Staff

Alison Loat

Co-founder and Executive Director

Alison previously worked at McKinsey & Company and co-founded Canada25, an organization that successfully involved thousands of Canadians under 35 in the development of public policy. For her public service work with Canada25, Alison was chosen as one of Canada's Top 25 under 30 by Maclean's magazine and in 2005 she received the Public Policy Forum Young Leaders Award. Alison is a graduate of Queen's University and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is also an associate fellow and instructor at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto.

Michael MacMillan

Co-founder and Chair

Michael was previously the Executive Chairman and CEO of Alliance Atlantis. Michael co-founded Atlantis Films in 1978. In its early years, Atlantis was primarily a film and television production house, winning an Oscar in 1984 for its short film "Boys and Girls" and an Emmy in 1992 for "Lost in the Barrens". In 1993 Atlantis became a broadcaster with the launch of its first network, Life Network. In 1993 Atlantis acquired Alliance Communications in a reverse takeover (and became Alliance Atlantis). Under Michael's continued leadership the company operated 13 Canadian television networks including HGTV Canada, Showcase Television, History Television and the Food Network Canada. The company also distributed and produced movies and television programs including the hit series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation".  In 2007, Alliance Atlantis was sold. In addition to co-founding and chairing Samara, he is also the co-owner of Closson Chase Vineyard and Winery in Prince Edward County, Ontario. 

In 2011, Michael co-founded and became CEO of Blue Ant Media, a new Canadian media company with an ownership in seven Canadian specialty television channels, as well as digital media properties and magazines. He is also involved with Open Roof Films, Human Rights Watch, The Stop Community Food Centre and the Toronto East General Hospital amongst other organizations. He is a graduate of Queen's University.

Heather Bastedo

Research and Project Director

Heather is a Political Science PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Her thesis focuses on understanding the decline in youth voter turnout through the underpinning of motivation and an appreciation of the interaction between young people and the political contest. She specializes in political psychology and behaviour, and her research interests include citizen engagement and democratic reform, as well as emotion in politics. Heather has an undergraduate degree majoring in politics and psychology from McMaster University, and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto. She has presented papers at both the Canadian Political Science Association and American Political Science Association, and has co-authored articles for the Canadian Journal of Political Science.

Kendall Anderson

Communications and Project Manager

For nearly a decade, Kendall was an editor at Random House of Canada, where she edited both fiction and non-fiction. Kendall has worked on best-selling and award-nominated books by such authors as Adria Vasil, Robert J. Wiersema, Lucy Waverman, Jeff Crump, Susan Swan and Jan Wong. Kendall studied publishing at both Ryerson University and Simon Fraser University. She has a Biological Science degree from Guelph University.

Wayne Chu

Research Manager

Wayne is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto with a research interest in comparative political communications and behaviour.  He holds a Masters degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Computer Science from Carleton University.  His dissertation focuses on how people use different forms of media and the democratic political values that drive this media use.  Previous research has examined the democratizing potential of the Internet in transitional societies, as well as the role of blogs in Canadian federal elections.  Wayne is also an aspiring documentary filmmaker and was the founder of Progressive Bloggers, one of the first and largest blog aggregators in Canada.

Jane Hilderman

Research Analyst

Jane recently completed the 2010-2011 Parliamentary Internship Programme where she worked with two Members of Parliament from both the government and opposition benches in a nonpartisan capacity on Parliament Hill. Interrupted by the 2011 Federal Election, Jane completed her internship in the Public Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. Jane holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Studies from Queen's University. During her graduate studies, Jane served as the elected Don of Hall at Massey College. Her research interests include political parties, parliamentary procedure, electoral and parliamentary reform, Canadian federalism, the role of civil society actors in policy making, and comparative politics between Canada and the U.S.

Fiona O'Connor

Project Coordinator

Fiona has held communications roles for a wide range of non-profit organizations in Canada and abroad. Most recently, she served as an Editorial Assistant at Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders Canada, where she also provided public outreach support to the human resources department. Fiona holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and, upon completing a Graduate Diploma in Journalism at Concordia University in 2009, interned at The Eastern Door newspaper in the Mohawk First Nations community of Kahnawake. In addition to freelancing as a writer and photographer, Fiona has worked as a Communications Assistant at the Paris-based humanitarian organization Aina World, an Assistant Publications Coordinator at the Association for Canadian Studies, and has served on the Editorial Board of the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s quarterly publication, Qwrite. Born and raised in Montreal, Fiona now makes Toronto her home.