Famous Residents Brampton, ON

The famous residents listed on Brampton's famous residents pages are considered famous residents born in that city or town of Brampton. Even though that person was brought up in another city or town it's not fair to the city or town of Brampton where the famous person was actually born to add them to another city or town. We get a lot of requests for famous people considered to be famous in one city or town but were born in another city or town. Virtual Walk considers a famous resident, a person born in the city or town we list them in. It's not fair to the city or town the famous person was actually born in, to register them in another city or town, just because they spent part of their lives there. We'd rather add then to both places. Virtual Walk doesn't intentionally insult a famous resident in Brampton. So if we've missed someone important to Brampton we need to honour that resident by listing them in Brampton. Virtual Walk has listed the famous residents we could find in Brampton. I'm sure there are some famous residents in Brampton we've missed. If you know a famous resident in Brampton not listed on Brampton's Famous Residents page, contact us we'll be glad to research the information and add the information we've missed.

Rick Nash
Richard Nash (born June 16, 1984) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and team captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League.
A London Knight for two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, Rick Nash was awarded the Emms Family Award, as the league's top rookie, and amassed 72 points in 54 games in his second season. Nash was selected 1st overall in the 2002 National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Joining the Blue Jackets immediately after his draft year in 2002-03, Nash debuted on October 10, 2002 and scored a goal in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. He was the eighth No. 1 overall pick to score a goal in their first game and the first to do so in his draft year since Mario Lemieux in 1984.That season, Nash was nominated for the Calder Trophy, as the National Hockey League's best rookie, but lost to defence man Barret Jackman of the St. Louis Blues. He would, however, join Jackman on the National Hockey League All-Rookie Team.
In Nash's sophomore campaign, he improved his rookie goal total from 17 to 41, a career high that tied Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk for the Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals in the league. At 19 years of age, Nash was the youngest player in history to lead the league in goals. Recording 16 assists, Nash finished the year with 57 points.
During the 2004-05 National Hockey League lockout, Nash played for HC Davos of Switzerland. He scored 26 goals and 46 points in 44 games and added 11 more points (9 goals, 2 assists) in 15 games in the National League Association playoffs. Joined by fellow National Hockey Leaguer Joe Thornton, Davos went on to win the Swiss Championship, as well as the 2004 Spengler Cup.
As the National Hockey League resumed play in 2005-06, knee and ankle injuries sidelined Nash for much of the first half of the season. Missing 28 games total, Nash was still named to Team Canada for the 2006 Olympics, shortly after being activated from the injured reserve. Upon returning from a seventh place finish, Nash completed the season at a point-per-game pace with 54 points in 54 games.
In 2006-07, Nash matched his sophomore points total with 57, and was named to the Western Conference All-Star Team for the second time in his career. He has been Columbus' lone representative both times. Nash scored the game-winning goal in the West win.
The following season, on January 17, 2008, Nash scored what many commentators called the "goal of the year" in the final minute versus the Phoenix Coyotes. Breaking a tied score, Nash decked around two defenders and the goaltender to score the eventual game-winner.
The same month, Nash scored the quickest goal in All-Star Game history, just 12 seconds into the game at the 56th National Hockey League All-Star Game, and ended the game with a hat trick.
Completing the season with 38 goals and 69 points, Nash nearly matched his personal best goals total and set a career high for points and assists. Shortly before the end of the season, on March 12, 2008, Nash was also named the fifth captain in Blue Jackets history, replacing the recently traded Adam Foote.
In May 2008, Nash was named the cover athlete and spokesman for National Hockey League 2K9.
In July 2008, Nash was nominated for an ESPY Award in the category of Best Play for his goal earlier that year against the Phoenix Coyotes.
On March 7, 2009, Nash scored three unassisted goals in an 8-2 rout over the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit. According to The Columbus Dispatch, citing the Elias Sports Bureau, the last player to score three goals unassisted was Maurice "Rocket" Richard (who scored four) against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 14, 1948. 

Andrew Cassels
(born July 23, 1969, in Bramalea, Ontario, Canada) is a retired professional ice hockey centre who played sixteen seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, Hartford Whalers, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals.
Andrew Cassels was selected 17th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1987 National Hockey League Entry Draft. He played three stellar seasons with the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League, his best season coming 1987–88, when he led the Ontario Hockey League in assists and points in both the regular season and playoffs en route to winning the league Most Valuable Player award. In his National Hockey League debut with Montreal on 19 November 1989, Cassels scored his first career goal on his first shift and first shot against the Calgary Flames. However, Cassels would find his playing time limited on a deep Montreal team, and only played 60 games for the Canadiens before being traded to the Hartford Whalers in 1991 for a second round draft pick that the Canadiens used to pick Valeri Bure.
