Carney and Smith cut a deal, Guilbeault packs his bags

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on November 28th, 2025, your hosts start with the biggest story of the week before veering off into a surprisingly long but very entertaining tangent about seafood and the possible unsustainability of our entire civilization. Trust us, it’s a good one.

They do eventually get to the Memorandum of Understanding signed this week between Ottawa and Alberta. Both hosts agree it ended up being a solid week for Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. They also wonder whether it somehow turned into a good week for Steven Guilbeault, who is now out of Carney’s cabinet. Did Guilbeault’s decision to walk away mark the moment more Liberals finally realized the Trudeau era is really, truly over? Matt also notes that Carney can't keep offering everyone carrots; sooner or later, someone is going to need to get the stick. And he names the province he thinks should be made example of ... to encourage the others, of course.

From there, the conversation shifts to Matt’s recent trip to the Halifax International Security Forum. He’s working on a series of columns about it that will begin rolling out soon, but he shares a few early stories — all circling the theme of America having ghosted the world, and how some Americans, bless them, still think this is something they can fix quickly after a midterm or the next election. Matt isn’t convinced. 

He also has a few thoughts about the relative cleanliness of some Canadian cities he has visited lately. Halifax, you’re looking good.

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

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:23 MOU Mania (plus, fish)
• 45:30 America goes bye bye