The Big Five Podcast

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 Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster.

• Radio-Canada reports this morning that Mark Carney’s so-called green funds used a Bermuda tax shelter to evade paying taxes back at home
• Carney has also apologized after mistakenly referring to the wrong university and mispronouncing the name of Nathalie Provost
• Quebec’s Finance Minister Eric Girard presented the 2025-26 budget yesterday, which focuses on increased spending to bolster the economy amid potential US tariffs
• Enrollment into the Canadian Armed Forces has increased since the start of the trade war launched by Donald Trump, as well as annexation threats

Elias Makos is joined by Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor 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 on The Big 5.

• The TVA Face-à-Face debate will not happen, this after the Liberal Party refused to participate.
• The Globe and Mail reports this morning that a source with top-secret clearance alleges that Indian agents and their proxies meddled in the 2022 Conservative Party leadership election of Pierre Poilievre
• Quebec’s deficit for the 2025-2026 fiscal year is expected to exceed $11 billion… a new record, due to economic uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to Finance Minister Eric Girard.

Elias Makos is joined by Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Dimitri Soudas, Former Director of Communications for Harper and political commentator.

• Come April 28th Canadians will cast their ballots and decide who will be our next Prime Minister. And parties have wasted no time in this election campaign putting up their posters in each of their ridings
• Where’s the momentum? Polling shows quite the turnaround for the Liberals, especially in Ontario
• NDP leader Jagmeet Singh spent his Sunday in Quebec, in support of his lone MP in the province, Alexandre Boulerice. But indications are he won’t spend much more time here during the campaign
• Early theme of the campaign? Tax cuts. 

Elias Makos caps the week off with Neil Drabkin, a lawyer who served as federal prosecutor and a political commentator who was a chief of staff in the Harper government, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada.

• 2 days away from a snap election being called, news is happening fast: The Canadian government, under Mark Carney, plans to maintain a cap on emissions from oil and gas production,
• Let’s talk about the media-political party relationship. Mark Carney is still getting snippy with journalists, and the Conservatives won’t let journalists on their campaign plane.
• Is Tim Hortons Canadian? 

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

• Andrew Caddell's reaction to the Quebec Municipal Commission investigating him for breaching ethics and professional conduct rules
• Prime Minister Mark Carney will call a snap election on Sunday
• Canada is strongly condemning China - this after confirmation that the country executed four Canadians earlier this year for drug-related crimes
• Gabriel Nadeau Dubois is set to announce today that he will be stepping down from his role as co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire
• A Montreal woman was surprised to find a pamphlet promoting the prescription medication Ozempic in her HelloFresh meal kit
• Quebec is set to table a new bill to strengthen secularism in schools

Elias Makos is joined by Political analyst Karim Boulos, and Sue Smith, a Montreal journalist and broadcaster.

• Speaking to Laura Ingraham on Fox News last night, Donald Trump said he’d prefer if the Liberals won the next election - and knocked the leader of the Conservatives
• Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to remove the federal carbon tax, starting April 1st, will lower gas prices by 18 cents per litre in most provinces, except Quebec
• More signs that the “Buy Canadian” movement is working
• Mayor Valerie Plante is holding a photo op for the media today to discuss the city’s cleanup efforts

Elias Makos is joined by Christina Chough, spanish teacher and chair of the modern languages department at Dawson College and Gabriel Retta a Montrealer active in politics and government service at all three levels for the last 20 years, currently serving as Chief of Staff to the Official Opposition at Montreal City on The Big 5.

• Prime Minister Mark Carney continues to evade questions about his finances and conflicts of interest and it’s leading to some bizarre and contentious moments between him and the media.
• As Carney courts his home crowd in Europe, recent polling shows more and more Canadians open to the idea of joining the European Union.
• Airbnb Canada is urging Montreal’s city council to reject new regulations that would limit short-term rentals to the summer months.

Elias Makos welcomes in Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor, and Trudie Mason, veteran Newscaster here at CJAD 800.

• Mark Carney has unveiled his slimmed down cabinet, with only a few new faces. Eight ministers are from the Toronto area, and only two come from west of Ontario. What do you make of his cabinet that is eerily similar to a Trudeau cabinet?
• And Carney continues to be busy - meeting with François Legault yesterday and partaking in Montreal's 200th annual St. Patrick's Day parade, his first public event since being sworn in
• A column in National Post this weekend floats the idea of mandatory service, pointing to how countries like Finland and Singapore where the policy seemingly works. What do you think?
• Projet Montréal has a new leader. Luc Rabouin was elected Saturday night, winning 59.2% of the vote in the fourth round

Elias Makos caps off the week with Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada, and Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy.

• Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney is set to unveil a smaller cabinet compared to outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s, with notable changes
• Mark Carney’s first international trip as Prime Minister? He’s headed to London and Paris next week, according to sources that spoke to the CBC. The Premier of Saskatchewan isn’t happy about it 
• The Institut du Québec says the province must increase its sales tax
• A key advisor to Quebec’s Francois Legault suffered a stroke on February 19th while working in the Honore-Mercier building. But despite him having a stroke it took nearly 30 minutes for paramedics to arrive due to errors in triage and miscommunication

Elias Makos joins 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 Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance.

• Canadians upset about being dinged at the border for taxes and duties after a day trip to the U.S.
• An American family from Illinois is seeking asylum in Canada. Radio-Canada reports on a couple and their four children now living in a hotel room in London, Ontario
• Mark Carney will be sworn in as Prime Minister tomorrow at 11am, officially ending the Justin Trudeau era. The PM-to-be was in Hamilton at a steel company on Wednesday, and once again, did not answer questions from the media
• Montreal is introducing measures to combat homelessness and safety issues in the metro