This week on On The Line, Jen Gerson sits down with entrepreneur and policy advocate Matt Spoke to talk about Project Ontario — a new movement of small-c conservatives who say Doug Ford’s government has lost its way. Spoke argues that after more than seven years in power, Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives are governing like Liberals: spending more than ever, doling out billions in corporate subsidies, and failing to fix core problems in housing, health care, and education.

This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Canada’s housing crisis demands bold, scalable solutions. Build Canada Homes is an opportunity to leverage Canadian wood in modern construction. Wood-based methods like mass timber and modular construction can significantly reduce build times, waste, and carbon emissions, while supporting local economies. Expanding building codes, streamlining approvals, and prioritizing domestic wood in federal projects could double demand and foster job creation in rural and northern communities.

Despite trade challenges and market volatility, a partnership between industry and government is vital to stabilize the sector, enhance competitiveness, and deliver innovative, sustainably sourced Canadian wood products for homes across Canada and abroad. With capacity growing across provinces, stable demand and predictable financing are key to unlocking the sector’s potential.

We need to Build Canada Homes with Canadian wood. To learn more, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca.Tthe conversation dives into the numbers—sluggish growth, stalled housing starts, and a province now leading the country in corporate handouts. Spoke explains why Ontario’s policy choices are driving people out of the province, why school boards have drifted toward activism instead of academics, and how competition and parental choice could push the system back toward better outcomes.

The pair close with a look at Ford’s enduring popularity and whether it can last. Is this a call for the premier to course-correct — or the beginning of a broader conservative renewal in Ontario? Tune in for a candid, numbers-driven look at what’s gone wrong, and what might come next. To learn more about Matt's project, go to ProjectOntario.ca.

New episodes of On The Line drop every Tuesday. Subscribe at ReadTheLine.ca, follow us on your favourite podcast app, and don’t forget to leave us a nice review. Audio drops every Tuesday morning, with video rolling out Tuesday evening on YouTube and our social channels. Catch it wherever you listen or watch.

In this episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on November 7, 2025, Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson react to a remarkably busy week in Canadian politics.

This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Canada’s housing crisis demands bold, scalable solutions. Build Canada Homes is an opportunity to leverage Canadian wood in modern construction. Wood-based methods like mass timber and modular construction can significantly reduce build times, waste, and carbon emissions, while supporting local economies. Expanding building codes, streamlining approvals, and prioritizing domestic wood in federal projects could double demand and foster job creation in rural and northern communities.

Despite trade challenges and market volatility, a partnership between industry and government is vital to stabilize the sector, enhance competitiveness, and deliver innovative, sustainably sourced Canadian wood products for homes across Canada and abroad. With capacity growing across provinces, stable demand and predictable financing are key to unlocking the sector’s potential.

We need to Build Canada Homes with Canadian wood. To learn more, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca.

They start with the Mark Carney government. Matt’s self-imposed six-month grace period for judging the new prime minister has expired, and he’s ready to weigh in: better than Trudeau, but not good enough for the moment. Jen is slightly more patient but, somehow, even sharper in her take — especially when it comes to Carney’s recent apology to Donald Trump, which she finds baffling and unnecessary. And enraging.

Then attention turns to the Conservatives, where Pierre Poilievre’s week has gone from bad to worse. Two MPs have walked away, and the question now is whether this is an isolated hiccup or the start of a real leadership problem. Matt and Jen point out that without the wind of inevitable victory at his back, Poilievre will need to rely on charm and political skill — qualities not generally considered his strong suit.

The episode wraps with a wide-ranging discussion on what “woke” and “feminism” actually mean in 2025, and how those words have evolved. Jen is workshopping a new column on the topic, and Matt is clearly looking forward to reading it.

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

In this episode of On The Line, host Matt Gurney sits down with Peter Sankoff, a Alberta-based criminal defence lawyer and law professor, to talk about one of the country’s more heated current debates: should non-citizens receive legal leniency in criminal cases to avoid disrupting their immigration status?

This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Canada’s housing crisis demands bold, scalable solutions. Build Canada Homes is an opportunity to leverage Canadian wood in modern construction. Wood-based methods like mass timber and modular construction can significantly reduce build times, waste, and carbon emissions, while supporting local economies. Expanding building codes, streamlining approvals, and prioritizing domestic wood in federal projects could double demand and foster job creation in rural and northern communities.

Despite trade challenges and market volatility, a partnership between industry and government is vital to stabilize the sector, enhance competitiveness, and deliver innovative, sustainably sourced Canadian wood products for homes across Canada and abroad. With capacity growing across provinces, stable demand and predictable financing are key to unlocking the sector’s potential.

We need to Build Canada Homes with Canadian wood. To learn more, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca.

For context, recent cases have seen judges issue lighter sentences, or defence lawyers argue for them, so that a non-citizen resident of Canada wouldn’t face deportation. These decisions have sparked controversy and political backlash. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner has even tabled a private member’s bill that would prevent judges from taking immigration status into account when handing down sentences.

