The Line

In this episode of The Line Podcast, recorded very early on Jan. 10, 2025, your hosts take in the week that was. Justin Trudeau's semi-resignation five days ago has been all that anyone has wanted to talk about this week. So we do that, and also wonder what it tells us about the modern Liberal party that they allowed this to drag on as long as they did.Nothing good!This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at https://www.unsmoke.ca/They also chat a bit about the Liberal leadership race. Things were moving fast as your hosts gabbed so they were carefully not to weigh in too deeply lest news developments outpace them. But Matt has some thoughts about Christy Clark, premier of some province he forgets, and Jen has some thoughts on Chrystia Freeland. Don't, Liberals. Just don't.This episode of The Line Podcast is also brought to you by TikTok Canada. TikTok Canada has a team of hundreds of local employees supporting the success of Canadian creators, businesses and advertisers. The federal government, however, has ordered TikTok to shut down its Canadian offices. Shutting down TikTok Canada doesn't make Canadians safer — but it does eliminate jobs and investments in this country. Learn more at https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-ca/tiktokcanada-notice-to-challenge-local-shutdownAfter that, they talked about the latest ruminations from Donald Trump, and what it means for Canadian identity. It got dark. Matt thought Jen should go have a cheese stick to perk up her mood a bit. Snacks always help.All that and more in the latest episode of The Line Podcast. As always, like, subscribe, and visit us for more at https://www.readtheline.ca/ 

In this episode of The Line Podcast, recorded very early on Dec. 30, 2024, your hosts make the best of a weird situation. Here's the thing: we are both going on holiday now. Matt is leaving the country. Jen is going down her hobbyist rabbit holes. But we wanted to get you guys an episode. How do we do that when we won't be able to respond to breaking news events?We don't even try!This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at https://www.unsmoke.ca/That's right. Normally we record our episodes as close as possible to the date of publication. This week, we didn't bother. We took this opportunity to respond to your questions. Specifically, the questions from our paid-up subscribers, which they left at ReadtheLine.ca. The questions were fantastic and we couldn't get to all of them. But we got to as many as we could. We talk politics! We talk culture! We even answer a few questions about ourselves.This episode of The Line Podcast is also brought to you by TikTok Canada. TikTok Canada has a team of hundreds of local employees supporting the success of Canadian creators, businesses and advertisers. The federal government, however, has ordered TikTok to shut down its Canadian offices. Shutting down TikTok Canada doesn't make Canadians safer — but it does eliminate jobs and investments in this country. Learn more athttps://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-ca/tiktokcanada-notice-to-challenge-local-shutdownWe had a lot of questions about what Pierre Poilievre will be like as PM. A lot of questions about just how low the Liberals can go. And a few questions about just our personal hobbies and interests. Including one Matt knew would make Jen mad.But overall, it was tons of fun. We'll figure out a way to answer the rest of your questions at a later time. For now, we wanted to wish you all a wonderful 2025. A very Happy New Year to everyone, and as always, like, subscribe, and visit us for more at https://www.readtheline.ca/

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on Dec. 27, 2024, your hosts give listeners a quick update on all that's been happening this week. And a bunch of stuff has been happening!This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at https://www.unsmoke.ca/The main topic is the fact that Justin Trudeau has seemingly succeeded, at least temporarily, in escaping his critics within his own party. He survived Freeland Week. He made it to the holidays. But ... why? What is he hanging on for? What purpose is served by dragging this out another day, week or month? Matt says the entire Liberal party reminds him right now of one of those terrible tragedies when someone is hanging onto a bouncy castle or balloon that has become unmoored. The smart thing to do is to let go right away, fall a little bit and maybe bust a leg. If you hang on a few extra seconds, you get too high and probably end up dead. The PM and his caucus have already hung on too long. But they can always fall further! They also chat about how the Conservatives are trying to use some procedural stuff to force an election as soon as possible. It might not work. But the pressure on the PM keeps ratcheting up.This episode of The Line Podcast is also brought to you by the Digital Media Association. Costs are going up everywhere, and now streaming could cost you more. Why? Because the federal government has decided to tax your streaming services. This new tax could make life even more unaffordable. To learn more, visit https://scrapthestreamingtax.ca/Next up: the latest out of the U.S., where president-elect Donald Trump is only 24 days from taking office. He's talking about buying Greenland and taking control of the Panama Canal again. Matt has another proposal, and he's semi-serious: the moon! Go colonize the moon! That can be his Louisiana Purchase! The first extra-planetary president! Your hosts also talk about the best way of handling Trump's pressure on Canada. Jen has absolutely zero patience for the people who are only now realizing that maybe Canadian sovereignty was worth investing in and defending all along. A special note: our next podcast is going to be recorded a few days early so that we can both take a vacation. It won't be possible to stay current with the news. So we're going to have some fun with it. For our paid subscribers only, go to ReadtheLine.ca. Find the post for this episode. And leave us a comment, again at ReadtheLine.ca, that includes a question for either or both of your hosts. We're going to use the next episode to answer your questions. It'll be a fun way to start off 2025. To repeat this very important point: this is a perk only for our paid subscribers. The only way we can confirm that you are paid up is if you leave your questions under this podcast post at our main website, ReadtheLine.ca. Questions on other platforms will be ignored with extreme prejudice.So now, more than ever, like and subscribe, and visit us at https://www.readtheline.ca/ And, of course, Happy New Year! Talk to you next in 2025.

