The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos is joined by Sue Smith is a Montreal journalist and broadcaster, 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. The CEO of Groupe Dynamite says he is considering moving his businesses to the United States amid concerns that Quebec’s rigid immigration policies pose a huge risk to his operations. Are Quebec politics moving to the right - at least economically? The word of the moment as the National Assembly gears up for its next session appears to be “efficiency” - with almost all the parties talking about it. The sun is setting on the second Valerie Plante/Projet Montreal term in office, but that hasn’t stopped the party from spending on what some are calling frivolous travel.

Elias Makos welcomes back Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS. Jimmy Kimmel made his return to late night television on Tuesday night. Over the course of an 18-minute monologue, TV host did spend some time trying to make amends for his controversial comments on the killing of Charlie Kirk. Three days after a 15-year-old was killed by police in Longueil, there are many more questions than answers. Dirty politics at play in the Montreal municipal election? On Monday, Mayor Valerie Plante dropped that Craig Sauvé – who’s running for mayor under his Transition Montreal banner – tried to get back into the Projet Montreal caucus in July. 

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 Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies. Given how important public transit is, should STM employees be allowed to strike at all?  U.S. President Donald Trump linked autism to the use of Tylenol  during pregnancy, and again raised concerns about vaccines. Mark Carney is in New York as the UN General Assembly is set to take place. Ahead of that, he spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.

Elias Makos begins the week with Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia. Canada has officially recognized the State of Palestine. The Irish hip-hop group Kneecap has been banned from entering Canada. The federal government is bringing forward new legislation to add a hate crime offence to the Criminal Code. Journal de Montreal took a look at the new modular homes the city is putting up to house the homeless and found it costs the city about 2600$ per unit a month…

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 Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil. Journal de Montreal has a rundown this morning of how much every municipal elected official makes. The Quebec government is responding to the brief filed by the Canadian government in the Supreme Court of Canada's case on Bill 21, calling it hypocritical. The U.S ambassador to Canada says he is disappointed with how the country is dealing with its trade relation with the U.S. We’re getting more reporting into what exactly went down the day Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air by ABC. The Hollywood Reporter says pushback over Kimmel’s comments began to snowball in the afternoon

Dan Delmar is joined by Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, 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. ABC has pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air following comments he made during his opening monologue Monday evening. “Bubble Zone” legislation is set to be tabled on Friday. Three new offences including new hate crime legislation is being introduced by the Carney government. Projet Montreal, Ensemble Montreal and Transition Montreal all unveiled their slogans for this year’s municipal election.

Elias Makos welcomes back Anthony Koch, Former National Spokesperson for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and current managing principal at AK Strategies, and Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A new poll from Leger shows robust support for secularism and laïcité in Quebec. New numbers this morning from Leger show that Premier Francois Legault’s cabinet shuffle was not up to par with Quebecers.  Radio-Canada is apologizing after one of its correspondents used anti-semitic language on air. Chrystia Freeland announced her resignation as Transport and Interim Trade Minister yesterday. 

Elias Makos is joined by Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom, and Political analyst Karim Boulos. Former CJAD host Leslie Roberts will be running for Ensemble Montreal in the riding of Peter-McGill in the Ville-Marie Borough. The amount of homeless people found dead reached record highs once again last year.  The federal government unveiled yesterday a $320 million investment into the Hippodrome project. The growth of streaming services continues to accelerate in Canada - along with their pricing. Almost every streaming service has jacked up their rates in 2025.

Elias Makos kicks off the week with Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia, and Meeker Guerrier, Commentator at Noovo and RDS. Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled yesterday the first plans for his ‘Build Canada Homes’ program.  After demanding his ministers to find a way to cut spending inside multiple areas of government, we are now learning that projections for the next federal budget will see a deficit of around $100 billion. The Journal de Montreal reports today that nearly 90 percent of fraud cases reported to police result in no charges being laid. As we approach the changing of the clocks on November 2nd, it seems doubtful that Quebec will move forward with eliminating the time change.

Elias Makos ends the week with Justine McIntyre, Strategic consultant and former city councillor, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada. Downtown Montreal residents are planning to sue over a homeless shelter in their neighbourhood The population of Montreal will drop by 200 thousand by 2030 The federal government unveiled its first five projects that it wants speedy approval from the federal government The suspect in the shooting of U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been apprehended. Since the shooting, there has been a surprising amount of people sharing their glee about the shooting, even here in Quebec