Line Items & Limelights: The Budget’s Eurovision Bet and NatSec Status Quo

Secure Line

From balance sheets to ballads, the 2025 budget doubles down on soft power and spectacle, but keeps Canada’s national security stuck in the same old song.

In this episode of Secure Line, hosts Stephanie Carvin and Jessica Davis dive into the 2025 Canadian federal budget — a self-proclaimed “transformative” plan that, on closer inspection, mostly reinforces the national security status quo. From record defense spending to long-delayed reform, Steph and Jess unpack what the budget really means for Canada’s intelligence, enforcement, and foreign policy landscape.

They debate whether the long-promised National Security Strategy will finally materialize and take a close look at the newly resurrected Canadian Financial Crimes Agency — a long-talked-about but still-undefined enforcement body meant to fix Canada’s chronic money-laundering and financial crime failures. The hosts also explore what cuts to Global Affairs Canada and the Privy Council Office mean for diplomacy, development, and intelligence coordination, and they catch a surprising “Easter egg” about foreign bank investment reviews that could reshape national security screening in the financial sector.

Between witty asides about “making it rain” for the Canadian Armed Forces and an unexpected detour into Eurovision diplomacy, the episode captures the blend of sharp analysis and humour that Secure Line is known for.