It was in Hartford that Cassels' had his greatest success. He recorded 41 points in 1991–92 campaign and had a strong playoffs, finally showing the offensive potential that had seen him taken in the first round of the draft. He would explode in 1992–93, as he recorded 22 goals and 63 assists for 85 points, and formed a deadly partnership with sniper Geoff Sanderson establishing himself as one of the best young playmaking centres in the game. While he wouldn't come close to matching those totals again as Hartford struggled to non-playoff finishes, he continued to mature as an all-around player in following years and he and Sanderson remained a consistent and effective offensive partnership. Cassels' led the Whalers in assists for 5 consecutive seasons from 1992–1997, and led the team in overall scoring in the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season.
Cassels was a member of the final Whalers team in 1996–97, but didn't make the move with the franchise to Carolina as he was dealt to the Calgary Flames that summer. He would play two seasons for the Flames, but struggled to produce in the defensive system of coach Brian Sutter, slumping to totals of just 44 and 37 points.
In 1999 Cassels became an unrestricted free agent and signed a 3-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks. In Vancouver, he would be rejuvenated offensively, bouncing back to record 45 assists and 62 points in 1999–00. In his first two seasons in Vancouver, he would lead the team in assists and finish second in scoring. However, team success continued to elude him, as his string of playoff misses was extended to nine. In 2001–02, he would play some of the best hockey of his career, recording 50 points in 53 games in helping the Canucks reach the playoffs - their second appearance since 1996 and his first since 1992.
With the expiration of his contract in 2002 and the development of younger centre men Brampton Morrison and Henrik Sedin, Cassels left Vancouver in 2002 to sign a free agent contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he was re-united with his friend and former line mate Geoff Sanderson. None of their chemistry had disappeared in their five years apart, as both players had their biggest years since their time in Hartford. Cassels' 48 assists and 68 points were his highest totals since his career year in 1993. However, injuries would take their toll the in 2003–04 as he slumped to just 6 goals and 26 points, his lowest totals since his rookie year in Montreal.
Following the 2004–05 National Hockey League lockout, Cassels signed with the Washington Capitals on 12 August 2005. However, the year-long layoff, along with age and injuries, had greatly reduced his effectiveness. After playing just 31 games and scoring only 12 points, Cassels was released by the Capitals on 28 January 2006.
In 16 NHL seasons, Cassels appeared in 1015 games, recording 204 goals and 528 assists for 732 points along with 410 penalty minutes. He led his team in assists in 7 of those seasons. He is currently the head coach for the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets' 1995 team. 

Jamie Storr
(born December 28, 1975 in Brampton, Ontario) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the DEG Metro Stars of the Deutsche Eishockey-Liga.
Storr is half-Japanese and has his last name written in Japanese katakana on his mask to honour his mother.
Jamie Storr was the first goalie selected in the 1991 Ontario Hockey League Entry Draft and played major junior with the Owen Sound Platers and the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. In the 1994 National Hockey League Entry Draft, Storr was drafted 7th overall by the Los Angeles Kings. He remained in the Ontario Hockey League for one more season before turning pro in 1994–95.
Storr spent the majority of his first three seasons in the Kings' minor league system with the Phoenix Roadrunners and Long Beach Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League. In his rookie season, he was given the opportunity to live with team-mate Wayne Gretzky and his family in Beverly Hills, CA. Storr was, in fact, named to the National Hockey League All-Rookie Team twice, in 1997–98 and 1998–99. Although he first appeared with the Kings in 1994–95, Storr did not play the minimum amount of games in one season (25) to not be considered a rookie until after 1998–99, therefore making him eligible for the honour multiple times.
Storr remained with the Kings until the 2003–04 season, when he joined the Carolina Hurricanes. He was not, however, able to stick with the club and played in the minor leagues for the next three seasons. In 2006, Storr signed with the German DEG Metro Stars and went overseas to play in the Deutsche Eishockey-Liga.
Jamie represented Team Canada extensively during his junior career, winning gold at the U-17, U-18 and U-20 levels. At the 1994 and 1995 World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic and Sweden, Storr won back-to-back gold medals with Canada, going undefeated in tournament play.
In 1994, he won the World Junior Championships Best Goaltender award and was also named to Team Canada's senior team for the World Championships, where he captured another gold medal, despite not appearing in a game. 

Kris Newbury
Born February 19, 1982 in Brampton, Ontario is a professional ice hockey centre who is currently playing for the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.
