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 Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster.

• Canada is weighing a plan to send a small contingent of troops to Greenland for military exercises with NATO allies
• Mark Carney took a trip to Qatar this weekend and announced that the Middle Eastern country has committed to “signi...

Joining Elias on The Big Five were Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Among the topics discussed were

• The Liberal government has reached a deal with China allowing 49 thousands chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market
• Two potential candidates in the C...

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Lea Streliski, Best-selling author, comedian and columnist.

• Francois Legault will remain leader of the CAQ until a new one is elected.What will your memory of Legault be as Premier? Was François Legault a good Premier of Quebec? 
• With Legault stepping down, the question now becomes who will replace him as lead...

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 Trudie Mason, veteran Newscaster here at CJAD 800.

• U.S. President Donald Trump visited a Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan on Tuesday, and dismissed the relevance of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, saying the U.S. doesn’t...

Joining Elias on The Big Five were Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS & Graham Singh, Pastor at St-Jax Church.

Among the subjects discussed on The Big Five were

• Inaccurate headline alert: “Canadians feel that crime is worse than five years ago, despite decline in major cities.”
• The city of Montreal unveiled this year’s budget yesterday
• Mark Carney and his delegation are off to China, the first ...

Elias Makos welcomes in Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia.

• “Montreal’s Olympic Stadium started 2026 the same way it began the 1976 Games: under construction and without a roof.”
• Despite Montreal’s size and appetite fo...

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 & Lionel Perez, Former city councillor and former leader of the Official Opposition at Montreal City Hall

Among the topics discussed were

• Montreal’s police chief, Fady Dagher, says the mental health and homelessness situation in the city is getting worse
• The province&...

Elias Makos is joined by Andrew Caddell, columnist for the Hill Times and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy. & Sue Smith, a Montreal journalist and broadcaster. 

Among the topics discussed were

• After facing pressure from the opposition, Chrystia Freeland has announced that she will be resigning as MP on Friday.
• Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to travel to Chi...

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 & Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor

Among the topics discussed were

• If you were in Greenland, how much would the U.S. have to pay you to become an American? What about if he wanted to b...

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 Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil.

• Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest says Canada needs to be vigilant and that Canada could be U.S President Donald Trum...

Elias Makos kicks off the new year with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Political analyst Karim Boulos.

• Was Trump right or wrong to capture Maduro? Is the United States a force for good?
• Prime Minister Mark Carney’s reaction on social media to the capture of de facto leader Nicolás Maduro left many unhappy over the weekend
• A post on social me...

Jay Farrar, in for Elias Makos, is joined by Paul Gott, lead singer and guitarist for Montreal punk rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia and Justine McIntyre, strategic consultant and former city councillor on The Big 5.

• The Quebec Liberal Party has announced that a new leader will be crowned on March 14th next year.
• If you thought waiting at the hospital was long, imagine waiting on the phone for aro...

Robyn Flynn, sitting in for 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 Sterling Downey, city councillor for the Desmarchais-Crawford district in Verdun on The Big 5.

• A segment that was dropped from the CBS investigative show “60 minutes” mysteriously showed up on Monday under the the branding of Canadian bro...

Robyn Flynn, sitting in for Elias Makos, is joined by 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 on The Big 5.

• Federal conservative leader Pierre Poilievre says he is ready to collaborate with his federal colleagues in the No camp if a referendum were to be held.
• The cit...

Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia, 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.

• Christian Dubé has resigned from his position as Quebec’s Minister of Health and will sit as an independent M...

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster.

• With Pablo Rodriguez out as leader, rumours are already swirling surrounding who will replace him. 
• Three thousand dollars worth of food was stolen from a Metro grocery store on Monday in the Plateau. A group called Robins des ruelles says they are the ones responsi...

Elias Makos is joined by Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS, and Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor.

• Quebec Liberal Party Leader Pablo Rodriguez steps down
• Canada’s national figure skating body is blacklisting Alberta — saying the province is off-limits for major competitions because of its new law on transgender athletes.
• Laval wants to abandon its municipal policy on...

On this Tuesday edition of the BIG 5, Elias 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 Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada.

• Another morning, another very bad Journal de Montreal front page for Pablo Rodriguez. The paper reports on a ...

Elias Makos starts off the week with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

• Fifteen people, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed in a shooting targeting the country's Jewish community at a Hanukkah event on Sydney's Bondi...