The Big Five Podcast

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 Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy.

• It is cabinet shuffle day for the CAQ. 
• A fascinating side of the language debate exposed this morning by the Montreal Gazette’s series on the city’s struggles to adapt to the new language policies of Bill 96.
• Edmonton police are challenging the Crown prosecutor's decision to offer a plea deal to a woman charged with murdering an eight year old indigenous girl
• A mayor in Eastern Ontario is tired of residents of Quebec not paying their parking tickets

Elias Makos is joined by 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.

• Three-quarters of downtown Montreal workers believe the city's core has deteriorated.
• A new poll from the Brotherhood of Montreal Police officers says one in four Montrealers does not feel safe in the city.
• Francois Bonnardel will get the boot come tomorrow’s CAQ cabinet shuffle.
• The cost of construction for a high school on the south shore has exploded to almost $500 million.
• With sales declining, the SAQ is desperately trying to get more 18-to-24-year-olds in its stores.

Elias Makos kicks the week off with Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia.

• We lost Habs legend Ken Dryden over the weekend. Should we name a street after him? 
• The City of Montreal has given its frontline workers a rulebook on dealing with English-speaking citizens — complete with step-by-step guidance, sample phrases and careful instructions for handing out bilingual pamphlets.
• South Korea says it’s struck a deal with Washington to free its citizens caught up in a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.
• Elon Musk, currently worth $430 billion, could become the world’s first trillionaire. Is anyone worth a trillion dollars?

Joining Elias Makos on the Friday edition of The Big 5 is Bonnie Feigenbaum, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in last provincial election and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University, media & government relations consultant and Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy. 

Elias Makos is joined by Raphaël Melançon, a political analyst for Noovo and CTV Montreal News at 5. He is also the president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies, 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.

• Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberal government to scrap Canada’s temporary foreign worker program 
• Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest says Canada will thank US President Donald Trump in 20 years 
• A prominent U.S. conservative is set to brief Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet behind closed doors today.
• Le Devoir reports that the cabinet shuffle will happen next week, and that the National Assembly will be prorogued for two weeks as the CAQ gets its ducks in a row

In a supersized edition of the Big 5...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 Neil Drabkin, Neil is a former Federal Prosecutor and served as a Chief of Staff in the Harper government.

• Premier Francois Legault sat in the hot seat yesterday and was interrogated by the Gallant Commission about his involvement in the SAAQClic fiasco.
• Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with his Cabinet today on a two day retreat in Toronto.
• The race to replace federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is officially on.

Sue Smith is joined by Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS.

•  Premier Francois Legault is set to speak at the Gallant Commission today
• The bill for eight construction projects at hospitals across the province are already more than $1.2 billion 
• The CAQ has turned down federal funding aimed at addressing systemic racism in the courts

Trudie Mason, in for Elias Makos, is joined by Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia and Political analyst Karim Boulos on The Big 5.

• The Labour vote has split across different political parties… The NDP isn’t the only one supporting worker rights anymore.
• People are headed to the street today to call for a general election in Quebec.
• Quebecers are encouraging people to take up two jobs to deal with increased cost of living. 

Trudie Mason closes the week with Bonnie Feigenbaum, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in last provincial election and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University, media & government relations consultant, 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 CAQ is continuing with making Quebec society secular, with a plan to ban public prayer, and they’re not ruling out the use of the notwithstanding clause again
• One year of construction begins on the Côte Saint-Luc overpass above Decarie
• Death by mail…. An elderly woman in Quebec died of a preventable heart attack last December
• Many Canadians are left reeling after their Facebook and Instagram accounts had been accidentally deleted by Meta

Trudie Mason welcomes in Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil, and Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

• Ottawa is open to negotiate with Quebec about judge nominations come September. Are we slowly but surely becoming independent from Canada in everything but name?
• Sources tell LaPresse that UPAC investigators have identified four suspects, including one bureaucrat, in the SAAQclic scandal
• Parti Quebecois is taking the topic of praying in public to the membership to see if they want to advocate for a ban