Unifor Canada spokesperson Howard Law accused Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer on Thursday of launching a “Trump-style attack on media.” He evoked the U.S. president’s name after being asked about Scheer’s criticism of the union’s involvement in the federal government’s $595-million support package for news organizations.

Here's the ‘independent’ group Justin Trudeau has appointed to help decide how $600 million of taxpayer dollars will be spent on election-year media bailouts. If Trudeau is so worried about election interference, he can start by kicking Unifor off this panel. https://t.co/cT6q9L7zGN

If @AndrewScheer doesn’t understand the connection between a strong media and its role in preserving our democracy then he is unfit to lead. https://t.co/8vERKeBtJa

Law told HuffPost Canada that Unifor has no say in how the public money will be spent. Funding-related decisions will be left to a separate panel the union has not been invited to join, he said.

Yet Unifor was among the eight associations tapped by the federal government this week to assemble that “independent panel of experts” to draft recommendations for what qualifications a Canadian journalism organization needs to meet to be considered eligible for subsidies.

The panel is expected to help determine the “eligibility criteria for tax measures” to help the Canadian news industry announced in this year’s budget, according to a department release.

The Quebec Community Newspaper Association, National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, and Canadian Association of Journalists have also been invited to each submit a name to the panel.

Canadian Heritage said the eight associations were picked “because they represent the majority of Canadian news media publishers and journalists.” The panel’s report is expected to be delivered in July.

Unifor is Canada’s largest media union and represents 13,000 industry members across the country. It has a history of partisan campaigning, notably during the 2015 election when the union launched a blitz of anti-Conservative radio ads targeting swing ridings.