NEW: High Tax, Low Return: Matt Gurney on What Canada Is Actually Getting for Its Money

Canada's trade surplus is real and Matt Gurney will take it. He just wants to be honest about what it is: a bounce from external conditions, not a sign that the structural problems are solved. The economy is showing resilience where it could be shrinking. By international standards, Canadians pay a significant amount of tax. Matt Gurney says the honest look at what that tax is producing, infrastructure that is crumbling, hundreds of billions in deferred maintenance, a healthcare system in acknowledged crisis, and a military not capable of its assigned role, is a picture of a country that has been making convenient decisions for a long time without a reckoning. He names three of those decisions specifically: the assumption that national defense could be minimized, that wealth distribution was more urgent than wealth generation, and that the United States would remain a cooperative neighbor. All three are being tested at once. Topics: Canada economy resilience, Canadian taxes, trade surplus Canada, Read the Line journalism, Alberta data breach GUEST: Matt Gurney | http://readtheline.ca Originally aired on 2026-05-05