The Line

Carney dumps Trump, Conservatives ponder mutiny

Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on March 28, 2025, your hosts get dark. And deep. And psychological. And have a few inappropriate giggles. Matt almost gets himself cancelled and The Line shut down by quoting a bad lyric ... but stops himself just in time. Been that kind of a week, right?

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They start by talking about how foreign policy continues to drive the campaign. More tariffs. A threat to the auto-sector. A phone call, at last, between Mark Carney and Donald Trump — and apparently a very civil one. This is a rare campaign — one that is truly being driven by events beyond our borders. And thus far, it's all unfolding to Mark Carney's advantage.

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After that, your hosts talk about the campaign itself. What's working well for the major parties — and both of them do have some things going for them. What's the danger they face, especially the Conservatives, who seem to be struggling to adapt to a campaign that doesn't look anything like the campaign they were expecting. And also, and they don't say this to be mean, but seriously ... where is Jagmeet Singh? Seriously. Has anyone heard from him? Is he okay? They talk at some length about why the "oppo" attacks against Carney aren't landing, and why Jen is starting to think that Poilievre's path to moral righteousness might mean ... giving up.

Oh, and Matt talks about his recurring anxiety dream ... but! It's totally relevant to the election. We swear.

This episode of The Line Podcast is also brought to you by Environmental 360 Solutions. Ontario's recycling system is failing local businesses and benefiting large American recyclers. Over $10 million a year is being collected from Ontario consumers in mandatory fees for tire and battery recycling but much of the work is being outsourced to American recyclers. This is starving local Ontario companies of opportunities to do that work and keep good jobs in the province. Worse, enough mandatory fees have been collected from consumers to recycle 100% of the materials, but only a fraction of this work is actually being done. Ontario’s recycling regulator is finally taking action, issuing penalties to the companies collecting the recycling fees, but in turn these companies are using these mandatory fees, paid by Ontarians to fund recycling programs, to cover the fines. The result? Ontario consumers are enriching unscrupulous industry participants and American recyclers, undermining recycling, job creation, and investment in Ontario. It’s time for real accountability in the recycling industry. To learn more, visit e360s.ca/fairrecycling.

Last but not least, your hosts talk about the intra-Canadian conservative civil war that is increasingly spilling out into the open. Like, gosh. Did you see what happened in Ontario this week?

Also! Our Bullshit Bulletin is back, and the Anti-Panel launches Saturday. Check out those and all our other election coverage out at ReadTheLine.ca.