The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos welcomes back 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. 

• Canada’s GDP per capita is now lower than it was at the end of 2014. The gap between Canada and the U.S. on that front is now $25,000, more than double what it was when the Liberals took power in 2015
• Just for Laughs is seeking creditor protection and has cancelled this year's festival
• Paul St-Pierre Plamondon wants the referendum to be on immigration

Elias Makos is joined by Trudie Mason, veteran newscaster at CJAD 800, and 
Akil Alleyne, reporter and commentator and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program.

• Correctional Service Canada has confirmed that notorious killer Luka Magnotta has been transferred to a medium-security prison
• Former Bell Media radio host Jamil Jivani won the federal byelection in Durham, Ontario last night
• Quebec is annoyed as Ottawa is imposing an increase in family unification permits

Elias Makos starts the week with David Heurtel, Former Quebec liberal cabinet minister, Council at Fasken, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia.

• A reception for visiting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Toronto had to be cancelled on Saturday, after “Pro-palestinian” blocked all entrances to the venue
• Radio-Canada reports that federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller has told his staff to exceed the immigration thresholds
• Is Air Canada slowly becoming the WORST airline to travel with? 
• Could we soon see the end of the classic 4-litre milk bag? 

Elias Makos ends the week with Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor, and Jonathan Kalles, Senior Director at McMillan Vantage and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

• Canada’s former prime minister Brian Mulroney has died at age 84. What are your most memorable Mulroney moments? What did he mean to you? 
• Quebec’s highest court made a ruling on Bill 21 yesterday. Ruling on the province’s secularism law they ruled that it was constitutional
• The new proposed online harms bill would give the Justice Minister the power to impose house arrest on someone who “is feared to commit a hate crime in the future – even if they have not yet done so already”

Elias Makos welcomes back Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Anne Lagace-Dowson, political analyst.

•  The latest poll has Pierre Poilievre’s conservatives ahead of Justin Trudeau and the Liberals… in Quebec!
• CTV News has learnt that the CEO of a company that received $8 million to work on the ArriveCan app is an employee of the Department of National Defence
• 40 years ago today, Pierre Elliott Trudeau resigned as Prime Minister, the day after taking his now infamous walk in the snow. There are so many parallels between the fate of the father and the current fate of the son, Justin. Would you advise Justin Trudeau to resign today?

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 Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor.

• New proposed Quebec regulations will require more French markings on consumer products & lead to fewer choices and higher costs for things like home appliances
• Tomorrow the Quebec Court of Appeal will rule on the constitutionality of Bill 21
• Wendy’s intends to test dynamic pricing in some restaurants as early as next year

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.

• Heavier sentences, more laws, more regulations, new regulatory bodies - it’s all there in the new Liberal government’s long-awaited online harms bill
• The man who stabbed a woman 14 times in the West Island in a dispute over dog poop in 2011 has been granted day parole on the life sentence he was given for the murder
• The Los Angeles Kings will play a preseason game in Salt Lake City ahead of their stint in Quebec City in the fall - and will do so without a nickel of government handouts

Elias Makos kicks of the week with David Heurtel, Former Quebec liberal cabinet minister, Council at Fasken, and Bonnie Feigenbaum, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in last provincial election and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University.

• Both McGill and Concordia have filed lawsuits demanding that Quebec cancel their tuition hike plans
• Should lawyers also be social media influencers? Patrick Lagacé at La Presse told the story of Marc-André Grenon’s lawyers over the weekend
• The latest numbers show that crimes committed with firearms have dropped significantly in Montreal, by 26%. But other types of crime increased by 11%

Elias Makos caps off the week with Christina Chough, Spanish teacher and Chair of the modern languages department at Dawson College, and Political analyst Karim Boulos.

• The debate over asylum seekers continued yesterday as Premier Francois Legault told reporters that Quebecers should have priority for subsidized daycare spots in the province before asylum seekers
• The Quebec government will unveil its next budget on March 12th. Finance Minister Eric Girard told reporters that the focus of this bill will be centred around health and education
• Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante and Montreal Police chief Fady Dagher took to the streets of Montreal and paid a visit to the Village to talk with residents in the area

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor.

• A bizarre day for Premier Francois Legault at the National Assembly. He questioned the Bloc Quebecois’ usefulness in an exchange over temporary immigration with PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. and then performed show and tell bringing an apple, orange, and banana for a gathering with the parliamentary press.
• Bill 31 is now law. The housing bill gives landlords the right to refuse lease transfers (and lets that tenant break the lease upon refusal) and also sets hefty compensation rates for evictions
• Fans of CF Montreal are up in arms over the cost of tickets to the club’s match against the biggest soccer superstar in the world, Miami’s Lionel Messi