The Big Five Podcast

Joining Elias on CJAD 800 this morning were Bonnie Feigenbaum, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in last provincial election and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University, media & government relations consultant  & Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance.

Among the topics discussed were

• Mark Carney left Washington last night without a deal after meeting with U.S President Donald Trump for two and a half hours
• A recent piece from The Globe and Mail on Canadian happiness is getting a lot of attention
• Denmark wants to ban social media for kids under the age of 15

Elias was joined on 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 &
Neil Drabkin, is a lawyer who served as federal prosecutor and a political commentator who was a chief of staff in the Harper government.

Among the topics discussed were 

• Concordia University has closed their downtown campus and cancelled all classes today, citing “potentially obstructive protests.”
• Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Washington where he will meet and speak with U.S President Donald this afternoon.
• A new poll out from Leger for CTV News Montreal for this year’s municipal election shows that the leaders in the election are… the undecided.

Elias Makos kicks off the week with Political analyst Karim Boulos, 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 federal government has slapped a Toronto Canadian Tire franchise owner with more than $100,000 in fines for violating rules under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
• Québec Premier François Legault has been hosting Ontario Premier Doug Ford as well as the governors of New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania in order to strengthen their relationships.
• As the municipal election campaign continues across the province, some mayors and town councillors have already been re-elected.

Elias Makos is joined by Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada.

• A new Léger poll shows François Legault’s popularity plunge is continuing, while Éric Duhaime is reaping the rewards of the CAQ’s rightward shift
• A crack pipe was found and handled by two young children on the grounds of the elementary school next to the supervised injection site
• Nobody knows who’s running for mayor. Journal de Montreal went out and asked random people on the street about the upcoming Montreal election 

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil.

• A brazen daytime shooting that left one dead at a Starbucks in Laval appears to be linked to organized crime, says the province’s public security minister
• Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is pushing back against his critics and taking aim at some of the language used against him and his party 
• The day after François Legault denounced what he called an “onslaught of radical Islamism,” Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge urged people on Wednesday to wake up to the threat.

Elias Makos is joined by Political analyst Karim Boulos, and Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS.

• Premier Francois Legault laid out his vision for the new session at the National Assembly on Tuesday
• Controversy in the comedy world over a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia
• Photos of an SPVM officer sleeping in his car under highway 40 in Ahuntsic

Elias was joined by Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor & Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator with extensive experience analysing legal, political, and social issues and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program.

Among the topics discussed on The Big 5

• Elbows up or elbows down?
• Quebec’s language ministry has given Loto-Québec special dispensation to operate the slot machines at its casinos in English
• Are we too consumed with news from the United States, and in particular, the 24-hour news cycle of what Donald Trump is saying and doing?

Elias was joined on The Big 5 by Paul Gott, lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia &Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

Among the topics discussed were 

• Prime Minister Mark Carney is defending his frequent international travel, 
• You’re not imagining things - road rage is getting worse
• La Presse reports that the city of Montreal balked at spending a relatively small sum to host a national team's base camp during the 2026 FIFA World Cup

Elias Makos ends the week with Anthony Koch, Former National Spokesperson for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and current managing principal at AK Strategies, and Christina Chough, Spanish teacher and Chair of the modern languages department at Dawson College.

• The Parti Québécois has revealed the results of its internal referendum on secularism.
• A golf club in Laval is asking members to speak French among themselves on the course, and in the clubhouse, saying that too much English was being used.
• Ottawa’s fiscal watchdog is sounding the alarm over Canada’s finances.

Elias Makos is joined by Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster, 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.

• The CEO of Groupe Dynamite says he is considering moving his businesses to the United States amid concerns that Quebec’s rigid immigration policies pose a huge risk to his operations.
• Are Quebec politics moving to the right - at least economically? The word of the moment as the National Assembly gears up for its next session appears to be “efficiency” - with almost all the parties talking about it.
• The sun is setting on the second Valerie Plante/Projet Montreal term in office, but that hasn’t stopped the party from spending on what some are calling frivolous travel.