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 Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor.

• Donald Trump continued his attacks against Canada on Tuesday and his administration continued to repeat that the country would be better off as the 51st state. And now, The White House is even using Quebec’s tax rate to make the case
• A new poll shows a surge in Canadian national pride, with 86% of Canadians expressing pride in their country, up from 80% in November 2024
• Montreal’s executive committee is set to greenlight a $12.8 million planning contract today, kicking off Projet Montréal’s divisive $89-million overhaul of the road splitting Mount Royal
• Provigo and Maxi stores in Quebec will soon introduce signage marked with a “T” for tariffs, explaining price hikes on US products

Elias Makos kicks off the week with Trudie Mason, veteran Newscaster here at CJAD 800, and Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor,

• François Legault is considering following Ontario’s example by imposing a tax on electricity exports from Hydro-Québec to the US in response to US tariffs
• The Wall Street Journal asks if Canada is going through collective amnesia as it considers voting for one of the main architects of our decade of stagnation
• Hudson’s Bay looking at closing half its stores amid restructuring….

Elias Makos welcomes in first time panelist 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. 

• It probably comes as a surprise to no one that Mark Carney has been elected as the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
• Passport Canada has launched a new “30 business days or its free” guarantee for Canadians needing their travel documents
• Activists from Alliance Ouvrière and various unions blocked access to five Intelcom warehouses in Quebec on Saturday, disrupting Amazon deliveries

Elias Makos caps off the week with Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS , and Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy.

• With Justin Trudeau about to leave office, was he a failure or success as Prime Minister?
• Out the door in just days, the Prime Minister and his cabinet have been making a flurry of appointments
• Journal de Montreal analysed every single word that the Federal leaders have said in the House of Commons since 2021, in the hunt for “la cassette” - the things each party leader repeats over and over again
• For the second time in two days, Donald Trump has once again rolled back his taxes on imports from Canada and Mexico
• Like something out of the movie Footloose… Champs Sports Bar in Montreal is in the midst of being closed for five-days due to an ongoing noise dispute with a neighbor

Elias Makos welcomes back Neil Drabkin, is a lawyer who served as federal prosecutor and a political commentator who was a chief of staff in the Harper government, and Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance.

• U.S. President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in what is being described as “heated” conversation from the Canadian side, and with a “somewhat friendly” ending, according to Trump’s social posts
• It looks like the Premiers are set to reduce interprovincial trade barriers in light of Donald Trump's US tariffs
• Twenty-five years after Molson’s iconic “I am Canadian” commercial, actor Jeff Douglass has reprised his role as Joe - the proud Canadian character
• Mélanie Joly's office confirms the Foreign Affairs Minister briefed Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney on President Donald Trump’s tariffs ahead of Sunday's leadership vote
• We’ve heard of charging people for no-shows at restaurants… But what if we started charging people for not showing up to their medical appointment? 

Elias Makos is joined by Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia.

• Justin Trudeau delivered perhaps his finest speech as Prime Minister, taking dead aim at a U.S. audience and the TV-watcher-in Chief, Donald Trump
• With all these tariffs and uncertainty, economists are predicting that the Canadian economy will plunge into a recession as early as this spring if Trump’s tariffs remain in place
• Donald Trump addressed a joint session of the US Congress last night
• The latest poll from Leger for the National Post shows the Conservatives regaining their double-digit lead on the Liberals
• Montreal has confirmed that the ‘Tramway de L’Est’ project for the east of Montreal will go ahead

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 Sue Smith, Montreal journalist and broadcaster on The Big 5.

• Donald Trump’s deadline for economy-wide tariffs on Canada and Mexico has passed, triggering a trade war.
• Would you snitch on your neighbours who are skipping out on paying Quebec fees and taxes.
• Quebec is facing a political scandal over the disastrous rollout of the SAAQ’s new online platform, SAAQclic, which caused delays, long lineups, and cost overruns exceeding $500 million. Premier François Legault announcing a public inquiry on the issue.

Elias Makos kicks off the week with Trudie Mason, veteran Newscaster here at CJAD 800, and Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor.

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly defended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Securing Our Future Summit in London
• Trudeau also met with King Charles in the saloon at Sandringham House today, getting an audience as Donald Trump attacks Canada’s sovereignty
• The Globe and Mail sent a reporter to Jay Peak in Vermont to report on the decline in Canadian visitors since the Trump tariff threats began and found that wasn’t the case at all
• Soraya Martinez Ferrada is stepping into the spotlight as the new leader of Ensemble Montréal and the party’s candidate for mayor
• Quebec Premier François Legault has called for an independent public inquiry into the SAAQclic debacle

Elias Makos is joined by Justine McIntyre, strategic consultant and former city councillor and Raphaël Melançon, a political analyst for Noovo and CTV Montreal News at 5 and the president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies.

• At another one of his never-ending media availabilities yesterday, Trump was asked about Canada, fentanyl and tariffs. He’s adamant it’s about the deaths.
• Mark Carney has not been seen or heard from since Tuesday’s night’s post-debate press conference, where he played fast and loose with the truth about whether or not he was at Brookfield when they moved their headquarters to the U.S.
• Éric Caire has resigned over the SAAQclic scandal.

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 political analyst Karim Boulos.

• Is the Mark Carney coronation on pause? A question from a Globe and Mail reporter after Tuesday’s Liberal leadership debate has spawned a veritable controversy for the Liberal outsider frontrunner
• Are the Trump tariffs coming or not? Confusion over timelines prevailed Wednesday as the U.S. President held his first cabinet meeting
• NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling for Canada to ban Donald Trump from attending the upcoming G7 summit in Alberta