The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos is joined by Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada and Tasha Kheiriddin, a writer and commentator for the National Post, GZero Media, and Substack on The Big 5.

• More and more tech companies, business leaders and political commentators are ringing alarm bells over the Federal government’s Bill C-22.
• Prime Minister Mark Carney had a busy week on the energy front.
• The backlash against AI has arrived. From internet comments to graduation ceremonies, people are pushing back on Artificial Intelligence's seemingly overnight integration into every part of society.

Elias Makos caps the week off with Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and Lea Streliski, Best-selling author, comedian and columnist.

•  Hey, what exactly do you guys call this long weekend and the holiday on Monday anyways?
• The Montreal Canadiens are one win away from making the Eastern Conference Finals. Do you believe this series is over or will we be talking about a crucial game 7 on Monday?
• According to Québec solidaire, over three-quarters of Quebecers support their proposal to tax the ultra-rich
• Police in Sherbrooke are asking residents to not give money to people begging for it on the side of the road.
• More and more tech companies, business leaders and political commentators are ringing alarm bells over the Federal government’s Bill C-22.

On this edition of the BIG 5, Elias is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer at Women in Governance and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia.

• TVA reports that the Portuguese community in Montreal was refused a permit from the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough to hold its traditional march in the streets this Sunday. The march coincides with the Santo Cristo religious festival.
• A new bill introduced in Quebec seeks to strengthen protections for women facing domestic violence by allowing access to a partner’s history of abuse. Moved by the death of Gabie Renaud, the proposed legislation comes as concerns over femicide and intimate partner violence continue to grow across the province.
• Thanks to his son, a man in his 60s from the Quebec City area won the ‘Winner for Life’ jackpot on the Loto-Quebec scratch ticket. Christian Hébert is set to receive $1,000 per week for life. The man asked his son to go to the convenience store to pick up a few things, including a lottery ticket.

On this supersized edition of the BIG 5, Elias is joined by Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of Civica Strategies and former city councillor and Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS,

• Two new polls are out this morning and they show a similar picture. They both have the PQ and Quebec Liberal Party virtually tied in first place but the CAQ is catching up. 
• Ok this one is a curious one. The leader of the Parti Québécois says he has no hard proof, but plenty of historical reasons to believe Ottawa may still be spying on Quebec’s separatist movement.
• Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois’s white paper on education – and its particular focus on how boys are falling behind girls – is getting some renewed attention, this time on the national level.
• Dunkin' Donuts is coming back to Canada.

Elias Makos is joined by Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator with extensive experience analysing legal, political, and social issues and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program, and Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

• The deadline for filling out the census is today. Have you completed your civic duty?
• The mayor of Montreal is giving herself one year to acquire new, reliable equipment that can carry out automated pothole filling.
• The city of Montreal has adopted its new protocol to manage homeless encampments.
• It appears the Quebec Liberals will have no problem attracting “star” candidates to their roster. 
• According to Statistics Canada, 46 percent of Canadians say they are satisfied with their quality of life.

Elias starts off the week with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante and Montreal journalist and broadcaster Sue Smith.

• Ruba Ghazal says Québec solidaire's new platform is "ambitious and credible. First, they would create a Quebecois Costco, a food wholesaler focused on local products and aimed at competing with the large grocery chains. They also propose a tougher stance and stricter rules on “abusive landlords”, and property owners who break housing laws, including reno-victions and property flipping.
• A beloved Verdun café is closing after being slapped by what they say was a 60% rent hike. Station W has been a mainstay on Wellington Street for 13 years. In a statement to the Montreal Gazette, the building’s owners refute claims of a 60% increase, but news of the closure and any talk of massive rent hikes have led to renewed calls for regulations on commercial leases.
• It appears the Quebec Liberals will have no problem attracting “star” candidates to their roster. Multiple reports now say that Michel Leblanc, the former head of the Montreal Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, will make his return to the public spotlight under Charles Milliard’s banner. David Bowles, who headed Quebec's largest group of private schools for eight years is also on the list. So is Pierre Cossette, a professor and doctor and former rector of the Université de Sherbrooke.

Elias Makos caps the week off with Trudie Mason, veteran newscaster at CJAD 800, and Andrew Caddell, columnist for the Hill Times and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy.

• Game two between the Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres is tonight. Montreal lost game one of the best of seven series on Wednesday. Do you think the team will bounce back tonight?
•  Ethics Commissioner Ariane Mignolet has found that former liberal MP Sona Lahkoyan Olivier violated two sections of the National Assembly's code of ethics. 
• Independent MNA Youri Chassin blocked a fast-tracked plan to redraw Quebec’s electoral map. The proposal would have saved ridings in the Gaspé and Montreal’s east end from disappearing, while adding two new seats in faster-growing regions — increasing the number of MNAs from 125 to 127.
• Santé Quebec has sent a list of banned words and phrases that doctors cannot say to their patients about the digital health record project.
• Alberta separatists have submitted their referendum petition that would ask Albertans if the province should leave Canada.
• President Donald Trump says he works out ‘one minute a day.’

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

•  The CAQ government has tabled legislation to renew the notwithstanding clause protecting Bill 96 until 2031, and French Language Minister Jean‑François Roberge is using the moment to launch a full-scale attack on the Quebec Liberals.
• The battle to secure the headquarters of the future Defence, Security and Resilience Bank is already shaping up to be a tough one between Montreal and Toronto, two of the four Canadian cities vying for the prize. And Toronto is already playing the Referendum card.
• An elementary school in the Lanaudière region has decided to set up its own version of fight club.
• A Montreal Police officer who also moonlights as a real estate broker has received a 5-month suspension and a $30,000 fine.

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator with extensive experience analysing legal, political, and social issues and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program.

• The Montreal Canadiens begin their second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight against the Buffalo Sabres.
• Nearly 370 thousand people left the emergency room without seeing a doctor last year in the province.
• Telus is using artificial intelligence to disguise the voice of its customer service agents.
• The federal government says it is ready to draft legislation to pause the expansion of medical assistance in dying to people whose sole condition is mental illness.

Elias Makos is joined by Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of  Civica Strategies and former city councillor, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette.

• Reports indicate that Prime Minister Mark Carney will announce today who will be replacing Mary Simon as the new governor general.. Le Devoir is reporting that it will be former Supreme Court judge Louise Arbour. 
• Premier Christine Fréchette is going big with her first bill that will be tabled at the National Assembly. 
• We had Eric Duhaime on our show Friday, as he tried to explain why his Quebec Conservative Party has flip-flopped on the issue of Bill 96.
• Inspired by New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, Québec solidaire is floating a headline-grabbing idea: a network of non-profit grocery stores.
• Despite the highest level of recruiting in the last three decades, a higher number of military recruits are failing to pass the basic military training.