Newbury played in the Ontario Hockey League for the Belleville Bulls, and later the Sarnia Sting with whom he would achieve two seasons of 104 and 92 points, in 2001–02 and 2002–03, respectively.
Newbury scored his first goal as a Leaf on January 1, 2007 against Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. On February 10, 2007, Newbury ended up in a fight with Ron Petrovicky, of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He took several punches to the head and was knocked to the ice, giving him a concussion, which caused him to miss the remainder of the season. 

Todd Elik
Born April 15, 1966, in Brampton, Ontario, Canada is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre. Currently, he is playing in Langnau for SCL Tigers in Nationalliga A.
Elik played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kingston Canadians and North Bay Centennials before turning professional. He made his pro debut with the International Hockey League's Colorado Rangers, and he scored 100 points (44 goals and 56 assists) in his first season.
Elik made his NHL debut with the Kings in the 1989–90 season. In a season and a half with the Kings, Elik scored 31 goals and added 60 assists. The Minnesota North Stars acquired Elik before the 1991–92 season, giving up Randy Gilhen, Jim Thomson, and a fourth-round draft pick (which became Alexei Zhitnik) for him.
After a season and a half with Minnesota, Elik joined the Edmonton Oilers. After playing in 18 games with the Oilers, Elik was placed on waivers and claimed by the San Jose Sharks. In the 1993–94 season, he scored 25 goals and added 41 assists for the Sharks.
After a brief stint with the St. Louis Blues and two seasons with the Boston Bruins organization, Elik left North America to play professionally in Europe. He played for seven seasons in Switzerland's Nationalliga A and, in the 2005–06, 2006–2007 seasons, he went to Austria to play for Innsbruck EV. On December 13, 2007, Elik signed to play for HDD Olimpija Ljubljana, a Slovenian team playing in the Erste Bank Hockey League. He is signed to play for Tilia Olimpija also in 2008–09. He joined on 30 January 2009 from Slovenian capital city Ljubljana club HDD Olimpija Ljubljana of the Erste Bank Hockey League to SCL Tigers.
Elik appeared in 448 NHL games in his career, scoring 111 goals and adding 218 assists. He also appeared in 52 Stanley Cup playoff games, scoring 15 goals and recording 27 assists. 

Tobias Crawford Norris
(September 5, 1861-October 29, 1936) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. Serving as premier of Manitoba from 1915 to 1922. Norris was a member of the Liberal Party.
Norris born in Brampton, moving to Manitoba at a young age. Norris was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1896 provincial election in the constituency of Lansdowne. The Liberals won a landslide majority in this election, though Norris was not called to serve in the cabinet of premier Thomas Greenway.
Norris was narrowly re-elected in the 1899 election, and moved with his party to the opposition benches. He was one of many Liberals defeated in the party's electoral debacle of 1903, losing to Conservative Harvey Hicks by sixteen votes. He defeated Hicks by ninety-six votes in the 1907 election, and emerged as one of the leading figures in the legislative opposition. In 1910, he was chosen to replace Charles Mickle as provincial Liberal leader.
Conservative Premier Rodmond P. Roblin called an election soon after Norris's selection as leader, and the Conservatives won 28 of 41 seats in the resulting campaign. Norris was re-elected in Lansdowne, and continued as opposition leader. He ran a stronger campaign in the 1914 election, though Roblin's Conservatives still won 28 of 48 seats in an expanded legislature.
Roblin's government was forced to resign amid a corruption scandal in early 1915, and Norris was called to serve as premier in his place. He was sworn in as premier on May 15, 1915, and also gave himself the powerful position of Railway Commissioner. Norris called another election for August 6, 1915, and was rewarded with a landslide majority. The Liberals and their independent allies won 41 of 48 seats, a record which has never been surpassed in Manitoba history.
Norris's government was considered a leading force for reform in Canada, introducing temperance legislation, extending the vote to women, and bringing in workman's compensation as well as a minimum wage. His government also introduced a rural farm credit system, a mother's allowance for widows (an important measure considering his government was in power during and after World War I), a public nursing system and workplace health and safety regulations. Road construction and public works were also expanded.
The Norris administration's relationship with the federal Liberal Party was generally poor. In 1916, the province eliminated the limited provisions for bilingual education that were agreed to in the Wilfrid Laurier-Thomas Greenway compromise of 1897 (see Manitoba Schools Question. This happened at a time when the federal Liberals, still led by Laurier, were trying to rebuild a support base among Quebec nationalists. In the federal election of 1917, Norris's government supported the Union government of Robert Borden against the Opposition Liberals led by Wilfrid Laurier. The "Unionist" and "Laurier" Liberals in Manitoba were not reunited until 1922, though Norris's hold on power was never threatened by this split.
