The Corner Booth

The five main party leaders in the Quebec election got a chance to make their pitch to the people with two French-language debates this week. Which leader made their mark? Who stood out with undecided voters? Who needs to step up as the campaign hits crunch time? A pair of Gazette political columnists, Raphaël Melançon and Robert Libman, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The Corner Booth from Snowdon Deli to give their grades to the five leaders and predict where things might be headed with less than three weeks until election day.

Canadian Party of Quebec leader Joseph Cianflone knows his party won’t win the upcoming provincial election. But that doesn’t mean the underdog party can’t play a role in steering the conversation. The leader of the self-described “only fully federalist party” in Quebec joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand for this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli. Cianflone pitched his party’s platform and gave his perspective on how the race is shaping up, including CAQ leader Christine Fréchette dodging questions about whether she considers herself a sovereigntist.

This week, it was revealed for the first time in a provincial campaign, election guides and notices are being mailed only in French. Voters seeking English versions will instead be directed to the Élections Québec website, either directly or through a QR code printed on the French documents. But around one in five Quebecers 75 and older do not own a smartphone, computer or tablet. Lawyers Frédéric Bérard and Eric Maldoff joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth from Snowdon Deli. Maldoff is part of a group of lawyers planning to file legal action against the provincial government.

Tom Mulcair thinks the answer to who will win October's Quebec election "will come in the last two weeks of the campaign," but that won't stop him from making an early prediction. The former NDP Leader and Quebec Liberal MNA told hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli that although he has no dog in the fight, as an outside observer, he's seeing where the trends are headed.

When it comes to the Donald Trump White House's tariff threats against Canada, every day is Groundhog Day. And while this week saw both countries go down to the wire to sign the latest trade deal, it won't be long until the United States returns asking for revised terms. At least, that's how economist Julian Karaguesian and former Delegate General of Quebec in New York John Parisella see it. They joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The Corner Booth from Snowdon Deli.

Flooding in parts of the West Island have become a nearly annual occurrence. Now residents — 1,500 and counting — are fighting back. Two proposed class-action lawsuits are taking aim at the cities of Montreal and Dollard-des-Ormeaux. The lawsuits allege the municipalities were “grossly negligent” in preparing for last month’s flash floods that left drainage systems overwhelmed and basements ruined. Lawyer Jeff Orenstein and Paul Henry Danylewich, president of the Association of the Citizens of Dollard, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli to talk about how government inaction has spurred this fight.

As Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Montreal, Robert P. Sanders experienced first-hand the change in tone between Canadians and Americans going from the Joe Biden administration to Donald Trump’s. The career apolitical diplomat, who previously held posts in a variety of locales from Islamabad to Port-au-Prince, is wrapping up his time in Montreal, but not before joining hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on an audio-only episode of this week’s The Corner Booth to talk about navigating the position with relations between the countries at a low-point.

Moving Day is coming up for more than 115,000 Montrealers on July 1, when a critical mass of Quebec leases expire, and it’s become a day housing advocates dread. “ This is a really tough day for the city. It’s funny, it used to be a day of transition. A day of newness. A day of hope. A day of change,” said James Hughes, president and CEO at Old Brewery Mission. With July 1 around the corner, Hughes and Amy Darwish, co-ordinator with Comité d’Action de Parc-Extension, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to sound the alarm on what’s sure to be a difficult moving season for the more than 3,000 Montrealers Hughes estimates could be without a place to live.

Steven Guilbeault is stepping down from government. The Liberal MP for Montreal's Laurier—Sainte-Marie riding announced last month that he intends to resign his seat this summer, citing a desire to pursue the fight against climate change "in a different way." "I understand that, even before Prime Minister Carney was elected leader of the Liberal Party, that things were going to change. What I had not anticipated is the rollbacks," the former environment minister said in this week's episode of The Corner Booth, referring to Canada's changing climate policy direction.

