The Corner Booth

The Montreal Olympics are turning 50 this year.And to mark the anniversary, The Gazette’s own Terry “Aislin” Mosher has returned with a new book titled Jean Drapeau’s Baby, a visual memoir of the Montreal Olympic Games, featuring his favourite cartoons from this exciting time in Montreal’s history.The longest running continuously working political cartoonist in North America joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to look back on the memorable cartoons of the era and the larger than life people who inspired them.

The spectre of trade tariffs under U.S. President Donald Trump continue to loom over Quebec and Canada.Quebec’s business community greeted the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week against Trump’s tariffs with tempered expectations, and then Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the exact timing of a potential referendum within a first mandate of a PQ government had to remain adjustable because of economic threats from Trump.John Parisella, political analyst and former delegate-general of Quebec in New York, along with Julian Karaguesian, economist and McGill professor, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to explain how instability in the U.S. is affecting our politics and economy at home.

This week, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said anglophones are “invaluable”, helped build the province and are full-fledged Quebecers amid tensions over language and constitutional issues.But former MNA Robert Libman and TALQ director general Sylvia Martin-Laforge aren’t buying it.They joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to talk about how Jolin-Barrette’s olive branch was “giving you a kiss while stabbing you in the back."

Soraya Martinez Ferrada is about to reach her first 100 days as mayor of Montreal, and a lot has happened so far.On this week's episode of The Corner Booth with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand, the mayor talked about entering city hall having to deal with STM strikes that paralyzed the city. More recently, she went viral on social media for blowing out the tires of her car on potholes on Notre-Dame St. E., and had to contend with downtown businesses pleading for relief from construction woes on Ste-Catherine St.She also discussed job cuts to the city’s white-collar workforce and a plan to reduce the number of orange cones while using AI to plan work sites.

Jacques-Cartier MNA Gregory Kelley has been caught in the middle of the Quebec Liberal Party crisis.His wife, fellow MNA Marwah Rizqy, was suspended from caucus in November for firing her chief of staff, Geneviève Hinse, without consulting then-party leader Pablo Rodriguez. After weeks of pressure, Rodriguez resigned as leader amid allegations over fundraising.Rizqy remains out of the party, but returned to legislature on Tuesday. Kelley was by her side, also returning after taking a step back in the wake of the scandal. Kelley joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth to talk about the mental toll of the scandal.

Charles Milliard is the last man standing in the race to run the Quebec Liberals.The runner-up less than a year ago to Pablo Rodriguez was teaching at Bishop's University when controversy unfolded in the party, which thrusted the political neophyte back into the leadership conversation.With the only other known candidate, Mario Roy, not being permitted to run, the coast is clear for Milliard to take over a beleaguered party still reeling from Rodriguez's resignation.Milliard discussed his plans for healing the fractured Liberals before October's provincial election with Aaron Rand and Bill Brownstein on this week's episode of The Corner Booth from Snowdon Deli.

In the wake of Premier François Legault’s resignation announcement last week, there’s a void in Quebec politics a number of suitors are looking to fill.One of them is Conservative Party of Quebec Leader Éric Duhaime. He’s trying to differentiate his party from the sovereignist Parti Québécois, as well as the Quebec Liberals and Coalition Avenir Québec, who are both looking for new leaders.Will Quebecers latch on to Duhaime’s message this time around? He joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode at the Snowdon Deli to tout his party as an alternative for federalist voters.

It was not a total surprise François Legault resigned as Premier of Quebec this week. But the timing of it caught many off-guard.Legault's resignation on Wednesday sent shockwaves across the political landscape, and with a provincial election coming up in October, there's even more uncertainty about what's to come for Quebec.To make sense of it all, former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister David Heurtel joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli.

In the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's ousting of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his increased rhetoric about annexing Greenland, how worried should Canadians be about entering Trump's crosshairs?Two Americans living in Montreal — Jacob Blanc, Associate Professor, McGill University and Graham G. Dodds, PhD, Political Science Professor, Concordia University — joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli to discuss how Trump's latest actions spell more uncertainty for Canada.

Times have changed in the world of organized crime. Not only are things becoming less and less centralized, younger people — including teens — are getting involved.With the criminal underworld in flux, will Montreal police be able to adapt to these new challenges? Retired police detective Pietro Poletti shared his unfiltered thoughts on the state of organized crime and Montreal police with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode at Snowdon Deli.

Marc Miller hasn’t been Official Languages Minister for long, but he’s already made some noise.The former Justin Trudeau cabinet minister joined Mark Carney’s cabinet in the most recent shuffle, after being snubbed the first time. He drew immediate backlash from some, including Quebec Premier François Legault, when he said he was “fed up” with the debate over the decline of French.Miller sat down with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode at Snowdon Deli to discuss the fallout of his first salvo with his new portfolio.

On this week's special year-in-review episode of The Corner Booth, guests Martine St-Victor and Raphaël Melançon, along with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand, were given a near-impossible task:How do you cram 12 months of jaw-dropping headlines at the federal, provincial and municipal levels into one episode?Incredibly, they got it done. And without letting their Snowdon Deli platters get cold and dry.