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on Dec. 20, 2024, your hosts are honestly just embarrassed. This is embarrassing. It's unhealthy and it's getting kind of scary.This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at https://www.unsmoke.ca/First up, of course, is their best guess at the latest in Ottawa. The PM is hanging on. Jen thinks he'll never leave. Matt isn't so sure. They talk about the cabinet and how pathetic a spectacle it is to see grown men like Rob Oliphant, Matt's MP, so overtly begging to be picked for cabinet ... and then failing. They talk speculation and buzz. They talk cabinet picks. They talk leadership drama. And they talk just how cringe it is to see adults acting this way. They also talk about how Justin Trudeau and his enablers did this to themselves. They have no one else to blame, but the country is going to pay the price for their hubris. It's bad. This episode of The Line Podcast is also brought to you by the Digital Media Association. Costs are going up everywhere, and now streaming could cost you more. Why? Because the federal government has decided to tax your streaming services.This new tax could make life even more unaffordable. To learn more, visit https://scrapthestreamingtax.ca/Next they talk some of the other big problems this country has that no one is paying attention to, because our entire government is focused on devouring itself alive. They talk more horrifying anti-Semitic violence in Toronto. They talk Trump's trolling of Canada. They talk about the collapse in Canadian national pride. These are all important issues. No one is paying attention to them, though, because, like, Trudeau, in or out, right? God help us.Finally, a quick update on plans for the holidays, and our thanks to all the people who make this possible.All that, and more, in the latest episode of The Line Podcast. Like, subscribe, share, leave glowing reviews and as always, visit us at https://www.readtheline.ca/ for more.

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on Dec. 13, 2024, Jen Gerson comes crashing back down to reality. Last week, she was feeling better about everything. She thought Trudeau was figuring it out. She thought the premiers were going to play their parts. She thought Team Canada would rally to take on Donald Trump.She doesn't think that anymore. Matt Gurney is glad to have her back.This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at Unsmoke.ca.There's a lot else to discuss. They deal with breaking stories not once but twice during this episode. The federal government has ordered the post office back to work. They chat about that briefly. Jen's Christmas cards are saved, to Matt's enormous relief. They also react to a new poll showing that Canadians are feeling pretty down on their country. They also chat a lot about how different premiers are responding to Donald Trump's tariff threats. Doug Ford and Danielle Smith take some criticism. Scott Moe gets some praise. Francois Legault gets laughed at, but also gets some praise.This episode of The Line Podcast is also brought to you by the Digital Media Association. Costs are going up everywhere, and now streaming could cost you more. Why? Because the federal government has decided to tax your streaming services.This new tax could make life even more unaffordable. To learn more, visit ScrapTheStreamingTax.ca.Also on the agenda today: is Trump going full manifest destiny on us, or is he just trolling Trudeau? Or both? How is Trudeau handling it? What do we make of rumours coming out of Ottawa about Chrystia Freeland being on the way out and Rachel Notley on the way in?And, also, while we're on the topic: don't shoot CEOs. Just don't.All that, and more, in the latest episode of The Line Podcast. Like, subscribe, share, leave glowing reviews and as always, visit us at ReadtheLine.ca for more.If you think you can handle it.

