The Corner Booth

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.

It’s orange cone season in Montreal right now, and drivers are begging for relief from the gridlock and detours.In his latest op-ed in The Gazette, longtime traffic consultant Rick Leckner writes the time to act is now to solve our city’s traffic woes. Décarie Blvd. may have been awash in construction cones, but that didn’t stop Leckner from stopping by Snowdon Deli for this week’s episode of The Corner Booth with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand.

No one in the alcohol business is immune from dealing with government-run liquor boards, not even Kiefer Sutherland.

The acclaimed Canadian actor and musician can now say his Red Bank Whisky is available coast-to-coast across the country, with Quebec being the final province to stock his wares.

“Some provinces are quicker. For instance, Alberta was like, ‘give us the whisky, we’ll sell it right away,’” the 24 and Designated Survivor star said. “Other provinces took longer. Ontario took quite a long time, too. And then Quebec’s the last one. And so for us, just to be able to go around the world now and be able to say as a Canadian brand that we’re in all the provinces of Canada, it’s really important.”

The celebrated Hollywood multi-hyphenate, who received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2005 and on Hollywood’s three years later, talked about his latest projects and enduring Canadian connections on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand at Snowdon Deli.

On Wednesday, the Coalition Avenir Québec government pledged to invest $540 million into student services — less than one month after it was met with fierce backlash for slashing of $570 million in education funding. 

While former senator André Pratte is “happy for the education system,” he says this flip-flopping by Quebec means that more drastic cuts are on the horizon.