The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos brings you an extended edition of the Big 5 with Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies.

• Marwah Rizqy has been suspended from the Quebec Liberal Party caucus by leader Pablo Rodriguez. 
• Things are not getting better for the Quebec Liberal Party leader this morning. The Journal de Montreal’s Investigation bureau is alleging that Rodriguez's leadership race win may have come in part through “brownies” – campaign jargon for $100 bills.
• Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada unveiled her executive committee yesterday.
• At least three Quebec nurses brought in spectacular salaries of over $450,000 last year, thanks to a ton of overtime hours and generous bonuses.
• The Ontario government is exploring the idea of making impaired drivers pay ongoing child support if they kill a child’s parent or guardian.

Elias Makos is joined by Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil, and Sue Smith, a Montreal journalist and broadcaster.

• After a smooth launch of the Deux-Montages branch over the weekend and into the work week, parts of the REM network are down after a truck struck a viaduct near the Bois-Franc station. Is the REM cursed?
• Prime Minister Mark Carney’s minority Liberal government narrowly survived its third confidence vote in as many weeks last night.
• After Ontario and New Brunswick, it’s reportedly Manitoba’s turn to try and poach Quebec doctors out of the province.
• Speaking of doctors, they had a good time sharing a photo of Health Minister Christian Dubé taking a flight to Florida just before the weekend.
• A new study out of Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytical Sciences Laboratory says Quebecers still do not understand the “best before” labeling on food. 

Elias Makos starts the week off with Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada, and Jimmy Zoubris, former special advisor to the mayor of Montreal.

• The federal government is bracing for a razor-thin confidence vote on the budget Monday, with Liberals scrambling behind the scenes to lock down enough opposition support to avoid triggering an election.
•  The Parti Québecois is proposing to give the province its own currency if it were independent.
• It's weekday launch day for the new REM line in Deux-Montagnes. So far there have been no issues with the new line this weekend or this morning. That being said, REM employees staged a small protest on Saturday against their working conditions. 

Joining Elias on The Big 5 were Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. and Alain Vaillancourt, Former Montreal City Councillor and Executive committee member.

Among the subjects discussed were

• Soraya Martinez Ferrada was officially sworn in as Montreal mayor last night. What’s her first challenge?
• Three critical mineral extraction projects, a nickel mine in Ontario and a transmission line on the northern B.C. coast are among the new initiatives added to the growing list of projects referred to the Major Projects Office.
• Quebec Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge is reiterating his threat to cut social assistance for asylum seekers. 
• A Quebec man says he can only place 93-cent bets in Loto-Québec’s sports betting app because he was winning too much money.

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

• Is Mark Carney’s honeymoon with voters coming to an end? Quebecers are seemingly not impressed with Mark Carney’s first budget.
• Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre spoke to reporters yesterday for the first time since two MPs announced they were leaving his caucus. 
• As it stands right now, there will be no bus or metro service this weekend. 
• Doctors leaving for Ontario may not be getting the better lifestyle that was promised to them. 

Elias Makos is joined by Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS, and Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom.

• Premier François Legault’s support continues to tumble. New numbers released by Léger this morning show that 71 per cent of Quebecers are unsatisfied with the Premier. 
• An architecture firm is proposing a new project for the Metropolitan Expressway. Lemay is proposing to add a level to the expressway in order to develop urban gardens, and acoustic screens. 
• STM service is gradually resuming today after the public transit body’s maintenance union halted their strike. There’s no deal, but there is hope that negotiations can start back up. Who gets the credit for this development?
• Apple has released a $320 sock to carry your iPhone. 

Elias Makos is joined by Political analyst Karim Boulos, and Trudie Mason Veteran newscaster here at CJAD 800.

• Does Canada need some sort of mandatory national service, be it military or otherwise? 
• The Quebec government says it has no plans of backtracking from Bill 2 after the mass protest by the province’s doctors at the Bell Centre over the weekend.
• Premier François Legault presented his economic vision yesterday. 

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