The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos ends the week off 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 Lionel Perez, Former city councilor and former leader of the Official Opposition at Montreal City Hall.

• Some are banking hopes on an encounter between Prime Minister Carney and President Trump on the sidelines of the FIFA World Cup draw in Washington to...

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 Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance.

• Quebec will ban brownies – not the ones you bake, but the ones you give to buy leadership votes.
• Tired of a large number of students en...

Elias Makos welcomes back 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.

• Quebec Liberal Party leader Pablo Rodriguez has expelled Marwah Rizqy from the party.
• Just one day after being named to the post, Marc Miller, who is now in charge of official languages, told reporters he was ...

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 Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

• Marc Miller has been brought into cabinet as a new Minister following Stephen Guilbeault's resignation.
• The RCMP is quietly grounding m...

Joining Elias on The Big 5 were Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante & political analyst Karim Boulos.

Among the topics discussed were 

• 'No referendum. No corruption' – that’s the promise of a new print and social media ad campaign that the Quebec Conservative Party will start running this week
• With the help of Artificial Intelligence, the SPVM...

Elias makos ends the week off with Andrew Caddell, columnist for the Hill Times and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy, and Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom.

• Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday.
• The agreement between Carney and Smith did come at a cost for the Prime Minister as Steven Guilbault res...

Joining Elias on The Big 5 this morning were Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance & Lea Streliski, Best-selling author, comedian and columnist.

Among the topics discussed

• A Quebec judge has sparked controversy by allowing a man accused of criminal harassment in a domestic-violence case to remove his anti-proximity bracelet so he can spend the winter in Florida — despite allegations ...

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 Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS.

• Quebec will cut the subsidy of religious schools who select children according to their faith. Moreover, the wearing of religious symbols will also be prohibited for future teachers a...

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 Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor.

• A new secularism bill will be tabled on Thursday at the National Assembly.
• Maybe Mark Carney cares afterall. Less than 48 hours after Prime Minister Mark ...

Elias Makos kicks the week off with Jimmy Zoubris, former special advisor to the Mayor, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia.

• Prime Minister Mark Carney is seemingly in no hurry to pick up trade talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.
• U.S Vice-President JD Vance took to social media Friday to call out Canada’s political leadership a...

Elias Makos caps off the week with political analyst Karim Boulos, and Lionel Perez, Former city councilor and former leader of the Official Opposition at Montreal City Hall.

• Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada will meet with Premier François Legault today. What should they talk about?
• Outremont is removing a bike lane for the winter.
• After not answering a formal notice to offer an explanation to why she fired h...

Elias Makos brings you an extended edition of the Big 5 with Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies.

• Marwah Rizqy has been suspended from the Quebec Liberal Party caucus by leader Pablo Rodriguez. 
• Things are not getting be...

Elias Makos is joined by Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil, and Sue Smith, a Montreal journalist and broadcaster.

• After a smooth launch of the Deux-Montages branch over the weekend and into the work week, parts of the REM network are down after a truck struck a viaduct near the Bois-Franc station. Is the REM cursed?
• Prime Minister Mark Carney’s minority Liber...

Elias Makos starts the week off with Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada, and Jimmy Zoubris, former special advisor to the mayor of Montreal.

• The federal government is bracing for a razor-thin confidence vote on the budget Monday, with Liberals scrambling behind the scenes to lock down enough opposition support to avoid triggering an ele...

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 Alain Vaillancourt, Former Montreal City Councillor and Executive committee member.

Among the subjects discussed were

• Soraya Martinez Ferrada was officially sworn in as Montreal mayor last night. What’s her first challenge?
• Three critical mineral ext...

Elias Makos is joined by Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia.

• Is Mark Carney’s honeymoon with voters coming to an end? Quebecers are seemingly not impressed with Mark Carney’s first budget.
• Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre spoke to reporters yesterda...

Elias Makos is joined by Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS, and Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom.

• Premier François Legault’s support continues to tumble. New numbers released by Léger this morning show that 71 per cent of Quebecers are unsatisfied with the Premier. 
• An architecture firm is proposing a new project for the Metropolitan Expressw...

Elias Makos is joined by Political analyst Karim Boulos, and Trudie Mason Veteran newscaster here at CJAD 800.

• Does Canada need some sort of mandatory national service, be it military or otherwise? 
• The Quebec government says it has no plans of backtracking from Bill 2 after the mass protest by the province’s doctors at the Bell Centre over the weekend.
• Premier François Legault presented his economic vis...