Norris was in power during a period of rising labour and farmer radicalism in Manitoba, with the most significant event being the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. The Norris government was little involved in the strike itself. His administration favoured a negotiated compromise with the strikers, and played little role in the strike's suppression by the federal government. When asked about the arrest of several leading strikers, Norris responded, "Just leave us out of this".
Despite his government's progressivism, it could not withstand the growing socialist movement or the wave of farmers' radicalism that was sweeping the country in the form of the United Farmers movement. The election of 1920 resulted in a hung parliament, with 21 Liberals, 11 Labourites, 9 Farmer representatives, 8 Conservatives and 6 independents. The Liberals remained in government, and usually depended on outside support from the Farmers to pass legislation. They lost a vote of confidence in 1922 and were resoundingly defeated by the United Farmers of Manitoba in the election which followed. The United Farmers of Manitoba governed as the Progressive Party of Manitoba.
Norris was re-elected in Lansdowne, and continued to serve as leader of the opposition until 1927. By now reconciled with the national Liberal Party, he also contested the riding of Winnipeg South in the federal election of 1925, but lost to Conservative Robert Rogers. He resigned his seat to campaign federally, but was returned to the legislature in a by-election later in the same year.
Norris stood down as Liberal leader before the 1927 election, but remained a member of the legislature and was again elected for Lansdowne. He retired from politics in 1928.
Following Norris's retirement, the Manitoba Liberal Party was able to begin serious negotiations with Bracken's Progressives concerning a formal merger (because of his government's language policies, Norris had been unacceptable to Bracken's francophone supporters). The two parties were merged in 1932.
Norris died in Toronto in 1936. 

Howard Russell Pawley, PC, OC, OM
Born November 21, 1934 is a Canadian politician and professor who was Premier of Manitoba from 1981 to 1988.
Pawley was born in Brampton, Ontario, and was educated at Manitoba Teachers College, United College and the Manitoba Law School. In 1960, he married Adele Schreyer, a cousin of Edward Schreyer, who served as Premier of Manitoba from 1969 to 1977.
Pawley worked as a lawyer and educator, and was active in the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and its successor, the New Democratic Party of Manitoba. In 1958, Pawley was elected President of the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, becoming at the age of 24, the youngest President in the party's history. He opposed the transformation of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation into the NDP in 1961, but this decision did not hurt his subsequent career in the party.
Pawley first ran for public office in the Canadian federal election, 1957,as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidate in the riding of Lisgar, finishing fourth with 443 votes. In the Manitoba 1958 provincial election, he ran in the northern riding of The Pas The Pas and received 801 votes, finishing third. In both these elections he ran as a sacrificial candidate while working as an organizer for the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. Later, in the 1965 federal election, he ran in the Selkirk riding and received a more respectable 4,456 votes, finishing third.
In the provincial election of 1969, Pawley was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for the constituency of Selkirk, a mixed urban/rural seat to the north of Winnipeg. He was chosen to be a part of Edward Schreyer's cabinet, and was sworn in as Minister of Government Services and Minister of Municipal Affairs on July 15, 1969. He stood down from the former position on December 18, 1969, but retained the latter until September 22, 1976. In addition to his cabinet duties, Pawley also chaired a committee that brought forward public auto insurance legislation for the province, and was the first Chair and Minister responsible for the Manitoba public Insurance Corporation (1971-73).
On September 4, 1973, Pawley was promoted to Attorney-General. After stepping down as Municipal Affairs minister in 1976, he was given the additional responsibility of administering the Liquor Control Act.
In 1979, Pawley replaced Schreyer as leader of the provincial New Democratic Party. He was initially elected leader by the party caucus on an interim basis, and later defeated Muriel Smith and Russell Doern at the subsequent leadership convention. Like Schreyer, he was from the northeast of the province and could appeal to voters beyond the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation/New Democratic Party's traditional Winnipeg base. In the 1981 election, the New Democratic Party led by Pawley defeated the Progressive Conservative government of Sterling Lyon. This was the first time in the province's history that any party had ever been voted out of office after serving only one term.
Pawley was sworn in as Premier of Manitoba on November 30, 1981. His government was a progressive administration that reintroduced and entrenched French language rights that had been removed by the Thomas Greenway government in 1890. His government launched the giant Limestone hydro generating project and negotiated major export agreements of hydro electricity to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
On the economic front, the Pawley government's record was at or near the top in provincial comparison in respect to investment and employment growth and often enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate anywhere in Canada, and sustained the provinces social programs during the recession of the early 1980s.
