Anita Li is a longtime journalist, news entrepreneur, media consultant and educator with over a decade of full-time experience as a multi-platform journalist at outlets across North America. Currently, she is the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Green Line, a hyperlocal Toronto-based news outlet. Anita is also a journalism instructor at Ryerson (X) University, the City University of New York and Centennial College. Her areas of expertise include community-driven journalism, audience engagement, journalism entrepreneurship, consumer revenue business models, newsroom diversity, media ethics and journalism innovation. Anita co-founded Canadian Journalists of Colour in 2018, and is also a member of the board of directors for the Online News Association and LION (Local Independent Online News) Publishers. To keep up with Anita, subscribe to The Other Wave, her journalism innovation newsletter about challenging the status quo in Canadian media. 

Eric Merkley (PhD, UBC) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He was the lead survey analyst of the Media Ecosystem Observatory, which studied the Canadian information ecosystem and public opinion during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Digital Democracy Project, which studied misinformation and public attitudes during the 2019 Canadian federal election. He has published in leading political and general science journals such as the American Political Science Review, Nature Human Behavior, the British Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Political Communication, among others. He is currently working on a book project related to political polarization in Canada.

Sean Speer is a Senior Fellow of the Munk School and project co-director of the School’s Ontario 360 research project.

Sean is also currently the PPF Scotiabank Fellow for Strategic Competitiveness at the Public Policy Forum and editor at large at The Hub. He previously served as a senior economic adviser to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Darrell Bricker is chief executive officer of Ipsos Public Affairs, the world’s leading social and opinion research firm. Prior to joining Ipsos, Bricker was director of public opinion research in the office of the prime minister of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Carleton University. He is the co-author, with John Ibbitson, of several books, including Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline and The Big Shift: The Seismic Change In Canadian Politics, Business, and Culture and What It Means for Our Future. He lives in Toronto with his family.

Jennifer is the President and CEO of the IRPP. She is a not-for-profit sector executive and seasoned communicator with 25 years of experience working to make complex public policy issues and politics better understood by Canadians. From 2016 to 2021, she was the Editor-in-Chief of the IRPP’s influential digital magazine, Policy Options. Prior to joining the IRPP, Jennifer spent two decades covering national and parliamentary affairs for The Canadian Press and for CBC Television.