The Big Five Podcast

Trudie Mason starts the week off with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Andrew Caddell, columnist for the Hill Times and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy. The Quebec Liberal Party held its final general council meeting this weekend before the fall elections.  Hundreds of weapons have been seized by pol...

Elias Makos caps off the week with 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 Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia. The government wants to fast-track a bill that would ban energy drinks for people under the age of...

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of  Civica Strategies and former city councillor. Under the headline ‘‘He yells: Mark Carney’s focus has Liberal MPs bristling,” Althia Raj tells readers of the most Liberal-leaning paper in the nation that the Prime Minister is not a...

Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette. The Liberals under Prime Minister Mark Carney have hit a milestone not seen in more than 20 years. A new Postmedia-Leger poll puts Liberal support at 50 per cent among decided voters — a level of backing no governi...

Elias Makos is joined by Political analyst Karim Boulos, and Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil. Premier Christine Fréchette is signalling a softer approach after years of tension between the CAQ government and English-speaking Quebecers. A directive from the French Language Ministry is raising eyebrows in the municipal worl...

Elias Makos kicks the week off with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Gabriel Retta, special advisor to the mayor. Religious event organizers say the city’s application of Quebec secularism law is confusing.  A racist rally in Shawinigan over the weekend is drawing widespread condemnation across political class....

Elias Makos is joined by Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada. The three discuss these topics: Tributes keep pouring in for Former Montreal Canadiens star and Stanley Cup Champion Claude Lemieux It's now or never tonight for the Montreal Canadiens in game five Pri...

Elias Makos is joined by Lea Streliski, Best-selling author, comedian and columnist, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia. They dicussed the following:  Habs lose 4-0. Are we toast? Talk of the looming Alberta referendum has everyone on a separatist or federalist hunt in Quebec City Prime Minister Mark Carney...

Elias Makos is joined by Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of Civica Strategies and former city councillor, and Trudie Mason, veteran newscaster at CJAD 800. The three discussed these topics: CTV News has learned that former environment and climate change minister Steven Guilbeault will resign as an MP today Prime Minister Mark Carney says a 50 percent plus one vote to separate would not be enough for...

Elias Makos is joined by Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, and columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster.  The Habs lost game three of their series against the Carolina Hurricanes last night, 3-2 in overtime. Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette announced new tax relief measures yesterday.&...

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...