Matt supported the proposal on Twitter; Peter disagreed. After a spirited exchange online, Peter remarked that the issue was better suited to long-form discussion than social media — so Matt invited him on the show. Together they dig into the controversy itself, why Peter believes judicial discretion is essential and already well-established, and also, moral and fair. Matt points out what he thinks are inconsistencies and blind spots in that argument — the kind that can come from being too close to an issue.

But while they disagree on specifics, both men share a broader concern: that public faith in the justice system is eroding, and not without reason. Peter offers some ideas for how the system could regain public trust.

You can learn more about Peter’s work at Sankoff Criminal Law and his educational platform Criminal Defence Essentials, or find him on LinkedIn.

New episodes of On The Line drop every Tuesday. Subscribe at ReadTheLine.ca, follow us on your favourite podcast app, and don’t forget to leave us a nice review. Audio drops every Tuesday morning, with video rolling out Tuesday evening on YouTube and our social channels. Catch it wherever you listen or watch.

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on October 31, 2025 — spooky! — your hosts take on the big political issues in Canada today, including, God help us, the prospect of a federal election. They don’t think it’s likely, but they do think it’s possible.

This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Canada’s housing crisis demands bold, scalable solutions. Build Canada Homes is an opportunity to leverage Canadian wood in modern construction. Wood-based methods like mass timber and modular construction can significantly reduce build times, waste, and carbon emissions, while supporting local economies. Expanding building codes, streamlining approvals, and prioritizing domestic wood in federal projects could double demand and foster job creation in rural and northern communities.

Despite trade challenges and market volatility, a partnership between industry and government is vital to stabilize the sector, enhance competitiveness, and deliver innovative, sustainably sourced Canadian wood products for homes across Canada and abroad. With capacity growing across provinces, stable demand and predictable financing are key to unlocking the sector’s potential.

We need to Build Canada Homes with Canadian wood. To learn more, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca.

After that, they turn to the latest turbulence in U.S.–Canada relations. It’s been another difficult week. Both hosts hope the situation might finally knock some sense into our political leaders — though Matt Gurney warns Jen Gerson that Canadians may be almost immune to having sense knocked into them.

Finally, Jen gets everyone caught up on the fallout from Alberta’s recent teachers’ strike and notes that Danielle Smith took an awfully big swing to bring it to an end. We’ll see how that works out for her.

All that and more in this week’s episode of The Line Podcast. Check us out at ReadTheLine.ca.

In this episode of On The Line, host Jen Gerson is joined by Andre Gagne, a theology professor at Concordia University, and author of American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times.

This episode of On The Line is brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Canadian forestry supports 200,000 workers, generates $87 billion in annual revenue, contributes $21 billion annually to our nation’s economy, and provides the products we need to build homes and drive economic growth. While trade barriers from the U.S. are siphoning jobs and investment away, Canada’s own approval processes and regulations are preventing critical projects that both prevent wildfires and boost our economic self-reliance.

We can and should have programs that expand domestic wood use, advance biomass use and pulp market opportunities, and cut red tape and regulatory barriers. The government of Canada has a clear opportunity to stand up for Canadian forestry at a time of growing global uncertainty. We need real action that puts Canadians first — supporting employees and their families, securing stability for our businesses, and protecting the long-term potential of our sector and its people. To learn more, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca.

They speak about Palantir CEO and multi-billionaire Peter Thiel -- an influential figure both in Silicon Valley, and in the Donald Trump administration -- who has recently gone on a tear warning about how anti-AI activists, Greta Thunberg, and anyone who is opposed to him politically, are aligned with the "anti-christ." What is the anti-christ? And are Thiel's warnings Biblically apt? What is going on with the Evangelical movement in America today? We get into all of it today On The Line.

In this episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on October 24, 2025, Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson can’t help but respond to the breaking news of the day. God help us all.

This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Canada’s housing crisis demands bold, scalable solutions. Build Canada Homes is an opportunity to leverage Canadian wood in modern construction. Wood-based methods like mass timber and modular construction can significantly reduce build times, waste, and carbon emissions, while supporting local economies. Expanding building codes, streamlining approvals, and prioritizing domestic wood in federal projects could double demand and foster job creation in rural and northern communities.

Despite trade challenges and market volatility, a partnership between industry and government is vital to stabilize the sector, enhance competitiveness, and deliver innovative, sustainably sourced Canadian wood products for homes across Canada and abroad. With capacity growing across provinces, stable demand and predictable financing are key to unlocking the sector’s potential.

We need to Build Canada Homes with Canadian wood. To learn more, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca.

Donald Trump has suspended all trade negotiations with Canada, claiming that ads taken out by Doug Ford’s Ontario government are unfair and dishonest. Matt and Jen don’t really buy that. If Trump wants a deal, he’ll get one — and if he wants to blow one up, he’ll find an excuse. So they don’t take his stated reason particularly seriously. What they do take seriously is Doug Ford’s role in this mess. Matt has some tough words for what he thinks Ford’s motivation really is, while Jen offers a partial defence.

