The Big Five Podcast

David Heurtel welcomes back Bonnie Feigenbaum, former Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in last provincial election and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia.

David Heurtel is joined by 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
Anne Lagace-Dowson, political analyst.

• In what has been a shock byelection result. The Conservatives have won in the longtime Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St. Paul
• New data has revealed that the creation of numerous well-paid jobs by trendy Californian firms in Quebec are very far from having fulfilled their promises years later
• The residential district which is to replace Place Versailles will include only 9% social housing and less than 1% affordable housing 

David Heurtel kicks the week off with Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, columnist for the Hill Times in Ottawa and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy, and Raphaël Melançon, a political analyst for CTV Montreal News at 5 and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies.

• Montreal’s Canada day parade organisers have cancelled next week's event
• Pro-Palestinian protests set up camp at Square Victoria. Making it the first encampment in a public space in Montreal
• Hydro-Québec plans to pass on the bill for the cost of repairing the electricity network to property owners

David Heurtel is joined by Jimmy Zoubris, Special Advisor to the Mayor and Anne Lagace-Dowson, Political Analyst on the Big 5.

• Discussions are finally coming to life about the leadership campaign of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ). 
• Quebec’s health minister is predicting another ‘difficult’ summer in hospitals.
• The Cavendish Coalition is asking Ottawa and Quebec to force the city to extend the boulevard.

David Heurtel was joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer at Women in Governance 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

• Pierre Poilievre is in Quebec and yesterday he was interviewed by CTV’s Maya Johnson. He plans to use this time to drum up support as he kicks off his summer tour. Last night he held a rally in Montreal where he argued that Justin Trudeau is done taking Montrealers for granted, in front of a crowd of around 500 people gathered in a community centre in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grace borough. To Add: He also announced that Montreal lawyer Neil Oberman will be running for the federal Conservatives in Anthony Housefather’s riding of Mount-Royal. That riding has been held by the Liberal MP since 2015. 
• Justin Trudeau keeps repeating the same thing: he wants to stay. He wants to lead the next electoral fight against Pierre Poilievre. But his leadership could be put to the test next week, with a partial in Toronto–St-Paul’s. And as his deputies dance between resignation and enthusiasm.
• At a time when Prime Minister François Legault wants to halve temporary immigration to Quebec, it continues to increase to reach another all time high. According to Statistics Canada data released Wednesday, non-permanent residents, also called temporary immigrants, increased from 560,174 in the first quarter to 597,140, ​​an increase of 6.6%. This growth is even stronger in Quebec than Ontario or Canada as a whole.

Dan Delmar was joined on The Big Five by Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia and Neil Drabkin, a lawyer who served as federal prosecutor, who was a chief of staff in the Harper government.

• Pierre Poilievre is in town for a major announcement
• McGill's encampments may be coming to a close
• The STM is cutting bus services

David Heurtel was joined on The Big Five by Meeker Guerrier, Weekend News Anchor at Noovo and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the PR and content firm TNKR Media.

• The Auditor General reports showing “Insufficient financial controls”, “partial justification of expenditures”, “incomplete governance framework” 
• Montreal's social housing is being inspected less and less...
• The SPVM does not plan to dismantle the McGill Encampment.

David Heurtel was joined on The Big Five by Andrew Cadell, town councillor in Kamouraska and President of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy and Akil Alleyne, Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program.

• The McGill University encampments set to host an 'anti Israel revolutionary' summer youth program.
• The Municipal government creating amni golf course instead of social housing on the corner of Papineau and Laurier..
• Immigration Immigration and Immigration.

David Heurtel is joined by Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the PR and content firm TNKR Media on The Big 5.

• Montreal gives the greenlight for the redeployment of marquees on the terraces of Peel Street.
• François Legault is moving forward with a third highway link without public transport between Quebec and Lévis.
• Nearly half of the rooms in Québec's newly established alternative housing facilities remain unoccupied.

David Heurtel is joined by Sue Montgomery, former journalist and former mayor of CDN-NDG and political analyst Anne Lagace-Dowson.

• The Pro-Palestinian encampment has rejected McGill’s latest proposal calling it a “laughable offer.” Further stating that they “stand firm against an administration that represses its students and funds genocide.”
• According to a study, Canada is now the second most popular destination for asylum seekers worldwide, receiving 80,000 claims in 2022. This marks a significant increase from previous years, reflecting global instability and Canada's relatively welcoming immigration policies. The United States remains the top destination with over 730,000 asylum requests.
• Montreal has ranked last in the granting of construction permits in Quebec. But The City of Montreal is said to be increasing communications to announce real estate projects. In its new 2050 Urban Planning and Mobility Plan presented this week, for example, the Plante administration revealed the objective of building 200,000 new housing units. On a daily basis, however, real estate developers report delays in obtaining residential construction and housing permits.