The Big Five Podcast

CJAD 800
  • 4.4 (16)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED DAILY

The Big Five is the quintessential Montreal podcast, and the best way to get caught up on the top stories impacting the city. Every weekday, host Elias Makos and a roster of Montreal thought leaders debate and inform.

  1. 17 HRS AGO

    Mark Carney and his Liberals celebrate, the CAQ deliberates, and the push for government-run grocery stores.

    Elias Makos ends the week 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 Anthony Koch, Former National Spokesperson for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and current managing principal at AK Strategies. Big weekend for the Federal Liberals as they’ve assembled in Montreal. The party is in a celebratory mood, welcoming another floor crosser with rumours of more to come. Big weekend for the CAQ as they will select their new leader - but not before they play a 45-minute video montage honouring François Legault. Up for the top job, Bernard Drainville and Christine Frechette. Who should the party pick and why? The new leader of the NDP wants to cut grocery prices by anywhere between 30 and 40 percent at a cost to the federal government. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon gave an interview to Rebel News. The Quebec media class is not happy about it. A self-driving car in Austin, Texas has hit and killed a mother duck, sparking neighborhood outrage.

    32 min

  2. 1D AGO

    Another floor-crossing, but this one’s different. Plus: Is it time to ban spanking in Canada?

    Elias Makos is joined by Justine McIntyre, Co-Founder of  Civica Strategies and former city councillor, and Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia. Marilyn Gladu is the latest MP to jump to Mark Carney’s squad.  MNAs won’t return to the National Assembly until May, giving the CAQ’s new leadership time to get organized. It is official, renters will not be able to lend their units on Airbnb in Montreal during the Formula 1 weekend, at the end of May.  About 20 per cent of Gen Z and Millennial Canadians spank their kids. Canada’s Wonderland is tired of teenagers causing havoc inside their amusement park. With Quebec struggling to keep up with the maintenance of its road, one town in the Laurentians is arguing for a return of gravel roads instead of asphalt.

    34 min

  3. 2D AGO

    A ceasefire in the Middle East? Plus: Legault’s goodbye tour, A.I. gets closer to its “Skynet” moment

    Elias Makos welcomes in Kyle Matthews co-founder and Executive Director of the Montreal Institute for Global Security, Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom, and Akil Alleyne, Reporter and commentator with extensive experience analyzing legal, political, and social issues and Manager of the GemStar Circle of Excellence Scholarship Program. Iran, the United States and Israel agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an eleventh-hour deal that gave U.S. President Donald Trump room to step back from threats of a sweeping bombing campaign against Iran.  Francois Legault says he was not lying when he said he wanted to try and run again before ultimately resigning as Premier of Quebec. Québec Solidaire MNA Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois says the province’s three-tier school system is partly responsible for the difficulties encountered by boys. One of the leading A.I. companies right now, Anthropic, says it has built a model so powerful it won’t release it to the public.

    32 min

  4. 3D AGO

    Mankind visits the moon and the CAQ heads to the polls. Plus: Montreal dodges the FIFA bullet.

    Elias Makos is joined by Andrew Caddell, columnist for the Hill Times and President of the Task Force on Linguistic policy, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies. The Artemis II crew set records yesterday afternoon and evening. Does this mission have your interest? Are you in favour of space travel? Voting opens at 10 am this morning for members of the CAQ to elect their new leader and thus the new Premier of Quebec. But just a day before the opening of the vote, major news broke out of the Drainville camp. Drainville received support from Justice Minister Simon-Jolin Barrette, Health Minister Sonia Bélanger and Transport Minister Jonatan Julien. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is striking a softer tone as his party launches a new advertising campaign aimed at affordability and national sovereignty. More and more towns across Quebec are monitoring how residents live their lives, using water meters and incentive-based garbage programs to influence habits and make those who use the most pay more. We are just over two months away from the FIFA World Cup. Montreal will not host any matches but a new investigative report by Radio-Canada's investigative program Enquête reveals we may have dodged a bullet.  The American middle class is shrinking. According to research from the American Enterprise Institute, more households are actually moving up. About 31% of U.S. households now qualify as upper middle class — roughly triple the share in 1979 — making it the largest economic group in the country.

    34 min

  5. 4D AGO

    Est-ce que ça sent la coupe? Plus: Sports gambling plunging more Quebecers into debt, the Liberals fight back against high-speed rail criticism

    Elias Makos is joined by Meeker Guerrier, commentator at Noovo and RDS and Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante on The Big 5. Despite last night’s loss to the New Jersey Devils, it is a great time to be a Montreal Canadiens fan right now. Over the past five years, the number of people in Quebec who say that the main cause of their financial problems was gambling addiction has increased by 45%. The Liberal government is pushing back on criticism of its $90-billion ALTO high-speed rail projec

    24 min

  6. APR 2

    As gas prices reach record levels, are Quebecers fed up? Plus: Buying fake maple syrup with fake $100 bills in our low-trust society

    Joining Elias on The Big 5 today were Sue Smith, Montreal journalist and broadcaster & Daniel Tran, Director of Communication and governmental relations at Casacom. Among the topics discussed on The Big 5 were The Quebec government has unveiled a new tool to track fuel prices across the province. And as gas prices reach those historic levels, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for federal gas taxes to be scrapped for the rest of the year, arguing the tax holiday would bring immediate relief to drivers facing rising fuel prices Add Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet to the list of people against the high speed rail project Add Maple syrup to the list of things you can’t trust. Radio-Canada’s Enquête program began investigating the sweet stuff when a journalist opened a can that “seemed off.”

    25 min

  7. APR 1

    Mark Carney’s China problem. Plus: Is Canada’s High-Speed rail project a boondoggle in the making?

    Elias Makos is joined by Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Raphaël Melançon, political analyst for CTV Montreal and CJAD 800, columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and president and founder of Trafalgar Strategies. Reporters used an unrelated announcement to press the Prime Minister on whether or not China’s treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority amounted to genocide CAQ leadership candidate Christine Fréchette has sent a clear message to her opponent Bernard Draiville this morning through a Leger poll conducted on behalf of her team. We are heading to the moon today!

    25 min

  8. MAR 31

    Should you have the right to insult cops? Plus: The price of Habs tickets is sky high

    Elias Makos is joined by Victor Henriquez, Public affairs and crisis management specialist at Public Strategy and Conseil, and Dan Delmar, Co-founder of the content marketing firm TNKR Media and co-host of the podcast Inspiring Entrepreneurs Canada. Over the weekend, a video went viral showing an interaction between a man and a police officer. The man was pulled over by police for having window tints suspected of being too dark. The video shows him verbally berating a female police officer with the most vile language imaginable. The Quebec Liberal Party and the Parti Quebecois are now tied in the polls. CBC reports on an 85 year old Montrealer is angry with the justice system after her scammer was only sentenced to 18 months of house arrest. If you are planning to go see the Habs at the Bell Centre before the end of the season, get ready to pay a fortune.

    23 min
See All (213)

4.4
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

The Big Five is the quintessential Montreal podcast, and the best way to get caught up on the top stories impacting the city. Every weekday, host Elias Makos and a roster of Montreal thought leaders debate and inform.

Information

You Might Also Like