In this week's On The Line, host Jen Gerson speaks with Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, who was recently in the news after receiving hard treatment from newly converted Liberal MP Michael Ma at a parliamentary committee examining the potential security risks associated with importing Chinese EVs. They talk about McCuaig-Johnston's long history studying China and technology and her growing concern about the superpower's use and abuse of its leading technology industry to potentially spy on western nations. How adept is Canada at navigating Chinese relations. And, oh yes, they get into the now infamous committee hearing. Is Canada run by the ChiComs? What was Michael Ma thinking? All this on this week's On The Line, filmed while Gerson was in Montreal.

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In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on April 10th, 2026, Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson begin with Jen reporting in from Montreal, where she’s attending the Liberal convention. The first segment focuses on the vibe in the room — confident, even a little triumphalist — and what that says about the party’s current position. A large part of the discussion centres on Marilyn Gladu’s decision to cross the floor. Jen wonders if, at a human level, it may have come down to something as simple as being treated with a bit of kindness. Matt takes a colder view, arguing that the Liberals are simply better at politics, full stop. Until the Conservatives and New Democrats figure out how to compete on those terms, he suggests, the Liberals will keep winning — no matter how angry voters get about the obvious hypocrisy of moves like this one.

From there, the conversation turns to what both hosts see as a deeper problem: Canada’s broken accountability mechanisms. Matt runs through a series of examples, while Jen focuses more on the media’s role in allowing this situation to develop. As they describe it, the traditional “accountability wolves” have effectively been penned up and turned into zoo exhibits. Both agree on what might actually force change — a harsher, more confrontational political culture that relies on shame, embarrassment, and fear to drive accountability. Think American MAGA podcasters doing livestreams from overcrowded Canadian emergency rooms or savage British columnists ripping apart our civil servants. But they’re skeptical that Canada’s political and media establishment, which they argue created the current system by prioritizing niceness over effectiveness back when things were easier in Canada, would ever allow that kind of environment to take root.

Finally, Matt throws Jen a curveball. Drawing on a pair of recent news stories, he floats a new theory about why aliens are suddenly back in the conversation. Jen is delighted. As always, The Line remains firmly pro-alien.

All that and more in the latest episode of The Line Podcast.

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In this episode of On The Line, Matt Gurney speaks with Mark Hertling, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, former commander of U.S. Army Europe, and a longtime commentator on military affairs and leadership.

The conversation begins with an unusual connection. Hertling had referenced one of Matt’s columns in a recent speech, which a Line reader flagged and sent along. That led to an invitation — and a wide-ranging discussion about the United States’ role in the world, the strain on Western alliances, and what comes next.

Hertling is, at heart, an optimist. He believes American leadership in the Western alliance can recover, even after years of damage, but cautions that rebuilding trust with allies will take time — likely a generation. Matt is a bit less optimistic, but confesses he believes that America, a country he loves, will at least try. The two discuss what went wrong, what can realistically be repaired, and why the long-term trajectory may still bend back toward stability.

The conversation also turns personal. Hertling speaks about his latest book, If I Don't Return, which reflects on the life lessons he wanted to leave behind for his sons in case he didn’t return from war. It’s an emotional segment that resonated deeply with Matt, who has been thinking a great deal about what parents leave behind for their children in recent months.

It’s a thoughtful, and at times moving, conversation about leadership, legacy, and whether the West can find its footing again.

To order a copy of the general's book, click here.

And to see more from Matt and The Line, go to ReadTheLine.ca.

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