The Line Podcast

Howdy, friends. There wasn’t a huge single story in the news this week, so we threw a couple headlines back and forth and sank our teeth into them. The PSAC strike, and when you’ll notice it. Why Trudeau has no friends on that one. Another media company bites the dust, and why Jen is unimpressed with some of our self-styled defenders. Trudeau’s NATO comments, subsidies for VW, and, to the government, just please stop hiring your relatives and friends. Please. It hurts us.

You know what doesn’t hurt us? Revenue! We’re having to figure out a new strategy as social media stops being effective, so our best bet is simple word of mouth. Please subscribe today and tell all your friends, and ask them to tell their friends. Thanks!

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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We hope everyone had a great long weekend. We’re back to the grind here, and we start by covering the PM’s chief of staff’s return visit to testify before Parliament. We also talk a bit about her last visit to such a committee, and why it’s useful to actually recall the circumstances of the PMO’s handling of Jonathan Vance’s sexual misconduct when assessing their handling of Chinese electoral interference. We talk about lots of other stuff, too: Misfits, Minecraft and national security leaks. Satanism and sex-drenched pop culture. And why Poilievre is still trying to make certain Canadians angry.

Thanks for listening, and watch for the full dispatch tomorrow. The Line only exists because of our readers and listeners, so please subscribe 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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Getting this out early so that we can all enjoy the long weekend. A correction from Jen, and then, lots on the latest example of how Canada totally isn’t broken. Some local Toronto absurdities, and then Canada’s too-perfect astronaut has Jen asked for uglier men.

Have a wonderful long weekend, everyone. Stay safe. We’ll get our written dispatch out shortly, and then we’re off until Tuesday.

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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Miss us? We’re back after a week off. And what a week! Tons of stuff happening in the news, and we “speed date” our way through as many topics as possible: the Trump indictment, a terrible event in Nashville, more wild news in Alberta, a weirdly meh budget, and lots and lots on Dong vs. Global News.

Thanks for listening, and though a week off was fun, we confess — it’s good to be back.

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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No time for preamble! Must publish podcast before breaking news makes it obsolete again! C-18! China! Transparency! David Johnston! Why Matt thinks Canada has no immune system! HURRY UP! LISTEN TO IT!

And also rush to subscribe today so we can make money!

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’s always a Friday.

We try to cover the latest on the China story, and keep getting overtaken by events. Jen also spontaneously develops a new theory about Boomers.

*rubs temples*

We can’t think of a specific pitch for new subscribers today. Too much happening. We’re fried. Just, you know, like, click the button and send us money. Please?

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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Lots happening in the news this week, but most of it is the same story. We get you caught up on the latest. We admit to being baffled by whatever it is the CBC is doing here. You’re not helping yourselves, guys. Also: the axe falls at Global, and that always hurts to see.

Speaking of the need for sustainable media … at the rate things going, it’s going to be down to Matt and Jen and like four others before long, so maybe subscribe today, if you can.

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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Hello from the hockey rink, where Line editor Gurney just basically lives now. (At least it has a bar.) We recorded this earlier on Friday, before Global News made all our Fridays interesting.

Hmmm. Interesting. Hey, remember when Gurney said this, like 48 hours ago?

Anyway, we’ll get into this in the written dispatch, expected to be out Saturday. For now, enjoy the podcast, and if you want to help The Line keep growing, join us as a paid subscriber 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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Whoo boy. Sorry this is late, guys. We recorded this on Friday and Gurney planned to put it together and publish it at once. Then things went bonkers in his hometown and he got sucked into a news vortex. This was recorded before the John Tory affair was reported, so it doesn’t touch on it at all — and that’s just as well, probably. So instead, the health-care deal, more balloons get popped, the CPC vs. the CBC, general media woes, and yet more federal deliverology in action, this time with lives hanging in the balance.

Sorry to be late with this, folks. Just couldn’t be helped. And the dispatch will be published tomorrow — we are adjusting to cover not one but two breaking-news stories that came after we recorded this on Friday.

Nice, calm weekend, eh?

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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Lots going on this week. Updates from Ottawa, including the long-coming Liberal retreat on guns that we told you was gonna happen. Also some new, eye-popping numbers from Abacus, and updates on the media front, too. All recorded in Matt’s brief breaks from hockey dad duty!

If you enjoy our musings, or even just remember what it costs to put your kid into hockey, please help us keep the lights on by subscribing to The Line 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