Antisemitism has been front and centre in Montreal news the last two weeks. So when Projet Montréal announced its plan to bring a motion to council Monday condemning Israel for “genocide” of Palestinians, The Gazette’s Allison Hanes suggested the timing risked inflaming social tensions. Liberal MP for Mount Royal Anthony Housefather and CRARR executive director Fo Niemi joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to discuss not only antisemitism, but rising hate in general, including a racist rally in Shawinigan.

Did Prime Minister Mark Carney open Pandora’s Box by saying “50 per cent plus one” in a referendum would not be enough for Quebec or Alberta to separate from Canada? That’s the question posed this week to constitutional lawyer Frédéric Bérard, along with former MP and MNA Clifford Lincoln, on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand from Snowdon Deli.

On last week’s episode of The Corner Booth, Tom Mulcair said Quebec’s new premier, Christine Fréchette, was “steadfastly refusing” to speak English and steering clear of anglophone media. After a week where the CAQ leader had her first official meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and the latest poll showed a bump in support for her party, Fréchette’s multi-hyphenate minister Christopher Skeete joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand to shed some light on where the new premier stands with anglos on a linguistically charged episode of the podcast.

There might be a new premier in Quebec, but according to former NDP leader and Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Tom Mulcair, it’s the same old, same old CAQ coming out of the National Assembly. ”This is where I see (premier) Christine Fréchette playing the same old games, a very divisive approach to politics, and I think it’s going to be very hurtful to her chances in the next election,” Mulcair said to hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth from Snowdon Deli.

Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, an entrepreneur who founded online media powerhouse WatchMojo, has dealt with doubters his entire career. And the prospect of bringing the Montreal Expos back after Major League Baseball moved them to Washington after the 2004 season, has brought out the skeptics. But that isn’t stopping Karbasfrooshan, and he joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to explain just how he plans on succeeding where others, like his neighbour Stephen Bronfman, have failed.

The streets of Montreal went viral on social media this week, but for all the wrong reasons. Feigang Fei, who owns the restaurant Cuisine AuntDai on St-Mathieu St. Frustrated with the lack of progress on Ste-Catherine St. W. roadwork, he posted a photo on X of a construction site sitting empty on a sunny day. Fei, along with Ville-Marie city councillor Leslie Roberts, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth to find common ground when it comes to myriad problems plaguing Montreal’s streets.

Douglas Dixon knew about Alligator Alcatraz, the infamous immigration detention centre in Florida operated by ICE. But never in his wildest imagination did he think he'd end up there in shackles. Now back in his native Montreal after 21 years in the United States following his deportation, Dixon shared his harrowing story with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The Corner Booth from Snowdon Deli.

Perhaps no Montrealer bleeds bleu, blanc et rouge more than The Sick Podcast's Tony Marinaro. So after all the hours poured into watching, analyzing and commenting on the Montreal Canadiens, does Marinaro think the young Habs have a fighting chance against the more battle-tested Tampa Bay Lightning? That's the question posed to him by hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth, recorded at Snowdon Deli.

The Montreal area is the epicentre of the Canadian political landscape this week. The federal Liberals, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, are in town for their policy convention. Tomorrow, the next CAQ leader will be announced a hop, skip and a jump away in Drummondville. Then on Monday, the riding of Terrebonne will decide their next member of parliament in a byelection that will reverberate across the country. Former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister David Heurtel returned to The Corner Booth podcast this week with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand at Snowdon Deli to unpack it all.

Everyone is looking for a break at the grocery store these days, even former Gazette fine-dining critic and cookbook author Lesley Chesterman. " It's unbelievable the amount of money that we're all spending on food these days. I mean, we're all talking about gas, but let's talk about the price of beef, the price of coffee, the price of chocolate. "All of these things have skyrocketed," Chesterman said on this week's episode of The Corner Booth with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand at the Snowdon Deli. She's promoting her latest book, A Montreal Cook.

Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher announced on Thursday the SPVM's five-year plan to root out discrimination within its force and in how it deals with the general public. This week, Dagher joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to explain why he considers himself "part of the solution" when it comes to weeding out racism from the inside.