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded a day early — and when has that ever backfired on us?! — on Dec. 5, 2024, your hosts start with a talk about what happened after we did the last episode. Justin Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with president-elect Donald Trump. Jen feels better. Matt doesn't. They discuss. This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at Unsmoke.ca.Matt also hits Jen with a surprise "vibe" question. He told her before they clicked record that he was going to ask her about federal politics. He didn't tell her what he was going to ask, so you'll get to hear her reaction to the question as she hears it. We won't tell you what she says, but we'll tell you the question: Is Pierre Poilievre high in the polls because Canadians are sick of the Liberals, or is he actually ... popular? At least among some Canadians? (Enough Canadians, apparently.) You'll have to tune in to see how Jen answers. But Matt agrees with her.This episode of The Line Podcast is also brought to you by the Digital Media Association. Costs are going up everywhere, and now streaming could cost you more. Why? Because the federal government has decided to tax your streaming services.This new tax could make life even more unaffordable. To learn more, visit ScrapTheStreamingTax.ca.From there, your hosts move onto some more examples of the Canada-is-not-good-at-governmenting file. Both your hosts bring an example. And then they pivot to a theory Matt has, which he hangs off the non-response to the latest Liberal gun-control announcement: no one cares what this government says or does anymore. No one bothers listening. Everyone is already planning for the next government and going through the motions with this one. The Liberals have been tuned out. They're a dead government walking, and everyone knows it. Except, maybe, the Liberals themselves.Lots of fun!Like and subscribe! Tell all your friends! And check out the rest of our work at https://www.readtheline.ca.

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on November 29, 2024, your co-hosts look hard and deep into the Canadian news and just ... sigh. They sigh. They also giggle a bit, but it was bad giggling. You know?This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at Unsmoke.ca.The first topic, as you'd imagine, was the announcement by president-elect Donald Trump that he would be targeting Canada, Mexico and China with a 25-per-cent tariff upon taking office. Like, immediately upon taking office. The hosts don't actually spend a lot of time talking about that. They spend more time talking about how Canadian officials are responding to the announcement. And they aren't encouraged. To give you all a bit of a heads-up on where the conversation goes, Matt asks listeners and viewers to imagine a gigantic snake devouring a penguin. Guess what? We're the penguin. Matt and Jen also mock each other's provinces. This episode of The Line Podcast is also brought to you by the Digital Media Association. Costs are going up everywhere, and now streaming could cost you more. Why? Because the federal government has decided to tax your streaming services.This new tax could make life even more unaffordable. To learn more, visit ScrapTheStreamingTax.ca. They also talk about Matt's recent trip to Halifax, for the Halifax International Security Forum. When we recorded our last podcast, Matt had arrived in Halifax, but he hadn't yet attended the event. Having returned, he has lots of interesting things to share. But also a bit of bad news: Mélanie Joly, our top diplomat, became talk-of-the-event for a bad reason after being gutted like a fish on stage by a man who ... wanted a specific answer to a specific question. She isn't cut out for the world we're in now. But she is, sadly, also pretty emblematic of the Trudeau style of governance.Which leads us to our third topic: we send a message right to the federal Liberals. For the love of God, you gormless weasels. You dessicated husks of once-humans who now roam the halls of Parliament like spirits, passing through solid objects and rattling your chains as you hand out rebate cash like zombie game show hosts. You need to stop doing this. This country is adrift. We are rudderless at the very top. You are hurting us. You are hurting the country. If that isn't enough to get you to just end this charade, why isn't the fact that you're humiliating yourselves enough? What's wrong with you?And finally, they wrap up with a quick chat about their weeks. Highs and lows, folks.Like and subscribe! Tell all your friends! And check out the rest of our work at https://www.readtheline.ca.