From there, they turn to Mark Carney’s big speech this week. Matt sums it up with both the good news and the bad — though, as he puts it, the really bad news is how much of the good news is actually bad news. You’ll just have to listen to the segment to understand why.

Finally, there’s an update from Alberta. Jen recaps who she thinks came out ahead — and who didn’t — in the teachers’ strike. She also takes note of Alberta’s recent municipal elections, focusing on one particular result that caught her attention. Calgary’s newly elected mayor gives her a theory on how genuinely populist politicians might start finding their way back to normalcy.

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

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on October 17, 2025, Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson start off with a quick recap of Alberta’s teacher strike — and the feedback Jen has been getting since last week’s show. Matt mentions something else they've been getting. Notes of thanks from struggling parents.

This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Canada’s housing crisis demands bold, scalable solutions. Build Canada Homes is an opportunity to leverage Canadian wood in modern construction. Wood-based methods like mass timber and modular construction can significantly reduce build times, waste, and carbon emissions, while supporting local economies. Expanding building codes, streamlining approvals, and prioritizing domestic wood in federal projects could double demand and foster job creation in rural and northern communities.

Despite trade challenges and market volatility, a partnership between industry and government is vital to stabilize the sector, enhance competitiveness, and deliver innovative, sustainably sourced Canadian wood products for homes across Canada and abroad. With capacity growing across provinces, stable demand and predictable financing are key to unlocking the sector’s potential.

We need to Build Canada Homes with Canadian wood. To learn more, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca.

From there, they head to the Middle East. Well, not literally, but you know what we mean. They talk about the limited optimism they feel now that the fighting has largely stopped, the genuine relief at the hostages being home, and why Gaza likely needs to be occupied by a stabilization force for decades. Canada’s influence? Let’s just say it was minimal. Matt even suggests it might have been negative — that we may have actually made things slightly worse. Not a great chapter in our diplomatic history, but probably not one where we could have expected much better. They also wonder if Carney appreciates what will be asked of Canada in exchange for letting our PM be on the stage.

Then the conversation shifts back to domestic politics — sort of. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is tweeting about Nazis again. It’s not that he’s totally wrong, but his grasp of the history seems to hover at the level of someone who’s skimmed a bit about interwar Europe … or, maybe, he knows exactly what he’s doing and just wants to troll everyone for the donations. That seems to be how politics works these days.

Fun stuff. For more fun stuff, check us out at ReadTheLine.ca.

This week on On The Line, Matt Gurney is joined by Gregory Jack, senior vice president of public affairs at Ipsos Canada, for a conversation about the issues that are animating — and dividing — Canadians today.

This episode of the On The Line is brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Canada’s housing crisis demands bold, scalable solutions. Build Canada Homes is an opportunity to leverage Canadian wood in modern construction. Wood-based methods like mass timber and modular construction can significantly reduce build times, waste, and carbon emissions, while supporting local economies. Expanding building codes, streamlining approvals, and prioritizing domestic wood in federal projects could double demand and foster job creation in rural and northern communities.

Despite trade challenges and market volatility, a partnership between industry and government is vital to stabilize the sector, enhance competitiveness, and deliver innovative, sustainably sourced Canadian wood products for homes across Canada and abroad. With capacity growing across provinces, stable demand and predictable financing are key to unlocking the sector’s potential.

We need to Build Canada Homes with Canadian wood. To learn more, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca.

They start with an extended discussion guided by new polling data that captures what Canadians are currently worried about. Concerns about Donald Trump and the U.S.-Canada relationship remain, but they’ve faded. Cost of living issues, public safety, crime, and the eternal favourite — healthcare — are back at the top of the agenda. But the polling also shows that Trump has a knack for shooting back to the top of the list whenever he has one of his more remarkable moments talking about Canada.

This episode is also brought to you by the Daily Bread Food Bank. Working-age Canadians with disabilities experience poverty and food insecurity at twice the rate of the general population. The Canada Disability Benefit was designed to address this, but at $6.67 a day, it fails to cover essentials like food, housing, and medication. Daily Bread Food Bank and coalition partners urge the federal government to fully fund the benefit to lift those it was meant to serve out of poverty. Join thousands of Canadians calling for change to help ensure people with disabilities can live a life of dignity. Take action at FundTheBenefit.ca.

From there, Matt and Greg dive into immigration — a topic they deliberately avoided earlier in the show so they could focus on it here. Matt had a hunch, based on what he’s been seeing and hearing out there, and asked Greg to pull some numbers to see if it held up. Stay tuned. You won’t want to miss this one.

A note for our audience: this episode was recorded early because of the Thanksgiving long weekend, so we avoided anything we thought might be vulnerable to breaking news developments. Don't blame us if something wild happens! We did our part to be responsible and not jinx anyone.