The Line Podcast

Hello, Line podcast listeners! A quiet week in the news, but still looks to talk about. How the media handled COVID, how the PM handles protesters, how all of us handle the genuine tension between the rights of different minority groups in our society, and — in a very brief segment — how the media is handling Big Tech being mad about C-18.

Would it surprise you to learn that in every case, we are handling those things badly?

Written dispatch to come out on Sunday, folks. Enjoy your weekends!

The Line is entirely reader funded. If you value our work and worry about what will happen when the conventional media finishes collapsing, please make a donation today.

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something:  [email protected].

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Well, happy Friday, we guess. We sat down to record our first podcast in two weeks, spent 45 minutes on it, and then …. crash. The file was corrupted. Rather than waste all our brilliance and leave you all hanging, we decided to do a speed-version of the podcast. All the same topics! Most of the same wisdom! Half the time!

Is that dedication or what?!

So, behold: our experimental podcast episode #0.54, Take 2. Topics: the CBC makes a painful retraction, wondering who’ll be the next Jane Creba, the latest depressing Canadian deliverology fail, why our standard of living might be about to tank (and for some of you, might already be tanking) and, ahem, whether Canada should get kicked out of the G7.

Oh, and guess what? Almost nothing about C-18! We’re sick of talking about it too, believe us.

The Line is entirely reader funded, which has suddenly become extremely fricking important for us to highlight. If you value our work and worry about what will happen when the conventional media finishes collapsing, potentially sometime next week, please make a donation today.

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected]

Get full access to The Line at www.readtheline.ca/subscribe

Yes, that’s a Cuban Missile Crisis allusion. That’s the state of our mood at present.

But hey. Happy Canada Day, everyone! We’ll be back after a week off!

The Line is entirely reader funded, which has suddenly become extremely fricking important for us to highlight. If you value our work and worry about what will happen when the conventional media finishes collapsing, potentially sometime next week, please make a donation today.

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected]

Get full access to The Line at www.readtheline.ca/subscribe

It was great while it lasted, and we’re more sad than you’ll never know that we arrived just a bit too late to ever really enjoy it at its best. But journalism as we’ve all known it is dying now, and as much as that sucks, the worst thing we could do would be to ignore the obvious and undeniable evidence before our eyes. Someone has to go find a way to save what’s left and then, maybe one day, build something new. No one is more shocked and dismayed than us to realize that, uh oh. We are the adults in the room.

We always include the little blue button below, folks, but this week, more than ever, it’s really important. No help is coming except what you decide to provide yourselves.

Also: listeners may find it useful to consult this article we wrote some time ago, which gets into a lot of the underlaying economic problems that have brought a once-mighty industry here, and explains why the media isn’t dying for the reasons you might have guessed. It’s much more basic. We had a lot of money once. We don’t anymore. The rest is, sadly, history.

Or will be, assuming there’s anyone left to write it down.

-30-

(If you know, you know.)

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected] 

Get full access to The Line at www.readtheline.ca/subscribe

Well, shit, here we go again, we guess. Who came in second in the eminent Canadian rankings? Do we have any astronauts kicking around? Or do we just give it to the Trudeau Foundation?

Subscribe. We deserve it after all this nonsense. It’s not our best sales pitch ever, but come on. You gonna tell us we don’t deserve it?

We wanted to talk about aliens, guys. And instead we get this.

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected] 

Get full access to The Line at www.readtheline.ca/subscribe

Well, a typically upbeat podcast from us. Sigh.

Sorry it was late. Had a hard time getting the schedules aligned tonight. Enjoy!

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected] 

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What else this week? The Johnston report, and more-so the fallout. A set up for the Alberta election. And an appeal for money!

But seriously, actually listen to that part. Because we make an announcement!

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected] 

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Pardon us for having this land late — long-weekend related schedule issues. We cover the wildfires, the Alberta debate, a bad ethics report for Danielle Smith, Bill Blair vs. The Globe and Mail, Trudeau vs. the Italians, and why public safety and law and order are making a comeback as political issues.

Happy Victoria Day, everyone! Written dispatch will land Monday.

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected] 

Get full access to The Line at www.readtheline.ca/subscribe

Hey folks, nice to be back after a week off, while Matt travelled abroad and Jen got strep throat again. This podcast covers a lot of ground, but it’s more serious than the title suggests. Matt and Jen worry that our post-COVID societal crises aren’t getting better. And may actually be getting worse.

Fun!

Subscribe, we guess?

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected] 

Get full access to The Line at www.readtheline.ca/subscribe

This podcast went in an unexpected direction. And that’s before we get to talking about the Traveling Wilburys. Amid all the stories of the week, including us not even knowing if we’re not CRTC regulated or what, Jen and Matt get into what a “conservative” even means in Canada circa 2023. We didn’t plan on that. It just kind of happened. So we ran with it for a while. A long while.

We hope you enjoyed the chat, and that you have a wonderful weekend. And we really hope you subscribe!

The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected] 

Get full access to The Line at www.readtheline.ca/subscribe