There's never a dull moment in Quebec politics, but even by the province's standards, these recent times appear to be unprecedented.And that's coming from some of the province's most-respected legal experts.According to the head of the Quebec Bar, three bills from the CAQ recently presented at Quebec’s National Assembly — the proposed constitution, one on unions and the other on doctor pay — show signs of an authoritarian drift that threatens the rule of law.Two lawyers specializing in human rights and constitutional rights, Julius Grey and Frédéric Bérard, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to sound the alarm on the "autocratic" bills." My biggest issue is that it's a constitution that seems to want to freeze present CAQ opinions about all sorts of issues: secularism, language and so on, forever," said Grey. " They claim to be an open nationalism, but their nationalism is a closed one. Become exactly like us, or you're not one of us."Bérard called section five of the constitution "probably the worst section I've seen in my whole life," before adding "so what kind of regime in the world prevent institutions from challenging the constitutionality of laws? It's not democracy."Grey said by saying no to challenges, the Quebec government is ostensibly making it impossible for an individual to challenge the province, since the average person can't afford the legal costs it would entail."The government is clearly anti-union anyway. It's got a law reducing the powers of unions. It's a government that's reducing the rights of tenants as opposed to landlords. It's a government that is attacking the English minority. It's attacking immigrants. What we have is a clear authoritarian right-wing government," Grey said."The CAQ is going even further than Duplessis because Duplessis never thought about preventing people from challenging bills," Bérard said."It's a first for Quebec. It's a very sad day, in my opinion."

The Parti Québécois are leading in the polls with a provincial election coming next year.At the moment, their competition is in disarray. The sagging CAQ and premier François Legault are facing the wrath of doctors over Bill 2's proposed renumeration reforms, while the Quebec Liberals are imploding over an alleged vote-buying scheme.So even though leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is sitting pretty and promising a referendum on Quebec independence in his first term, he still wants anglophone and allophone voters to join his party.The PQ leader laid out his case for why together isn't better with hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli. St-Pierre Plamondon discussed the prospect of a new currency, dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump and the status of the CAQ and Quebec Liberals.

With all the controversy surrounding Bill 2, which will change how doctors and specialists are compensated in Quebec, there's been little said about the equally seismic Bill 7.This lesser-known bill would  force the amalgamation of many government agencies, including Urgences-santé. Should Bill 7 become law, paramedic services in Montreal and Laval would be controlled through Santé Québec.What was the reaction to Bill 2 from Hal Newman, former paramedic and curator of The Last Ambulance, a site that shares stories from those in emergency prehospital care (EMS)?"God help us," Newman said. He joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth to sound the alarm on the bill and its potential consequences to emergency care in and around Montreal.

When there’s a complaint about languages in this country, it often lands on Raymond Théberge’s desk.As the commissioner of Official Languages of Canada since 2018, Théberge is tasked with protecting language rights, both English and French, in federal institutions. He joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli to talk about support for bilingualism across the country and how to build bridges with linguistic communities in Quebec.A good example of the types of complaints Official Languages of Canada might receive was the double whammy in 2021-2022 of two high-profile Canadians — Governor General Mary Simon and Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau — and their inability to speak French.

Even though the Quebec referendum happened 30 years ago this October, there are still behind-the-scenes stories being uncovered.Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute, recently penned an opinion piece for The Gazette on the lessons learned from the referendum, and this week he joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on a new episode of The Corner Booth at Snowdon Deli to share stories about this pivotal moment in Quebec political history, including on Jacques Parizeau's "money and ethnic votes" comment.

A majority of Montrealers are undecided on who to vote for in the upcoming mayoral election on Nov. 2. But one thing the polls have made clear: people are ready for change.Does that mean voters are willing to look beyond the two entrenched parties — Projet Montréal and Ensemble Montréal — and elect someone new to City Hall?That's what two other parties on this November's ballot — Action Montréal and Futur Montréal — are counting on.Futur leader Jean-François Kacou and Action leader Gilbert Thibodeau joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week's episode of The Corner Booth, filmed at Snowdon Deli, to make their pitches to Montreal voters. Each candidate was interviewed separately.

Three candidates have entered the race to become Westmount’s next mayor: Councillor Mary Gallery, lawyer Lynne Casgrain and accountant Michael Stern.All three are vying to replace outgoing mayor Christina Smith, who announced in January she won’t be seeking re-election. They joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on the latest episode of The Corner Booth, recorded at the epicentre of the city's controversial re-development plan, the Atwater Library.

The downtown district of Peter-McGill, which includes the Golden Square Mile, Mount Royal and Cabot Square, promises to be a hotly contested battle in the coming municipal election on Nov. 2.In one corner, there's Leslie Roberts with Ensemble Montréal. The former journalist and broadcaster is a familiar name and face for anglophone Montrealers of a certain age. He's a political neophyte who decided to enter the race after a convincing cup of coffee with Ensemble leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada.Representing Projet Montréal in this race is Maryse Bouchard. While also new to politics, Bouchard worked for 31 years for the city of Montreal, with a specialty in implementing new public services. For example, Bouchard worked on the new cultural and community space, the Sanaaq Centre, which opened in May.