om Mulcair didn’t hold back in his scorching Corner Booth debut.

The former Quebec Liberal MNA and leader of the federal NDP joined to hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand at Snowdon Deli to dish on a number of hot button political issues — everything from Canada’s dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump to Quebec Premier François Legault’s fate. 

The longtime Outremont MP also pulled no punches on the current Montreal mayoral race. He talked about the “orange cone mentality” at City Hall and the closing of Camillien-Houde Way as a “form of political corruption.” He had sharp words for candidates Luc Rabouin and Craig Sauvé, even calling the former “ one of the worst politicians I’ve ever met.”

But he saved some of his best barbs for the current premier and the person best positioned to unseat him in the 2026 provincial election, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

“Legault is finished. Let’s not kid ourselves about that,” he said. “But I’m not convinced the CAQ is a spent force.”

Even though Plamondon currently enjoys a healthy lead in the polls, Mulcair can see it all crumble if the PQ’s calls for another referendum grow louder.

“If you want to run the government, we might actually vote for you and give you that possibility. But if you tell us that once you get in, you’re going to start taking taxpayer money to try to set up the winning conditions for a referendum to break up one of the most successful countries in the world and pull Quebec out of Canada, we’re going defeat you,” Mulcair said.

He also offered a warning to Pablo Rodriguez, current leader of the Quebec Liberals, saying “he’s walking right into a trap with Bill 21,” the CAQ’s secularism bill that bars teachers, lawyers, police officers and more from wearing religious symbols.

Mulcair added the provincial Liberals remain “in deep trouble outside of Montreal.”

But the seasoned politician and regular contributor to The Gazette’s opinion page was effusive in his praise of one politician in particular. Watch this week’s episode to find out who it is.