Elias Makos kicks the week off with Lionel Perez, Former city councilor and leader of the Official Opposition at Montreal City Hall, and Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor.

• More than 12 thousand doctors packed into the Bell Centre to denounce the Quebec government’s law overhauling physicians’ work and pay structures. 
• As we enter the second week of a month-long maintenance worker strike at the STM, the Journal de Montreal’s investigation bureau decided to take a closer look at the STM’s current collective bargaining agreement.
• Months after being suspended from baseball, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted on charges of taking bribes from sports bettors.

Joining Elias on The Big 5 this morning were Sue Smith, Montreal journalist and broadcaster and Alain Vaillancourt, out-going Borough Councillor in the Sud-Ouest borough.

Among the topics discussed were

• Would you take the bus or metro more often if it were free?
• Tesla shareholders have signed off on a massive pay package for Elon Musk
• Another Conservative MP has decided to resign from caucus… eventually

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Neil Drabkin, is a lawyer who served as federal prosecutor and a political commentator who was a chief of staff in the Harper government.

• Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has given a 10 day ultimatum for the STM and its maintenance workers to strike a deal 
• There has been a record amount of complaints filed this year against STM bus drivers for being on their cellphones while driving
• Netflix and YouTube are not happy with the proposed Quebec law that would set their apps to French by default

Elias Makos welcomes back Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada, and Anne Lagace-Dowson, political analyst.

• It was hyped as a “generational budget,” but did it live up to that hype? Prime Minister Mark Carney tabled his first ever budget yesterday.
• The budget cuts the luxury tax on yachts and private jets and boosts funding to the CBC while giving them a super-specific new goal: bringing Canada into the Eurovision contest. Is this what Canadians were asking for?
• The federal liberals are now one step closer to a majority while the federal Conservative are screaming treason towards a former party MP that has crossed the floor.
• The city of New York has a new mayor.
• NFL football legend Tom Brady says his new dog Junie is a clone. Would you you do the same?

Elias Makos is joined by Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies, and Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil.

• It is budget day for the Carney government, but could it also be the start of another federal election?
• Not even 24 hours after being elected the new mayor of Montreal, Soraya Martinez Ferrada may already be breaking one of her promises.
• The Premier of Manitoba Wab Kinew stirred up controversy yesterday after saying that child pornography offenders shouldn’t just be jailed, but buried underneath prisons.
• You soon could be eating cloned animal meat without even noticing.

Elias Makos kicks the week off with Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor.

• Soraya Martinez Ferrada is the new mayor of Montreal, defeating Projet Montreal’s Luc Rabouin by around eight percent at last count.
• Martinez Ferrada set herself some lofty goals during the campaign, including priorities for the first 100 days. What should she get done first as she attempts to quickly transform the city?
• The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that one-year mandatory minimum jail sentences for accessing or possessing child pornography is unconstitutional.

Joining Elias in studio for The Big 5 were Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies and Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom

• Some Quebec doctors have taken up the offer to call the Premier of Ontario Doug Ford and apply to move to Ontario to continue practicing medicine. 
• Quebec’s labour tribunal has authorized bus drivers and metro operators with Montreal’s transit agency to hold a one-day strike on Saturday, with no essential services other than paratransit
• With three days away before the election, a new poll from Pallas Data has Soraya Martinez Ferrada of Ensemble Montreal 15 points ahead of their next closest rival

Elias Makos welcomes back Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Political analyst Karim Boulos.

• Quebec Premier François Legault is hopping mad with his Ontario counterpart, Doug Ford. With many doctors in Quebec up in arms over Bill 2 and how it will change the way they work and are paid, Ford took the opportunity to roll out the red carpet for Quebec’s doctors
• Today marks the 30th anniversary of the 1995 referendum. We came close to losing this country - but in the end, the No camp won the referendum with 50.58% of the vote compared to 49.42% for the Yes side. What do you remember most of that time? 
• A sign that we’re headed towards an election? The parties are courting women voters. Despite all indications being there will be a massive cutback in spending in next week’s federal budget, the government announced new money to support women

Elias Makos is joined by Graham Singh, Pastor at St-Jax Church, and Trudie Mason, veteran Newscaster here at CJAD 800.

• There is a spike in the amount of doctors leaving the province for New Brunswick.
• Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dube wrote an opinion letter in the Journal this morning defending the new legislation towards doctors.
• The province’s food banks say they handled nearly 3.1 million requests for help in March 2025 according to the 2025 Hunger Report released Monday. 
• Ahead of next month’s global climate summit in Brazil, COP30, Bill Gates has dropped a new memo that rattles the consensus of the climate movement.

Joining Elias on today's Big 5 were Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator with extensive experience analysing legal, political, and social issues and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program & Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy.

Among the topics discussed by Andrew and Akil,

• Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney saw the controversial TV ad that pushed Donald Trump to walk away from trade talks and threaten new tariffs against Canada
• A month after saying he might leave Quebec, businessman Andrew Lutfy has returned to the fray with his criticism of the François Legault government
• The Alberta government will use the notwithstanding clause to force striking teachers back to work