The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos kicks off the week with Bonnie Feigenbaum, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in last provincial election and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University, and Sue Montgomery, former journalist and former mayor of CDN-NDG.

• New poll out this morning from Pallas Data and PJ Fournier's Qc125 has terrible news for the CAQ. The PQ now leads in voting intentions, 30% to 24% for the PQ. Are we witnessing an epic collapse? 
• Quebecs MNAs placed themselves in an apparent conflict of interest by voting to increase their own salaries
• Ottawa will continue to spend its way out of a dire economic situation

Elias is joined by Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator with extensive experience analysing legal, political, and social issues and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program and Meeker Guerrier, Weekend News Anchor at Noovo and a commentator at RDS.

• The decision to give the Los Angeles Kings millions of dollars to play pre-season hockey in Quebec City is still causing problems for the CAQ.
• It’s D-Day for the school strikes.
• A couple lost $10,000 and saw their trip of a lifetime ruined after they got to the airport to check in, and the check-in agent discovered an error on one of the tickets.

Elias was joined on The Big 5 by CJAD 800's Trudie Mason and David Heurtel, former Quebec liberal cabinet minister, Council at Fasken and political analyst.

The topics today are

-The Alouettes winning the Grey Cup: How much did Montreal need a win? 

-Eric Duhaime received the support of 77% of his party as it met over the weekend

-The city's finance committee held a hearing over the spending debacle at Montreal’s Public Consultation office 

Elias Makos ends the week with Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Jimmy Zoubris, special advisor to the Mayor.

• A federal judge has ruled that the regulatory shenanigans the government pulled to impose a single-use plastics ban was "unreasonable and unconstitutional."
• There’s a good chat over on Twitter between 338Canada’s PJ Fournier and other political watchers over what led to the Liberals poll implosion
• The spending of millions on two L.A. Kings games in Quebec City is being questioned by not just us but also CAQ members

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance and Political analyst Karim Boulos.

• The Jacques Cartier Bridge was closed in both directions for a time this morning due to a demonstration “in support of Palestine” this morning
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was surrounded by “Pro-Palestinian” protestors at a Vancouver restaurant
• Montreal’s 2024 budget is officially out. And a heads up for any homeowners - your taxes are increasing
• Catherine Fournier, the mayor of Longueuil, is now under police protection following the decision to cull deers at Parc Michel-Chartrand

Elias Makos welcomes in Meeker Guerrier, Weekend News Anchor at Noovo and a commentator at RDS, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the PR and content firm TNKR Media.

• Quebec taxpayers will pay five to seven million dollars to bring the Los Angeles Kings to Quebec City for a week
• CTV News has learned that Montrealers are in store for the largest property tax increase in fourteen years, a whopping 4.9%
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Went after Justin Trudeau on social media late Tuesday night

Elias Makos is joined by Bonnie Feigenbaum, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University, and Jonathan Kalles, Senior Consultant at McMillan Vantage and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

• Dominique Olivier has resigned from Montreal's executive committee following the controversy she faced over the expenses she filed while she was head of the city’s public consultation office
• The mayor's office is admitting that taxpayers should not have paid for the wine which flowed at a meal hosted by Valerie Plante in Vienna last spring
• A list of Jewish-owned businesses in Montreal is circulating social media. Provoking people to boycott them and vandalise them

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

• The Federation CJA and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is calling for the government to hire off-duty officers to guard Jewish schools and synagogues
• Meanwhile the Pro-Palestinian protest drew thousands of people downtown yesterday
• The premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are calling for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with them to discuss their request for carbon price exemptions on not just home heating oil, but all forms of home heating

Elias Makos caps off the week with Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the PR and content firm TNKR Media.

• François Legault’s government won’t rule out banning protests. This follows two Jewish schools in Montreal being hit by bullets.
• A humanities professor at Université de Montreal was among the violent protestors at Concordia on Wednesday
• The Ye Olde Orchard Pub has officially changed its name to Maison publique Orchard in order to comply with Quebec language laws
• Any doubts surrounding Justin Trudeau’s political future are now officially over

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

• One person was arrested and others were injured as the inevitable happened at Concordia University on Wednesday
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped to scrum with reporters at the House of Commons and deliver an emotional statement about the state of Canada right now
• François Legault’s government is gearing up with a new proposal regarding parking tickets