The Big Five Podcast

CJAD 800
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Oct 23, 2025 • 25min

Mark Carney delivers an election-style stump speech. Plus: Craig Sauvé stands by a controversial candidate.

Elias Makos is joined by Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance. Was it a pre-budget speech, or a pre-election stump speech? Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed Canadians last night ahead of the upcoming budget. Transition Montreal leader Craig Sauvé is standing up for one of his candidates despite extreme, violent, rhetoric posted online.  Michel Leblanc, the former head of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, says he is supporting Soraya Martinez Ferrada to win the Montreal municipal election. 36 percent of this year’s municipal election candidates in Quebec are women. While it's a slight increase compared to 2021, big cities like Laval, Montreal and Quebec cities saw a decrease this election period.
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Oct 22, 2025 • 23min

Another bad poll for François Legault. Plus: The CRA is really bad at its job.

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 Neil Drabkin, is a lawyer who served as federal prosecutor and a political commentator who was a chief of staff in the Harper government.
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Oct 21, 2025 • 18min

Who killed the Montreal Expos? Plus: Broad support for secularism measures in Quebec.

Elias Makos is joined by Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS, and Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy.  So, do we all have Blue Jays fever? And your predictions for the big Dodgers vs. Blue Jays World Series? The Federal housing minister is once again proposing magical thinking to solve the housing crisis. The federal government is introducing a new tracking system in order to make sure that federal workers are meeting the three day in office mandate.
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Oct 20, 2025 • 25min

We take a Time Machine back to 1995 and 2015. Plus: Are the knives out for Pierre Poilievre?

Elias Makos kicks the week off with Trudie Mason, veteran Newscaster here at CJAD 800, 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. As we approach the 30th anniversary of the 1995 referendum, a new poll from Leger says close to two thirds of the population do not want Quebec to be independent. Yesterday was the 10-year anniversary of Justin Trudeau's big win. How’s the last decade gone for Canada? Are Trudeau’s Sunny Ways a distant memory? Former Stephen Harper aide and political commentator Dimitirs Soudas dropped a bomb on Pierre Poilievre saying Poilievre is actively dismantling the “principled and trustworthy” Conservative party that was built under Harper’s leadership.
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Oct 17, 2025 • 25min

Trailing in the polls, will Projet Montréal press the “Valerie” button? Plus: Carney’s crime crackdown.

Elias Makos is ends the week that was with 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. Yesterday was our big municipal debate on CJAD800 between Projet Montreal Leader Luc Rabouin and Ensemble Montreal leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada. What did you think of the debate? Who won? Who lost? It seems like Projet Montreal has one more card to play - and it’s Valerie Plante. Prime Minister Mark Carney says new bail reform aimed at cracking down on violent and repeat offenders will be tabled next week.  The Canada Border Services Agency found four undocumented workers after searching the construction site for Calgary’s new event centre. 
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Oct 16, 2025 • 17min

The Montreal mayoral race gets heated. Plus: Quebec will let more patients use the private sector for healthcare.

Elias Makos welcomes in Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom. CJAD 800 and The Elias Makos Show is hosting a live Montreal mayoral debate today, the timing for this debate couldn't be more perfect, as the campaigns got nasty yesterday. Merchants in the Chabanel & Garment Districts say they weren’t properly consulted on the bike lanes added to the area Quebec will allow patients who have been waiting for surgery for more than a year to turn to the private sector. 
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Oct 15, 2025 • 22min

Countdown to the Montreal mayoral debate. Plus: Gambling and sex chats with chat bots.

Elias Makos is joined by Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil, and Graham Singh, Pastor at St-Jax Church.
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Oct 14, 2025 • 24min

Does Donald Trump deserve praise for his Middle East success? Plus: International students plunge - could it be a good thing?

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 Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies. After helping broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, even some of Trump’s fiercest opponents are offering rare praise for the former president The province has seen an overall decrease in international students by 12%. That’s according to the most recent report by the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire City cleanliness has been a big issue this municipal election
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Oct 13, 2025 • 20min

Hamas releases the hostages. Plus: Should Canada dump its tariffs on Chinese EVs?

Elias Makos is kicks off the week with Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Neil Drabkin, is a lawyer who served as federal prosecutor and a political commentator who was a chief of staff in the Harper government. Hamas has officially released the 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza while Israel began releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire pausing two years of war. China's ambassador to Canada says his country will remove its tariffs on Canadian agriculture, including on canola products, if Canada scraps its levies on Chinese electric vehicles. The Blue Jays lost the first game of their American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners last night
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Oct 10, 2025 • 25min

It’s official: Quebec is getting a constitution Plus: Did Donald Trump get robbed of a Nobel Peace Prize?

Elias Makos ends the week with Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom, and Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS. U.S. President Donald Trump’s hopes of winning a Nobel Peace Prize have been dashed once again. CJAD 800 and The Elias Makos Show will be hosting a live Montreal mayoral debate next Thursday, October 16, right after the conclusion of The Big Five. According to TIME Magazine, BIXI Montreal is one of the world’s 25 top inventions of the past quarter century. 

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