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.

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.

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

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.”

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!

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.

Elias Makos kicks off the week with Paul Gott, Lead singer and guitarist for Montreal Punk Rock band the Ripcordz and a journalism professor at Concordia, and Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante.

• Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau will retire by the end of September.
• The NDP elected a new leader this weekend. Avi Lewis, who won election on the first ballot with 56% of the vote, will now try to bring the NDP back to relevance.
• Toronto councillors have approved a pilot project for city-run grocery stores.
• 12 tons of KitKat bars stolen in chocolaty heist in Europe, Nestle says. If you have to steal a shipment of a chocolate bar, which one would you choose?

Elias Makos is joined by Trudie Mason, veteran newscaster at CJAD 800, and Caroline Codsi, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Women in Governance.

• Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau has released a statement in English and French this morning apologizing for his English only condolence message to the families and victims of the plane crash at LaGuardia airport.
• We had Police Chief Fady Dagher on the program yesterday, and the discussion veered to repeat violent and sexual offenders.
• The work to replace the roof of the Olympic Stadium is halfway complete.
• A jury in Los Angeles has found tech giants Meta and Google liable for creating platforms ideal for social media addiction.