The Corner Booth

The Online Streaming Act and the Online News Act, which both came into effect in 2023, were designed to force big streamers and social media platforms to pay their share for Canadian content. But in the battle between the Canadian government and companies like Meta, Netflix and Amazon, who blinked first? In last week’s federal budget announcement, Mark Carney’s government promised $4 billion towar...

Disturbing allegations are piling up against Montreal’s police force. On this week’s episode of The Corner Booth, retired police officer Pietro Poletti told hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand that he believes the problems inside the Montreal police force start at the top.

After the Parti Québécois won a minority government on Monday with only 28 per cent of the popular vote, some political commentators have downplayed the chances of a sovereignty referendum in Quebec.  Pablo Rodriguez has some qualms with this assessment — if history is any indication, the temperature can change swiftly when it comes to Quebec independence. Rodriguez, a former Liberal MP who briefl...

The Quebec election is officially in the books, with Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s Parti Québécois winning a minority government. In this special election recap episode of The Corner Booth, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand at Snowdon Deli to share his thoughts the rise of the Quebec Conservatives, the wipeout of the CAQ and what he thinks PSPP’s first 100 days...

Audio-only: Stéphane Dion calls Monday’s provincial election a “double election” for Quebecers. The former federal Liberal leader, who drafted the Clarity Act in response to the 1995 Quebec referendum, establishing the conditions under which the government of Canada would enter into negotiations if a province voted to secede, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand for a special edition of The...

The latest polls say Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s Parti Québécois is potentially on the cusp of winning a majority government in Monday’s provincial election. Should the PQ be held to a minority, all eyes will be on the other main sovereignist party — Québec solidaire — and whether they’ll work with or against Plamondon’s goal of holding a referendum. The way party co-leader Ruba Ghazal described it...

The Quebec election campaign is in the final stretch. Right now, it’s looking like the Parti Québécois are on the cusp of a majority government. For Quebec Liberal leader Charles Milliard, that means his final days on the trail will be spent reminding the 70 per cent of voters who don’t currently want a referendum that his party could be the federalist alternative with the CAQ in a free-fall. He j...

The five main party leaders in the Quebec election got a chance to make their pitch to the people with two French-language debates this week. Which leader made their mark? Who stood out with undecided voters? Who needs to step up as the campaign hits crunch time? A pair of Gazette political columnists, Raphaël Melançon and Robert Libman, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest ep...

Canadian Party of Quebec leader Joseph Cianflone knows his party won’t win the upcoming provincial election. But that doesn’t mean the underdog party can’t play a role in steering the conversation. The leader of the self-described “only fully federalist party” in Quebec joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand for this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli. Cianflone pitched his pa...

This week, it was revealed for the first time in a provincial campaign, election guides and notices are being mailed only in French. Voters seeking English versions will instead be directed to the Élections Québec website, either directly or through a QR code printed on the French documents. But around one in five Quebecers 75 and older do not own a smartphone, computer or tablet. Lawyers Frédéric...

Tom Mulcair thinks the  answer to who will win October's Quebec election "will come in the last two weeks of the campaign," but that won't stop him from making an early prediction. The former NDP Leader and Quebec Liberal MNA told hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli that although he has no dog in the fight, as an out...

When it comes to the Donald Trump White House's tariff threats against Canada, every day is Groundhog Day. And while this week saw both countries go down to the wire to sign the latest trade deal, it won't be long until the United States returns asking for revised terms. At least, that's how economist Julian Karaguesian and former Delegate General of Quebec in New York John Parisella s...

Flooding in parts of the West Island have become a nearly annual occurrence. Now residents — 1,500 and counting — are fighting back. Two proposed class-action lawsuits are taking aim at the cities of Montreal and Dollard-des-Ormeaux. The lawsuits allege the municipalities were “grossly negligent” in preparing for last month’s flash floods that left drainage systems overwhelmed and basements ruined...

As Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Montreal, Robert P. Sanders experienced first-hand the change in tone between Canadians and Americans going from the Joe Biden administration to Donald Trump’s. The career  apolitical diplomat, who previously held posts in a variety of locales from Islamabad to Port-au-Prince, is wrapping up his time in Montreal, but not before joining hosts Bill Brownste...

Moving Day is coming up for more than 115,000 Montrealers on July 1, when a critical mass of Quebec leases expire, and it’s become a day housing advocates dread. “ This is a really tough day for the city. It’s funny, it used to be a day of transition. A day of newness. A day of hope. A day of change,” said James Hughes, president and CEO at Old Brewery Mission. With July 1 around the corner, Hughe...

Steven Guilbeault is stepping down from government. The Liberal MP for Montreal's Laurier—Sainte-Marie riding announced last month that he intends to resign his seat this summer, citing a desire to pursue the fight against climate change "in a different way." "I understand that, even before Prime Minister Carney was elected leader of the Liberal Party, that things were going to change. What I had...

Antisemitism has been front and centre in Montreal news the last two weeks. So when Projet Montréal announced its plan to bring a motion to council Monday condemning Israel for “genocide” of Palestinians, The Gazette’s Allison Hanes suggested the timing risked inflaming social tensions. Liberal MP for Mount Royal Anthony Housefather and CRARR executive director Fo Niemi joined hosts Bill Brownstei...

Did Prime Minister Mark Carney open Pandora’s Box by saying “50 per cent plus one” in a referendum would not be enough for Quebec or Alberta to separate from Canada? That’s the question posed this week to constitutional lawyer Frédéric Bérard, along with former MP and MNA Clifford Lincoln, on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand from Snowdon Deli.

On last week’s episode of The Corner Booth, Tom Mulcair said Quebec’s new premier, Christine Fréchette, was “steadfastly refusing” to speak English and steering clear of anglophone media. After a week where the CAQ leader had her first official meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and the latest poll showed a bump in support for her party, Fréchette’s multi-hyphenate minister Christopher...

There might be a new premier in Quebec, but according to former NDP leader and Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Tom Mulcair, it’s the same old, same old CAQ coming out of the National Assembly.  ”This is where I see (premier) Christine Fréchette playing the same old games, a very divisive approach to politics, and I think it’s going to be very hurtful to her chances in the next election,” Mulcair s...

Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, an entrepreneur who founded online media powerhouse WatchMojo, has dealt with doubters his entire career. And the prospect of bringing the Montreal Expos back after Major League Baseball moved them to Washington after the 2004 season, has brought out the skeptics. But that isn’t stopping Karbasfrooshan, and he joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episod...

The streets of Montreal went viral on social media this week, but for all the wrong reasons. Feigang Fei, who owns the restaurant Cuisine AuntDai on St-Mathieu St. Frustrated with the lack of progress on Ste-Catherine St. W. roadwork, he posted a photo on X of a construction site sitting empty on a sunny day. Fei, along with Ville-Marie city councillor Leslie Roberts, joined hosts Bill Brownstein...

Douglas Dixon knew about Alligator Alcatraz, the infamous immigration detention centre in Florida operated by ICE. But never in his wildest imagination did he think he'd end up there in shackles. Now back in his native Montreal after 21 years in the United States following his deportation, Dixon shared his harrowing story with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The C...

Perhaps no Montrealer bleeds bleu, blanc et rouge more than The Sick Podcast's Tony Marinaro. So after all the hours poured into watching, analyzing and commenting on the Montreal Canadiens, does Marinaro think the young Habs have a fighting chance against the more battle-tested Tampa Bay Lightning? That's the question posed to him by hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's...

The Montreal area is the epicentre of the Canadian political landscape this week. The federal Liberals, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, are in town for their policy convention. Tomorrow, the next CAQ leader will be announced a hop, skip and a jump away in Drummondville. Then on Monday, the riding of Terrebonne will decide their next member of parliament in a byelection that will reverberate...