On the social front the Pawley government enacted progressive changes to labour legislation including pay equity, Final Offer Selection and first-contract legislation. It also introduced progressive changes to the Human Rights Code, including the addition of the words "sexual orientation".
Pawley's New Democratic Party was reduced to a narrow majority in 1986, winning 30 of 57 seats. His government would become increasingly unpopular with the electorate over the next two years, due primarily to a jump in auto insurance premiums in 1987. In 1988, a disgruntled New Democratic Party MLA named Jim Walding voted against his government's budget and caused the government to fall. Pawley resigned as party leader and Premier, and did not run in the subsequent election, which was won by the Progressive Conservatives led by Gary Filmon.
In his last years as Premier, Pawley had become a prominent figure on the national stage as an opponent of free trade, as well as a party to the Meech Lake Constitutional Accord. No longer in provincial politics, Pawley again ran as a candidate for the federal New Democratic Party in the federal election of 1988, but was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate David Bjornson.
Pawley left politics and became a professor at the University of Windsor where he taught until his retirement. In 2000, he was awarded the Order of Manitoba and in 2001 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2001 he received the Ceser E. Chavez Award and in 2004 was the recipient from the Manitoba New Democratic Party of the Lucille Ono Award. Howard Pawley was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Winnipeg 2008.He was the recipient of the 2008 Youth Parliament of Manitoba Alumni Achievement Award. In 2003, he supported Bill Blaikie's campaign to lead the federal New Democratic Party. Pawley is currently a Vice President of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, an Executive member of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Chair of the Harry Crowe Foundation and Vice-President of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. He is also currently a Board Member of the St Clair Erie Local Health Integrated Network.
At the University of Windsor, Pawley served as an Associate Professor (1990 –2000) and also served as the Paul Martin Professor University of Windsor [1993-1998]. Pawley also served as the President [1999-2000] of the Windsor University Faculty Association. Later he served as the Stanley Knowles professor at the University Of Waterloo 2000 and visiting Professor, University of Washington in Seattle during the springs of 2001 and 2003.Howard Pawley was Acting Director of the Centre for Studies in Social Justice at the University of Windsor[2006-2007].Howard Pawley is now an Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Windsor.

William Grenville "Bill" Davis, PC, CC, O. Ont., QC
(born July 30, 1929 in Brampton, Ontario) was the Progressive Conservative Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985.
Davis was politically active from a young age. Local Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Gordon Graydon was a frequent guest at his parents' house, and Davis himself became the first delegate younger than seventeen years to attend a national Progressive Conservative convention in Canada. He frequently campaigned for local Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Thomas Laird Kennedy, who briefly served as Premier of Ontario in 1949.
He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1951 and attended Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. Davis was a football player during his university years, and his team-mates included Roy McMurtry and Thomas Leonard Wells, both of whom would later serve in his cabinet.
He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1959 provincial election, for the southern Ontario constituency of Peel. Although Peel was an extremely safe Conservative seat for most of its history, Davis's majority in this election was surprisingly narrow. The election took place soon after the federal Progressive Conservative government of John Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow program. Most of the 14,000 Canadians put out of work by this decision were residents of Peel, and many cast protest ballots against Diefenbaker by supporting Bill Brydon, the provincial Liberal candidate. Davis won, but by only 1,203 votes.
Davis served for two years as a backbench supporter of Leslie Frost's government. When Frost announced his retirement in 1961, Davis became the chief organizer of Robert Macaulay's campaign to succeed him as premier and party leader. Macaulay was eliminated on the next-to-last ballot, and, with Davis, delivered crucial support for John Robarts to defeat Kelso Roberts on the final vote.
Davis was appointed to Robarts' cabinet as Minister of Education on October 25, 1962, and was re-elected by a greatly increased margin in the 1963 provincial election.
Davis was given additional responsibilities as Ontario's Minister of University Affairs on May 14, 1964, and held both portfolios until 1971. He soon developed a reputation as a strongly interventionist minister, and oversaw a dramatic increase in education expenditures throughout the 1960s (education spending in Ontario grew by 454% between 1962 and 1971). He established many new public schools, often in centralized locations to accommodate larger numbers of students. Davis also undertook dramatic revisions of Ontario's outdated and inefficient school board system, reducing the 3,676 boards of 1962 to only 192 in 1967. Many boards had presided over a single school prior to Davis's reforms.
Davis also created new universities, including Trent University and Brock University, and established twenty-two community colleges, the first of which opened its doors in 1966. He established the TV Ontario educational television network in 1970.
