The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos welcomes in 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.

• The Quebec government wants a billion dollars from the federal government to pay for the costs of welcoming asylum seekers
• The Quebec Liberal Party has ramped up its efforts to scour the globe for anyone that wants to lead the party - all in an effort to avoid a Denis Coderre coronation
• Radio-Canada is out for blood on the Northvolt project… The public broadcaster reports that one year before the project was approved, the Environment Minister refused another project on the same site

Elias Makos is joined by Trudie Mason, Veteran Newscaster here at CJAD 800, and Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, columnist for the Hill Times in Ottawa and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy.

• At a city council meeting last night, Mayor Valerie Plante said that French should unite us
• Denis Coderre says he’s almost made up his mind on a run for the Quebec Liberal Party Leadership
• They’re about to redo Quebec’s electoral map, and the proposed changes are creating quite the stir

Elias Makos kicks off the week with Catherine Hogan, high school teacher at Westwood Senior High in Hudson, and David Heurtel, Former Quebec liberal cabinet minister, Council at Fasken and political analyst.

• The Quebec government held a press conference on Sunday… and some are asking what was the point of it
• At least one in five school service centres hasn’t fired a single teacher in the last five years
• If you thought the initial estimate on replacing the roof was a lot… Get ready to see hundreds of millions of dollars more in additional costs to fix Montreal’s Olympic Stadium

Elias Makos caps off the week with Christina Chough, Spanish teacher and Chair of the modern languages department at Dawson College, and Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor.

• Pointe-Claire’s mayor tells Pierre Poilievre that he was “elected to slow down development.”
• As expected, the CAQ government voted down a motion to lower Quebec’s blood alcohol limit while behind the wheel
• Calls and email exchanges with civil servants and a lunch with Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon… Northvolt was having discussions with the Legault government under the radar

Elias Makos is joined by Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the PR and content firm TNKR Media, and Raphaël Melançon, a political analyst for CTV Montreal News at 5 and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies.

• Turns out that GC Strategies, the company with four employees that managed to get a large slice of ArriveCan contracts, has won at least 140 contracts totaling nearly 258 million dollars from several federal departments and agencies since 2015
• Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is backtracking from comments that the Federal government would no longer fund road projects
• Denis Coderre has positioned himself as ‘Captain Canada’ in his visit to the National Assembly

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

• Just days after the car theft summit, Quebec provincial police and specialized teams seized 53 stolen vehicles from the Port of Montreal
• Pushing back against the rise of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon in the polls, Denis Coderre is launching a “Non Merci” campaign today
• The EMSB has adjusted its school calendar and April 8th will now be a professional day, in light of the Solar Eclipse

Elias Makos is joined by Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, columnist for the Hill Times in Ottawa and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy, and Political analyst Karim Boulos.

• The auditor general released a damning report into the ArriveCan app
• Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s Parti Québecois is proposing that first time home buyers get a rebate of 3.5 per cent off the current mortgage rate
• Not everyone is against fundraising cocktails. In fact, prospective Liberal leader Denis Coderre says he would let MNAs participate in these fundraising cocktail parties

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

• Super Bowl weekend - did you buy into the hype? 
• Have you checked in on your dog lately? Turns out that more dogs are becoming depressed than ever and many have had to be prescribed antidepressants
• A new poll by Abacus Data shows the largest lead for the Conservatives they’ve ever measured. Are we heading towards an election sooner than later?

Elias Makos caps off the week with Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the PR and content firm TNKR Media, and Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor.

• François Legault came out swinging against Valerie Plante
• Legault also says too many young people using English words think it’s ‘cool’
• Grieving parents say they were told to pay $200 dollars to meet a Quebec minister

Elias Makos welcomes in Sue Montgomery, former journalist and former mayor of CDN-NDG, and Anne Lagace-Dowson, political analyst.

• Bell announced this morning that it would cut 4,800 jobs across all levels of the company. The move includes Bell Media, which will sell off 45 of its 103 regional radio stations as well
• NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he has put Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "on notice" 
• Valerie Plante is speaking up for Montreal’s universities