The Big Five Podcast

Elias Makos welcomes back Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance, and Political analyst Karim Boulos. Quebec Premier François Legault is hopping mad with his Ontario counterpart, Doug Ford. With many doctors in Quebec up in arms over Bill 2 and how it will change the way they work and are paid, Ford took the opportunity to roll out the red carpet for Quebec’s doctors Today marks the 30th anniversary of the 1995 referendum. We came close to losing this country - but in the end, the No camp won the referendum with 50.58% of the vote compared to 49.42% for the Yes side. What do you remember most of that time?  A sign that we’re headed towards an election? The parties are courting women voters. Despite all indications being there will be a massive cutback in spending in next week’s federal budget, the government announced new money to support women

  Elias Makos is joined by Graham Singh, Pastor at St-Jax Church, and Trudie Mason, veteran Newscaster here at CJAD 800. There is a spike in the amount of doctors leaving the province for New Brunswick. Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dube wrote an opinion letter in the Journal this morning defending the new legislation towards doctors. The province’s food banks say they handled nearly 3.1 million requests for help in March 2025 according to the 2025 Hunger Report released Monday.  Ahead of next month’s global climate summit in Brazil, COP30, Bill Gates has dropped a new memo that rattles the consensus of the climate movement.

Joining Elias on today's Big 5 were Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator with extensive experience analysing legal, political, and social issues and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program & Andrew Caddell, a town councillor in Kamouraska, and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy. Among the topics discussed by Andrew and Akil, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney saw the controversial TV ad that pushed Donald Trump to walk away from trade talks and threaten new tariffs against Canada A month after saying he might leave Quebec, businessman Andrew Lutfy has returned to the fray with his criticism of the François Legault government The Alberta government will use the notwithstanding clause to force striking teachers back to work

Elias Makos kicks off 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. Prime Minister Mark Carney says Ottawa and Washington were "close to an agreement" before Donald Trump ended negotiations on Thursday. The Quebec government adopted special legislation in the early hours Saturday to force a new remuneration system on doctors. After telling voters they were a party that had “no slogans, only solutions,” Projet Montréal changed its tune over the weekend, with party leader Luc Rabouin telling reporters on Sunday that he would be the "mayor of 514, not 450."

Joining Elias on The Big 5 were Sue Smith, Montreal journalist and broadcaster andChristina Chough, Spanish teacher and Chair of the modern languages department at Dawson College. U.S. President Donald Trump says he is terminating trade negotiations with Canada following new anti-tariff ads from the Ontario government that features the voice of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan Internal documents obtained by the New York Times this week reveal that Amazon plans to replace – or rather, avoid hiring – more than half a million U.S. workers by the end of the decade… by letting robots do the work instead In the first nine months of this year alone, food safety inspectors issued $150,000 in fines to Quebec grocery stores, bakeries and butcher shops

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.