Davis's handling of the education portfolio made him a high-profile minister, and there was little surprise when he entered the leadership contest to succeed Robarts in 1971. He was quickly dubbed as the frontrunner, though his awkward speaking style and image as an "establishment" candidate hindered his campaign. He defeated rival candidate Allan Lawrence by only 44 votes on the final ballot, after receiving support from third-place candidate Darcy McKeough. Shortly after the convention, Davis invited Lawrence's campaign team to join his inner circle of advisors. This group became known as the Big Blue Machine, and remained the dominant organizational force in the Progressive Conservative Party until the 1980s.
Shortly after taking office as premier, Davis announced that his government would not permit construction of the proposed Spadina Expressway in downtown Toronto (an initiative that had been unpopular with many of the area's residents). He also rejected a proposal to grant full funding to Ontario's Catholic high schools, which some regarded as an appeal to the Progressive Conservative Party's rural Protestant base. Davis's team ran a professional campaign in the 1971 provincial election, and was rewarded with an increased majority government.
Davis's first full term as premier was by most accounts his least successful, with public confidence in his government weakened by a series of scandals. There were allegations that the Fidinam company had received special consideration for a Toronto development program in return for donations to the Progressive Conservative Party. In 1973, it was revealed that Davis' friend Gerhard Moog had received a valuable un-tendered contract for the construction of Ontario Hydro's new head office and related projects. Attorney General Dalton Bales, Solicitor General John Yaremko and Treasurer McKeough were all accused of conflicts-of-interest relating to government approval for developments on properties they owned. The government was cleared of impropriety in all cases, but its popular support nonetheless declined. The Conservatives lost four key by-elections in 1973 and 1974.
On the policy front, the Davis administration introduced regional governments for Durham, Hamilton-Wentworth, Haldimand-Norfolk, and Waterloo but shelved further plans in response to popular protests. The government was also forced to cancel a planned 7% energy tax in 1973 following protests from the Progressive Conservative backbench. In the build-up to the 1975 provincial election, Davis imposed a ninety-day freeze on energy prices, temporarily reduced the provincial sales tax from 7% to 5%, and announced rent controls for the province.
The 1975 campaign was far more bitter than that of 1971, with Davis and Liberal leader Robert Nixon repeatedly hurling personal insults at one another. Polls taken shortly before the election had the Liberals in the lead. The Progressive Conservatives won only 51 seats out of 125, but were able to remain in power with a minority government. The New Democratic Party (NDP) won 38 seats under the leadership of Stephen Lewis, while Nixon's Liberals finished third with 36. Soon after the election, Davis hired Hugh Segal as his legislative secretary.
Davis appointed right-wingers Frank Miller and James Taylor to key cabinet portfolios after the election, but withdrew from a proposed austerity program following a negative public response. In 1977, he introduced a policy statement written by Segal which became known as the "Bramalea Charter", promising extensive new housing construction for the next decade. Davis called a snap election in 1977, but was again returned with only a minority. The Progressive Conservatives increased their standing to 58 seats, against 34 for the Liberals and 33 for the NDP.
The Conservatives remained the dominant party after the 1975 and 1977 elections due to the inability of either the New Democrats and the Liberals to become the clear alternative. The Conservatives were able to stay in power due to the competition between both opposition parties. As there was no serious consideration of a Liberal-New Democratic Party alliance after both campaigns, Davis was able avoid defeat in the legislature by appealing to other parties for support on particular initiatives. His government often moved to the left of the rural-based Liberals on policy issues. The opposition parties had also undergone leadership changes; Nixon and Lewis, who had posed a strong challenge to Davis, resigned after the 1975 and 1977 elections, respectively. Nixon's successor Stuart Lyon Smith proved unable to increase Liberal support, while new New Democratic Party leader Michael Cassidy lacked the support of the party establishment and could not measure up to Lewis's charismatic and dynamic figure.
This period of the Davis government was one of expansion for the province's public health and education systems, and Davis held a particular interest in ensuring that the province's community colleges remained productive. The government also expanded the provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code, and expanded bilingual services without introducing official bilingualism to the province.
Davis had an awkward relationship with federal Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark. Clark and Davis held differing views over fuel prices, and the Davis government actively opposed Clark's 1979 austerity budget which included a gas tax. In the 1980 federal election, Davis's criticism of Clark's budget was used by the Liberal Party in official campaign documents and it played a role in the federal Tories' losses in Ontario; the swing in support enabled the Liberals to regain government.
Unlike most provincial premiers in Canada, Davis strongly supported Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's 1981 plans to patriot the Canadian Constitution from the United Kingdom and add to it a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Davis's role in the constitutional negotiations of 1981 were pivotal in achieving a compromise that resulted in the passage of the 1982 Constitution.
