The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos welcomes in Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, columnist for the Hill Times in Ottawa and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy, and Akil Alleyne, Reporter, commentator and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program.

• A new Léger poll shows that Quebec Solidaire is hurting and that the Liberals are climbing
• Statistics Canada has released a new report which shows which Anglos are most likely to send their kids to French schools
• Aéroports de Montréal, the body that oversees Trudeau Airport and the cargo hub over in Mirabel, is taking a small upstart rival to court

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

• Justin Trudeau is taking one from the Poilievre playbook - using social media to release a highly-polished video defending the capital gains tax increase announced in his government’s budget
• People fed up with porch pirates are getting more and more creative to stop would-be package thieves
• There’s a video circulating online which shows a Montreal business owner dumping water on a homeless person sleeping in his entranceway

Elias Makos starts the week off with David Heurtel, Former Quebec liberal cabinet minister, Council at Fasken and political analyst, and Trudie Mason, veteran newscaster at CJAD 800.

• The cyclist that hit a four-year-old girl who was crossing the street to catch a school bus has been given a $131 ticket
• Faced with growing demand from customers, restaurant owners are putting pressure on the government to allow dogs on terraces
• Another pro-Palestinian encampment has been set up in Montreal. This time the students at UQAM are the ones doing it

Elias Makos caps off the week with Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor, and Bonnie Feigenbaum, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in last provincial election and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University.

• François Legault says sovereignty would be good for Quebec’s identity - but not for the province’s finances
• Should Quebec be more transparent about the salaries of civil servants?
• A conservative MP says she is fed up with the NDP and Liberals plastics ban that will do nothing for the environment

Elias Makos welcomes back Christina Chough, Spanish teacher and Chair of the modern languages department at Dawson College, and Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor.

• Is working in an office for three days a week too much? That is what the public sector union for federal government workers argued yesterday during their press conference in Ottawa
• Despite speeding and burning a red light – a tow truck driver will only face a fine for killing a 74-year-old woman in a crash in January of 2022
• Yesterday on the show we had PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon talking about his proposition of banning cellphones inside schools

On today's program, Elias spoke with lawyer and political commentator Neil Drabkin, who was a chief of staff in the Harper government and Noovo and RDS host Meeker Guerrier.

• Crack is being sold inside a CHSLD. That’s what occupants at the Paul Emile-Leger centre near Chinatown are saying, adding that they no longer feel safe. 
• The federal government is granting British Columbia’s request to recriminalize hard drugs in public spaces
• Quebec's health minister is looking at a bureaucratic change which could free up half a million GP appointments each year.

Elias Makos is joined by Jonathan Kalles, Senior Director at McMillan Vantage and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program.

• Swedish manufacturer Northvolt says it found homemade bombs at the construction site of their future battery plant on the south shore of Montreal
• It is day 11 of the encampment at McGill University and things both parties remain at a standstill after their meeting yesterday
• Quebec is looking at tightening the regulations around sperm donation

Elias Makos kicks off the week with Political analyst Karim Boulos, and David Heurtel, Former Quebec liberal cabinet minister, Council at Fasken and political analyst.

• There’s frustration in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, as a pilot project that sees garbage collection reduced to once every two weeks moves forward
• Quebec Liberal Party leadership news: Former finance minister Carlos Leitao has endorsed Frédéric Beauchemin for the job, even if the current MNA hasn’t made a run official
• There appears to be chaos at Québec solidaire. After co-spokesperson Émilise Lessard-Therrien announced she was leaving the party after just five months, two high-level staffers also announced they were headed for the exits as the weekend began

Elias Makos ends the week with Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia, and Raphaël Melançon, a political analyst for CTV Montreal News at 5 and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies.

• Community groups in Chinatown are pleading for action to deal with the rise in crime in the area
• The National Assembly is divided into two camps - this according to Premier François Legault
• Quebec’s French language Minister Jean-François Roberge is now seeking guidance from France about secularism in schools

Elias Makos is joined by Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the PR and content firm TNKR Media, and Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, columnist for the Hill Times in Ottawa and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy.

• Latest poll by Leger for the National Post shows the largest lead for the Conservative Party since Brian Mulroney was at the helm
• Week’s after the budget was unveiled, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh finally confirmed his party will support it
• McGill University's ongoing encampment situation continues. The university is now offering a ‘forum’ to protesters if they agree to leave