The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos kicks the week off with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Graham Singh, CEO of Releven. Tim Hortons says it will scale back its use of the Temporary Foreign Worker program and instead hire up to 10,000 local workers as it plans a major expansion of restaurants across Canada this year.  Premier Christine Fr&eacu...

Sue Smith is joined by Bonnie Feigenbaum, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in last provincial election and a lecturer at Concordia & McGill University, media & government relations consultant, and Andrew Caddell, columnist for the Hill Times and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy. After backing off on the Go Habs Go! message from the buses at the STM, the Office qu...

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Political analyst Karim Boulos. A few days after Liberal leader Charles Milliard made a point of denouncing the homophobic comments he receives online, another gay party leader in the province is chiming in. Eric Duhaime, leader of the Conservatives, says highlighting that kind of content onl...

Elias Makos is joined by Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom, and Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil. The Fréchette effect is working for the CAQ. A new Léger poll for Journal de Montreal this morning reveals a 5-point jump for the CAQ since April 21st. More Quebeckers are turn...

Elias Makos welcomes back Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of  Civica Strategies and former city councillor. The Montreal Canadiens are off to the Eastern Conference Finals after winning game 7 in overtime last night against the Buffalo Sabres. Following the overtime stunner, we had some...

Elias Makos is joined by Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada and Tasha Kheiriddin, a writer and commentator for the National Post, GZero Media, and Substack on The Big 5. More and more tech companies, business leaders and political commentators are ringing alarm bells over the Federal government’s Bill C-22...

Elias Makos caps the week off with Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and Lea Streliski, Best-selling author, comedian and columnist.  Hey, what exactly do you guys call this long weekend and the holiday on Monday anyways? The Montreal Canadiens are one win away from making the Eastern Conference Finals....

On this edition of the BIG 5, Elias is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer at Women in Governance and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia. TVA reports that the Portuguese community in Montreal was refused a permit from the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough to hold its traditional march in the street...

On this supersized edition of the BIG 5, Elias is joined by Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of Civica Strategies and former city councillor and Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS, Two new polls are out this morning and they show a similar picture. They both have the PQ and Quebec Liberal Party virtually tied in first place but the CAQ is catching up.  Ok this one is a curious one. The...

Elias Makos 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 Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The deadline for filling out the census is today...

Elias starts off the week with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante and Montreal journalist and broadcaster Sue Smith. Ruba Ghazal says Québec solidaire's new platform is "ambitious and credible. First, they would create a Quebecois Costco, a food wholesaler focused on local products and aimed at competing with the large grocery...

Elias Makos caps the week off with Trudie Mason, veteran newscaster at CJAD 800, and Andrew Caddell, columnist for the Hill Times and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy. Game two between the Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres is tonight. Montreal lost game one of the best of seven series on Wednesday. Do you think the team will bounce back tonight?  Ethics Commissioner Ar...

Elias Makos welcomes back political analyst Karim Boulos, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada.  The CAQ government has tabled legislation to renew the notwithstanding clause protecting Bill 96 until 2031, and French Language Minister Jean‑François Roberge is using the moment to launch a full-...

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator with extensive experience analysing legal, political, and social issues and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program. The Montreal Canadiens begin their second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight against the Buffalo Sabres. N...

Elias Makos is joined by Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of  Civica Strategies and former city councillor, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette. Reports indicate that Prime Minister Mark Carney will announce today who will be replacing Mary Simon as the new governor general.. Le Devoir is reporting that it will...

Elias Makos kicks the week off with Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia. The streets were filled with excitement and joy last night as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Eric Duhaime...

Elias Makos is joined by Neil Drabkin, is a lawyer who served as federal prosecutor and a political commentator who was a chief of staff in the Harper government, and Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil. It will be absolute bedlam in Montreal tonight as the Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning play game six of their Stanley Cup Playoff...

Joining us on The Big Five: Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster. The topics of the day include the "price of dignity" in Quebec and how much money families need to live comfortably, plus the federal government is opening the door to a major shakeup on how airports are run.

Joining Elias on The Big 5 were Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette. Among the topics discussed were If you were hoping for major changes or a bold vision i n yesterday’s...

Elias Makos is once again joined by Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of  Civica Strategies and former city councillor, and Denis Coderre, former mayor of Montreal. A young Montreal entrepreneur has decided to take matters into his own hands to repair potholes across the city. Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled the Canada Strong fund yesterday, what he’s billing as the country’s first...

Elias Makos kicks the week off with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada. There was another assassination attempt on President Donald Trump’s life over the weekend.  The attempt on the President...

Elias Makos welcomes in Beryl Wajsman, president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal, and Trudie Mason, veteran newscaster at CJAD 800. It was Eric Duhaime’s turn yesterday to reverse course on his stance on Bill 96. Duhaime told reporters yesterday that he would amend the Bill and continue to make use of the notwithstanding clause. The current state (or lack of state) of trade t...

Elias Makos is joined by Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of  Civica Strategies and former city councillor, and Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster. Ottawa is accusing PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon of spreading "conspiracy theories.” This after clips of Plamondon speaking at a town hall organized by CIJA – The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs – are gainin...

Elias Makos is joined by Graham Singh, CEO of Releven, and Political analyst Karim Boulos. After being confronted by a poll that showed him winning a majority government – but only if he ditched his promise of a referendum – Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is sticking to his convictions. Premier Christine Fréchette unveiled her cabinet yesterday. The cabinet has 29 ministers in to...

Elias Makos is joined by Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies, and Denis Coderre, former mayor of Montreal. The Parti Québécois would steamroll its way to a majority government – if they drop the pledge to hold a referendum. A new Leger poll for Journa...