In 2003, while Davis played a role in the successful negotiations to merge the federal Progressive Conservatives with the Canadian Alliance to create the Conservative Party of Canada, Clark refused to endorse the newly merged party.
The Progressive Conservatives were returned with a majority government in the 1981 provincial election, mostly at the expense of the New Democratic Party. Soon after the election, Davis announced that John Tory (who become leader of the PCs 23 years later) had been hired to succeed Hugh Segal as his principal secretary. He also announced that Ontario would purchase a 25% share in the energy corporation Suncor, despite opposition from within his own caucus.
Davis considered moving to federal politics by running to lead the federal Progressive Conservatives in 1983 when Joe Clark only received lukewarm support during a leadership review. Davis decided not to do so when he realized that he would not receive endorsements from western Canada because of his support for the Constitution partition and the National Energy Program. His candidacy had been strongly opposed by Peter Lougheed, the Premier of Alberta.
He retired a few months before the 1985 election, with him and his government still well ahead in polls against David Peterson's Liberals and Bob Rae's New Democratic Party. One of his last major acts as premier was to reverse his 1971 decision against the full funding of Catholic schools, and announce that such funding would be provided to the end of Grade Thirteen. Although the policy was supported by all parties in the legislature, it was unpopular with some in the Conservatives' traditional rural Protestant base, and many would stay home in the upcoming election because of this issue.
Davis was succeeded by Frank Miller, who was elected leader at a February 1985 leadership convention over Larry Grossman, who was widely considered the successor to Davis and his Big Blue Machine. Although Miller was more conservative, the Progressive Conservatives still held a significant lead over the opposition when the election was called. However, after a poor campaign and controversy over Catholic school funding, they were reduced to minority government and lost the popular vote to the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1985 provincial election and were soon defeated by a motion of non-confidence by a Liberal-New Democratic Party accord, ending the party's 42 year period of rule over the province.
Davis was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1985, and has served on numerous corporate boards since his retirement from politics.
Davis's reputation within the Ontario Progressive Conservatives was compromised during the 1990s by the party's shift to the right under Mike Harris. Many Conservatives parliamentarians were openly dismissive of Davis-era spending policies, and frequently highlighted the differences between Davis and Harris on policy issues. Davis remained a supporter of the party, but seldom appeared at official events. In a National Post editorial, on the tenth anniversary of Harris' 1995 electoral victory, Harris' chief of staff described the difference in their policies, saying that Davis retained power with a careful balancing act, while Harris used a bold platform to unexpectedly catapult the party from third place to first.
More recently, Davis has returned to an honoured position within the party. He was a keynote speaker at the 2004 Progressive Conservative leadership convention, and was singled out for praise in speeches by outgoing party leader Ernie Eves and new leader John Tory. Davis was also present for Tory's first session in the Ontario legislature, following the latter's victory in a 2005 by-election.
In 2003, Davis played a role in the successful negotiations to merge the federal Progressive Conservatives with the Canadian Alliance, and create the new Conservative Party of Canada. In the 2006 federal campaign, he campaigned for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and endorsed former provincial minister Jim Flaherty. Harper spoke favourably of Davis during the campaign, and said that he learned much from Davis's style of governing. The Conservatives were able to defeat the Liberals to form the government.
Throughout his political career, Davis often remarked upon the lasting influence of his hometown of Brampton, Ontario. He is known, primarily by Bramptonians, as "Brampton Billy".
On October 24, 2006, Davis received Seneca College’s first Honorary degree where he was presented with an Honorary Bachelor of Applied Studies. “It is fitting that Bill Davis receives Seneca’s first honorary degree,” says Dr. Rick Miner, President of Seneca College. “As one of the architects of the college system in Ontario, he is responsible for a dynamic post-secondary education environment which continues to be a pillar of our province’s economy.” Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology (2005-10-24). Canada’s largest college confers first honorary degree to Bill Davis.  

John Coyne
(July 21, 1836 - November 16, 1873) was a Canadian barrister, and Peel County's first representative in the Ontario Legislature.
A native of Toronto Township, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Coyne, he received his education in Brampton at Brampton Public School. He was educated as a lawyer, and called to the Bar of Upper Canada in 1864. Coyne also served as reeve of Brampton.
Entering provincial politics in 1867, as a Conservative, he beat out Liberal candidate Robert Smith by just 46 votes (1118 to 1072). The number 1118 had a strange, but merely coincidental, attraction to him, as proved by the next election in 1871. Posed against Chinguacousy's T.O. Bowles, he won again with 1118 votes, against 1059 Liberal nods.