Hello, viewers and listeners of The Line Podcast. Your hosts cover a ton of issues this week, including one that leaves Jen in literal tears of outrage and indignation. Or something like that.This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at Unsmoke.ca.The first topic is the latest, humiliating phase of Justin Trudeau's slow decline. He's announcing temporary tax breaks and handing out rebate cheques in a desperate attempt to shore up his fading political fortunes. It's terrible policy, as even some normally Liberal-friendly people will acknowledge, but it's also just so patently desperate and craven that we doubt it'll even be good politics. Recall what we said directly to our Liberal friends in recent episodes of the podcast: this doesn't get better. It only gets worse and more painful and more humiliating. A PM who came into power as a leading figure of the triumphant global progressive movement is now reduced to Doug-Ford-esque impersonations of a daytime game show host. And worse is always possible.Up next, your hosts tackle two other major federal stories. A new big poll from a reliable company is out, and shows no evidence of any "Trump Bump" for the Liberals. Which we've been trying to tell y'all would be the case. Also: we share our shock and horror at an absolutely appalling nickname we heard for the latest man to tumble out of Trudeau's cabinet, and also opine on how the PMO's handling of this political fiasco is cause for alarm. If they can barely figure out how to handle a pretty bog-standard political scandal, are we confident that they can handle what's happening to our world? Friends, we are not confident. Not confident at all.Last up, Matt explains why he has left the comforting confines of the Centre of the Universe to visit one of his other favourite Canadian cities. He's in Halifax, for the Halifax International Security Forum, an annual gathering of allied military leaders and other defence and geopolitical experts. (And he thanks the organizers for inviting him back once more.) It's a great place for Matt to be as he and Jen discuss how Canada is responding thus far to Trump's win, specifically, why they have a bad feeling that Mélanie Joly doesn't realize she's be punted down to the kiddie table. They also chat about the ICC issuing arrest warrants for senior officials. They aren't that confident in Canada's response on that score, either.Sigh.Like and subscribe! Tell all your friends! And check out the rest of our work at https://www.readtheline.ca/

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on Nov. 15, 2024, Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson take in a week that was incredibly busy, but also felt shockingly quiet. Maybe it's because we're all still deafened by all the news from last week?This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at Unsmoke.ca.First up: a quick review of what U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has already announced in terms of key staffing positions in his cabinet and White House political team. Some of them are very good, even if they might pose particular problems for Canada. Others are just bonkers. Jen remembers enough of Trump 1 to suggest that the bonkers is the point. Feature, not bug.Matt takes over then and offers Jen a theory. He has been reading up about why certain large U.S. cities moved sharply toward the GOP this cycle, and agrees with an American columnist who suggested it was a rejection from the actual policy failures of progressive municipal leaders in the U.S., who are too captured by the appeal of what they're trying to do in theory to ever admit that it's failing in practice. Matt warns that that is likely to play out in Canada, and they then chat about how, across a number of fronts, Canada works in theory. But not in practice. And if we're going to survive Trump 2, we want to survive in practice. Not just in theory.Next: two grim stories out of the GTA this week remind us anew of why our Jewish friends and family are so stressed out these days. It's not encouraging, folks. The trendlines are bad. Then Jen wraps it all up by proposing a radical suggestion: don't ruin Remembrance Day by trying to make it into something it's not. Just let it be what it is.Dangerous thinking, eh?All that, and more, the latest episode of The Line Podcast. Like, subscribe, share, leave a glowing review, and as always, check us out at our main website, ReadTheLine.ca.

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on Nov. 8, 2024, Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson provided viewers and listeners with the scintillating experience of a sustained bout of silence, because they have no idea what to say.Like, they also talk and stuff, but, like, wow. Right?This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at Unsmoke.ca.First up: a chat about the vibe. The feels. What they are thinking and feeling since the decisive electoral victory of Donald Trump over Kamala Harris this week. They take a look at the latest available numbers, and note the broader societal and political trends that they speak to. They discuss Trump's failures as a human being, and why the Democrats still somehow managed to convince 75 million people that they were fine, or even virtues. They talk about history, and how it feels when one age transforms into another.It's all very uplifting.Next: they zoom in on Canada, and speculate about what's next for us. Trump won't have Canada at the top of his shit list, but we might not be all that far from the top, given how Justin Trudeau and his government have made many public comments about Trump that we suspect the president-elect remembers. We talk about how Canada actually (and sincerely!) excelled at adapting itself to a global order that is now dead, and how we should have begun hedging our bets years ago. But we didn't, so now we need to adjust right now, all at once. And we aren't sure the Trudeau government will survive the G-forces such a sudden pivot is going to create.Last up, and still on the topic of a changing world, your hosts note with alarm and sadness the pogrom in Amsterdam this week. And they add it to the list of things that Canadian officials ought to be worried about, but don't seem to be.All that, and more, in the latest episode of The Line Podcast. Like and subscribe! Tell all your friends! And check out the rest of our work at https://www.readtheline.ca/