Jim Stanford is an Economist with the Canadian Auto Workers, Canada's largest private-sector trade union. He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1995 from the New School for Social Research in New York, and also holds economics degrees from Cambridge University and the University of Calgary. Jim is the author of Paper Boom (published in 1999) and author of Economics for Everyone (Pluto Press and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2008). Jim writes a regular economics column for the Globe and Mail, and lives in Toronto with his partner and two daughters.

Bronwyn Drainie is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and editor. She hosted CBC Radio's "Sunday Morning" for five years, had a weekly arts column in the Globe and Mail for six years, and for the past eight years has been editor-in-chief of the Literary Review of Canada. She is also the author of two books, "Living the Part: John Drainie and the Dilemma of Canadian Stardom" and "My Jerusalem: Secular Adventures in the Holy City".

Brian Topp is one of Canada's most successful New Democrat strategists. He is a partner in the newly-formed firm, Kool, Topp & Guy Public Affairs. Previously, he was Executive Director and CEO of ACTRA Toronto, a professional union representing performers in the film and television industry. He is co-chair of the board of Film Ontario (a trade association representing the industry in the province); chair of the board of Creative Arts Savings and Credit Union; and a director on the board of ROI Fund (a labour-sponsored venture capital fund) and Pinewood Toronto Studios (Ontario's largest film studio). He is past-president of the New Democratic Party of Canada and did two stints as national campaign director with that party. He was previously a senior vice-president at Credit Union Central of Canada, and an official with the Government of Saskatchewan (most recently as deputy chief of staff to Premier Roy Romanow). He was born and raised in Montreal, and is a graduate of McGill University.