Elias Makos starts off the week with Jimmy Zoubris, Montreal businessman, longtime activist and former special advisor to Valerie Plante, and Jonathan Kalles, Vice President at McMillan Vantage, a national public affairs firm, and former advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

• Fifteen people, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed in a shooting targeting the country's Jewish community at a Hanukkah event on Sydney's Bondi Beach over the weekend. In response, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has asked police to increase security after the attack, and the SPVM say they will remain on heightened alert.
• A group of language experts says the federal government is sending the wrong signal by slipping into British spelling in official documents — including the 2025 budget. In a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, they argue that if Canada wants to project confidence and identity, it should start by using its own English on the page.
• Snow removal operations for the first big snow dump of the year are wrapping up, and one thing has become clear under the new administration: Bike paths are not the priority anymore. The city going so far as to ask cyclists to abandon their bikes and take public transit.