The Big Five is the quintessential Montreal podcast, and the best way to get caught up on the top stories impacting the city. Every weekday, host Elias Makos and a roster of Montreal thought leaders debate and inform.

Elias Makos is joined by Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist, and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Akil Alleyne, reporter, commentator, and manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program.

• New provincial election polls show the Parti Québécois holding its lead as Premier Christine Fréchette's trade war boost begins to disappear.
• Internal Quebec Liberal insiders are heavily criticizing Charles Milliard's campaign, labeling it a complete trainwreck.
• Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Europe to explore a first-of-its-kind associate membership alliance with the European Union.
• The ongoing Canada-US trade war has pushed Mark Carney's national polling numbers to a dominant forty-nine percent.
• Montreal Canadiens fans will face higher costs this season as Amazon Prime secures exclusive rights to broadcast seven regular-season games.

Trudie Mason welcomes in Daniel Tran, political analyst and former municipal economic development advisor, and Dan Delmar, independent political analyst, media strategist, and co-founder of TNKR Media.

• The twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11 leaves Canadians questioning how a historic ally became a bitter trade war enemy.
• The Quebec Court of Appeal rejected Montreal's urgent bid to evict a permanent homeless encampment in the Plateau.
• PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon estimated a future Quebec sovereignty referendum would cost taxpayers one hundred and thirty million dollars.
• Premier Christine Fréchette dodged questions about her personal stance on separation, dismissing her past PQ ties as irrelevant.
• A striking new Angus Reid poll shows Mark Carney pulling over one million previous Conservative voters into the Liberal camp.

Trudie Mason welcomes in Bonnie Feigenbaum, former Conservative Party of Quebec candidate, lecturer at Concordia and McGill, and media consultant, and political analyst Karim Boulos.

• Quebec's five major party leaders pitched competing visions on television ahead of Monday's first crucial election debate.
• Pierre Poilievre travels to New York to pitch free trade with Washington as the federal Liberals hold a fourteen-point poll lead.
• Donald Trump promised to give every adult US citizen five thousand dollars if Republicans win the upcoming midterm elections.
• Police caught two Hells Angels members violating Quebec's new anti-patch law by displaying gang colours in Longueuil.
• A former AI employee warned tech giants are gambling with human lives by racing toward unregulated superintelligence.

Trudie Mason welcomes in Sue Smith, Montreal journalist and broadcaster, and Lionel Perez, former Montreal opposition leader and CEO of CorpCentre.

• Donald Trump banned Canadian alcohol, dairy, and motorcycles in a fierce retaliation against Canada's latest counter-tariffs.
• Former Premier Jean Charest argued that Trump's aggressive trade war might ultimately force Canada to diversify its global economic partnerships.
• Canada and China quietly resumed high-level military coordination dialogues, drawing heavy fire and skepticism from federal Conservatives.
• Montreal spent over seven hundred thousand dollars on new pothole-repair machines that critics warn cannot operate during winter conditions.

Trudie Mason welcomes in Andrew Caddell, columnist for the Hill Times and President of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette.

• Retaliatory tariffs against seven hundred US goods launched today amid warnings from trade envoy Louise Blais that things will get worse.
• Premier Christine Fréchette announced new protectionist measures forcing key provincial construction contracts to use fifteen percent local materials.
• The Quebec Conservatives criticized Élections Québec for rehiring a returning officer whose previous ballot error forced a by-election do-over.
• Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand injected a zero homelessness target into the provincial campaign, demanding immediate social housing investments.
• A massive wave of expensive Dionmania hit Paris following Céline Dion's high-profile return to the spotlight.

Akil Alleyne welcomes in Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist, and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Paul Gott, lead singer of the Ripcordz and journalism professor at Concordia.

• The Carney government will trigger massive retaliatory tariffs against seven hundred US goods tomorrow as Donald Trump continues mocking Canada online.
• PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon pledged to force digital giants like Netflix and Spotify to maintain a thirty percent francophone content quota.
• Québec solidaire challenged all provincial parties to commit to electoral reform to fix the current first-past-the-post voting system.
• Ontario schools are launching strict new academic rules tomorrow, including attendance-based grading and standardized tests.
• Rapper Snoop Dogg announced a global search for an ice cream tester to travel and track dessert trends for thirty thousand dollars.

Trudie Mason welcomes in Rudy Husny, political analyst and former advisor in the Harper government, and Victor Henriquez, public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil.

• Liberal Leader Charles Milliard accused Premier Christine Fréchette of launching an unjustified attack on English-speaking voters' rights.
• The Quebec Conservative Party promised a new family allowance paying one hundred dollars a week to parents who keep children at home.
• Community advocates are pushing to move supervised drug consumption sites inside Quebec hospitals to improve neighbourhood safety.
• A trade war investigation revealed millions of cheap American eggs are flooding Quebec grocery shelves disguised by low prices.
• The Bank of Canada unveiled a new vertical twenty dollar bill featuring King Charles III and advanced anti-counterfeiting technology.

Trudie Mason welcomes in Meeker Guerrier, commentator at Noovo and RDS, and Lea Streliski, best-selling author, comedian, and columnist.

• Economy Minister Bernard Drainville faced immediate backlash and a walkback order after swearing at Donald Trump on air.
• Quebec Liberal insiders are panicking that Premier Christine Fréchette is successfully stealing their traditional federalist and economic base.
• Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada warned of traffic hell as a blue-collar strike threatens to disrupt the upcoming World Cycling Championships.
• A surprising new Leger poll reveals Canadian happiness is rising, with Quebec and Montreal leading the entire country.

Trudie Mason welcomes in Akil Alleyne, reporter, commentator, and manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program, and Dan Delmar, independent political analyst, media strategist, and co-founder of TNKR Media.

• Élections Québec announced voter information packages will be mailed exclusively in French to comply with provincial language laws.
• Investigative reports revealed PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon made multiple financial donations to the federal Liberal Party.
• Multiple provincial parties face intense scrutiny over candidate vetting failures following a series of controversial past revelations.
• Columnists Patrick Lagacé and Mathieu Bock-Côté clashed over the reliability and media weaponization of election poll data.

Trudie Mason welcomes in Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and Sue Smith, Montreal journalist and broadcaster.

• The Liberals swept three federal by-elections, flipping Chicoutimi-Le Fjord to protect Mark Carney's House majority.
• Fresh polls reveal a direct PQ and CAQ battle as the Quebec Liberals slide into third place.
• A new Léger poll shows sixty-six percent of Quebecers support Canada's retaliatory trade war tariffs despite rising prices.
• Tennis Québec is eyeing a Port of Montreal plot near Habitat sixty-seven for a massive new sports complex.