadians will only save between $37 and $137 per year.

As PP crunches the numbers, that works out tojust $3.08 per month for families making less than $20,000 and $11.41 per month for those making between $20,000 and $40,000, which the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives sums up as very close to a rounding error.

Over at Rabble, politics reporter Karl Nerenberg laments how the now notorious pool footage of Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson being caught gossiping about US President [Donald] Trump on an open mic wound up dominating coverage of a NATO summit that also led to several consequential outcomes.

There was, he notes, a commitment to increase military spending across Europe and in Canada by a staggering US$400 billion, but thats not the only worrying development to emerge from the annual meet-up.

For the first time ever, NATO has acknowledged outer space as what it calls the fifth domain of warfare, he notes,while also backing down from a commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, arms control and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, while simultaneously dealing with the move by the United States to pull out of the Open Skies Treaty and, of course, the existential crisis currently underway within the alliance itself, which is now poised for examination by an expert working group.

The Canadian Rideau Institute, which specializes in peace and security issues, argues that this working group presents an opportunity for Canada to work with other like-minded NATO members to ensure that the organizations mandate includes a strong arms control component, he notes.

Thefact that Canadian media coverage of the London conference overwhelmingly focused on the bits and pieces of a leaders conversation picked up by an errant microphone is a source of major frustration.

Elsewhere in the Rabbleverse,noting thatnobody flies to Ottawa at this time of year expecting to get anything done with the government of Canada, Alberta blogger David Climenhaga floats the theory that the real purpose of Jason Kenneys pre-holiday visit to the federal capital may have been to dally in the kind of business done in dark corners of Conservative Party Christmasparties: namely, being at the punchbowl while talk of a coup to topple [Andrew] Scheer is in the holiday air.

And while he acknowledges its hard to say if Kenney is still harbouring prime ministerial ambitions of his own he obviously needs to be there at this crucial moment when the federal leaders fate hangs in the balance.

On a distinctly more sombre note, Ricochet columnist Toula Drimonismulls over just how long it has taken forher hometown of Montreal tofinally acknowledge that the 1989Ecole Polytechniquemass shooting was not random, but a calculated massacre of women who dared to believe in gender equality and in equality of opportunity, as is explicitlystated ina new memorialplaque that goes beyond the original recognition of a tragic event.

Meanwhile, Vancouver-based hockey podcaster Jackson McDonald warns that, when it comes to racism and abuse in hockey,the allegations against now former Calgary Flames head coach Bill Petersare just the tip of the iceberg.

While the NHL will be eager to label Peters as one bad apple whose behaviour is not indicative of their values history suggests otherwise, henotes.

Not only isPeters far from the only coach to be reprimanded for using racial slurs, but his resignation follows a laundry list of Black NHLers that have been on the receiving end of racist remarks by teammates or fans that includes Wayne Simmonds, PK Subban, Devante Smith-Pelly, Georges Laraque, and Mike Grier, among others.

His takeaway: All the evidence points to abuse and racism in the sport being much more widespread than the hockey community is ready to acknowledge, which is why hes expecting more stories to come out, while even more never see the light of day.

To wrap up this weeks recap, heres aquick check on whatstopping the radar onother side of the unabashedly activistonline media divide:

Thats all for this edition of the Rebel to Rabble Review, but fear not, well be back next week with all the latest news, views and musings in heavy rotation on both the left and right side of the Canadianonline media spectrum.

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The Rebel to Rabble Review: Reading the fine print of the Throne Speech - iPolitics.ca