There's never a dull moment in Quebec politics, but even by the province's standards, these recent times appear to be unprecedented.

And that's coming from some of the province's most-respected legal experts.

According to the head of the Quebec Bar, three bills from the CAQ recently presented at Quebec’s National Assembly — the proposed constitution, one on unions and the other on doctor pay — show signs of an authoritarian drift that threatens the rule of law.

Two lawyers specializing in human rights and constitutional rights, Julius Grey and Frédéric Bérard, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to sound the alarm on the "autocratic" bills.

" My biggest issue is that it's a constitution that seems to want to freeze present CAQ opinions about all sorts of issues: secularism, language and so on, forever," said Grey. " They claim to be an open nationalism, but their nationalism is a closed one. Become exactly like us, or you're not one of us."

Bérard called section five of the constitution "probably the worst section I've seen in my whole life," before adding "so what kind of regime in the world prevent institutions from challenging the constitutionality of laws? It's not democracy."

Grey said by saying no to challenges, the Quebec government is ostensibly making it impossible for an individual to challenge the province, since the average person can't afford the legal costs it would entail.

"The government is clearly anti-union anyway. It's got a law reducing the powers of unions. It's a government that's reducing the rights of tenants as opposed to landlords. It's a government that is attacking the English minority. It's attacking immigrants. What we have is a clear authoritarian right-wing government," Grey said.

"The CAQ is going even further than Duplessis because Duplessis never thought about preventing people from challenging bills," Bérard said.

"It's a first for Quebec. It's a very sad day, in my opinion."

The Parti Québécois are leading in the polls with a provincial election coming next year.

At the moment, their competition is in disarray. The sagging CAQ and premier François Legault are facing the wrath of doctors over Bill 2's proposed renumeration reforms, while the Quebec Liberals are imploding over an alleged vote-buying scheme.

So even though leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is sitting pretty and promising a referendum on Quebec independence in his first term, he still wants anglophone and allophone voters to join his party.

The PQ leader laid out his case for why together isn't better with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli. St-Pierre Plamondon discussed the prospect of a new currency, dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump and the status of the CAQ and Quebec Liberals.

With all the controversy surrounding Bill 2, which will change how doctors and specialists are compensated in Quebec, there's been little said about the equally seismic Bill 7.

This lesser-known bill would  force the amalgamation of many government agencies, including Urgences-santé. Should Bill 7 become law, paramedic services in Montreal and Laval would be controlled through Santé Québec.

What was the reaction to Bill 2 from Hal Newman, former paramedic and curator of The Last Ambulance, a site that shares stories from those in emergency prehospital care (EMS)?

"God help us," Newman said. He joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth to sound the alarm on the bill and its potential consequences to emergency care in and around Montreal.

When there’s a complaint about languages in this country, it often lands on Raymond Théberge’s desk.

As the commissioner of Official Languages of Canada since 2018, Théberge is tasked with protecting language rights, both English and French, in federal institutions. He joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli to talk about support for bilingualism across the country and how to build bridges with linguistic communities in Quebec.

A good example of the types of complaints Official Languages of Canada might receive was the double whammy in 2021-2022 of two high-profile Canadians — Governor General Mary Simon and Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau — and their inability to speak French.

Even though the Quebec referendum happened 30 years ago this October, there are still behind-the-scenes stories being uncovered.

Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute, recently penned an opinion piece for The Gazette on the lessons learned from the referendum, and this week he joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on a new episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to share stories about this pivotal moment in Quebec political history, including on Jacques Parizeau's "money and ethnic votes" comment.

A majority of Montrealers are undecided on who to vote for in the upcoming mayoral election on Nov. 2. But one thing the polls have made clear: people are ready for change.Does that mean voters are willing to look beyond the two entrenched parties — Projet Montréal and Ensemble Montréal — and elect someone new to City Hall?That's what two other parties on this November's ballot — Action Montréal and Futur Montréal — are counting on.Futur leader Jean-François Kacou and Action leader Gilbert Thibodeau joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth, filmed at Snowdon Deli, to make their pitches to Montreal voters. Each candidate was interviewed separately.

Three candidates have entered the race to become Westmount’s next mayor: Councillor Mary Gallery, lawyer Lynne Casgrain and accountant Michael Stern.

All three are vying to replace outgoing mayor Christina Smith, who announced in January she won’t be seeking re-election. They joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The Corner Booth, recorded at the epicentre of the city's controversial re-development plan, the Atwater Library.

The downtown district of Peter-McGill, which includes the Golden Square Mile, Mount Royal and Cabot Square, promises to be a hotly contested battle in the coming municipal election on Nov. 2.

In one corner, there's Leslie Roberts with Ensemble Montréal. The former journalist and broadcaster is a familiar name and face for anglophone Montrealers of a certain age. He's a political neophyte who decided to enter the race after a convincing cup of coffee with Ensemble leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada.

Representing Projet Montréal in this race is Maryse Bouchard. While also new to politics, Bouchard worked for 31 years for the city of Montreal, with a specialty in implementing new public services. For example, Bouchard worked on the new cultural and community space, the Sanaaq Centre, which opened in May.

Projet Montréal's Luc Rabouin, Ensemble Montréal's Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Transition Montréal's Craig Sauvé joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand to make their cases on a special episode of The Corner Booth, filmed on Thursday at the Segal Centre in the Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough in front of an audience.

In the spirit of the show, Brownstein and Rand eschewed the rigid debate format for a livelier, unscripted conversation on the major topics Montrealers care about this election. The candidates laid out their plans for solving the city's traffic woes, bureaucratic red tape, soaring housing costs and the growing homelessness crisis. Where do the candidates stand on dealing with a provincial government that has mostly ignored the city? What are their plans for Camillien-Houde Way?

om Mulcair didn’t hold back in his scorching Corner Booth debut.

The former Quebec Liberal MNA and leader of the federal NDP joined to hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand at Snowdon Deli to dish on a number of hot button political issues — everything from Canada’s dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump to Quebec Premier François Legault’s fate. 

The longtime Outremont MP also pulled no punches on the current Montreal mayoral race. He talked about the “orange cone mentality” at City Hall and the closing of Camillien-Houde Way as a “form of political corruption.” He had sharp words for candidates Luc Rabouin and Craig Sauvé, even calling the former “ one of the worst politicians I’ve ever met.”

But he saved some of his best barbs for the current premier and the person best positioned to unseat him in the 2026 provincial election, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

“Legault is finished. Let’s not kid ourselves about that,” he said. “But I’m not convinced the CAQ is a spent force.”

Even though Plamondon currently enjoys a healthy lead in the polls, Mulcair can see it all crumble if the PQ’s calls for another referendum grow louder.

“If you want to run the government, we might actually vote for you and give you that possibility. But if you tell us that once you get in, you’re going to start taking taxpayer money to try to set up the winning conditions for a referendum to break up one of the most successful countries in the world and pull Quebec out of Canada, we’re going defeat you,” Mulcair said.

He also offered a warning to Pablo Rodriguez, current leader of the Quebec Liberals, saying “he’s walking right into a trap with Bill 21,” the CAQ’s secularism bill that bars teachers, lawyers, police officers and more from wearing religious symbols.

Mulcair added the provincial Liberals remain “in deep trouble outside of Montreal.”

But the seasoned politician and regular contributor to The Gazette’s opinion page was effusive in his praise of one politician in particular. Watch this week’s episode to find out who it is.