Coyne married Mary Catherine Scott, the youngest daughter of Brampton resident John Scott, in October 1867.
Coyne died due to a short illness in 1873, after serving only two years of his second term.

Gordon Graydon, BA , QC , L.L.D
(December 7, 1897, Snelgrove, Ontario - September 19, 1953) was a Canadian politician.
Graydon received his early education at S.S. No. 6 Chinguacousy in County Peel, Ontario. He attended Brampton High School, and was a student at University of Toronto in Political Science. He graduated from Osgoode Hall law school in 1924. He became a partner of the late Justice William Raney, one-time Attorney General of Ontario.
In 1933, at the age of 36, Graydon became the President of the Peel County Conservative Association, the youngest man ever to hold that position. In 1934, he helped rejuvenate the Conservative Party of Ontario by forming Young Conservative Clubs at a time when the party's existence was threatened. Optimism, confidence, acumen and an appealing manner were some of his assets.
He was one of thirty-five Conservative candidates who survived the Liberal Party landslide of the 1935 federal election, winning Peel riding for his party.
Graydon was Opposition Leader in the Canadian House of Commons from 1943 to 1945 because John Bracken, the new leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, did not have a seat in the House, and chose not to seek one until the 1945 federal election.
It was said that he was well-liked in Quebec, admired by the Irish and the agrarians who were a force in Graydon's formative years.
In 1945, he was Canadian delegate to the San Francisco World Conference, and delegate in London, representing Canada on the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations. He was Alternate Delegate for Canada at the UN's 1st General Assembly 1946, Parliamentary advisor to the Canadian Delegate to the UN General Assembly in 1950 and in New York, 1952.
He was a member of Grace United Church, Brampton, of several local lodges, including Campbell's Cross Loyal Orange Lodge of the Board of Regents of Victoria College and of the Peel War Records Board. He remained Member of Parliament for Peel until his death in 1953. A high school in Mississauga has been named in his honour. A senior public (junior high) school in Brampton, Ontario also bears his name. 

Sir James Alexander Lougheed, KCMG , PC
(1 September 1854 – 2 November 1925) was a businessman and politician from Alberta, Canada.
Lougheed born in Brampton, Canada West, to Irish Protestant parents. The family moved to Weston, Canada West, when Lougheed was a child, and he attended King Street Public School (now H. J. Alexander Public School) and Weston High School (now Weston Collegiate Institute). He attended the University of Toronto and he studied law at the Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and was sworn in as a solicitor in 1881.
In 1882 Lougheed moved with his brother to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then to Medicine Hat, Northwest Territories, following the newly laid Canadian Pacific Railway main line. One year later he moved to Calgary, then at the end of the CPR line.
He started a legal practice in Calgary in the fields of real estate and transportation law, with the CPR as one of his main clients. He also invested heavily in real estate and opened a brokerage firm. His Lougheed Building in downtown Calgary still stands: it included a theatre which in 2006 became The GRAND.
In 1891 he and his wife, the former Belle Hardisty, built a palatial mansion called Beaulieu in what is now the Beltline district of Calgary. Beaulieu became the centre of Calgary's social scene, as the Lougheed's welcomed oil millionaires, politicians, royalty, and entertainment stars to their home. He and Belle had six children, four boys and two girls.
Lougheed had been a member of the federal Conservative Party since his days in Toronto, and had campaigned for Sir John A. Macdonald. Even so, his appointment to the Senate on 10 December 1889 (replacing his father-in-law, who had died) came as a surprise to many, as Lougheed was only 35 years old at the time. However, he gained the respect of both his fellow senators and his fellow Westerners due to his staunch support of Western interests and his political abilities. Lougheed spent the next 30 years living both in Ottawa and in Calgary.
In order to protect his legal interests, he brought a young lawyer from New Brunswick named R.B. Bennett to Calgary. Bennett and Lougheed worked together for over 20 years until an acrimonious dispute between the senator and the future prime minister caused each to go his own way. In the 1890s
Lougheed emerged as the West's strongest voice in the Senate. He was constantly in the position of having to remind members of the Upper Chamber of the realities of life in the western provinces and territories (Alberta at the time being part of the Northwest Territories). He spoke out fiercely against certain provisions in the act creating the province of Alberta, and declared that it would be better to remain a territory than to have what he called archaic education statutes forced on the province.
In 1906, he became Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. The Conservatives were in opposition for many of Lougheed's early years as a senator. He was knighted by George V in 1916, becoming the only Albertan ever to receive the honour.
When the Conservatives took power following the 1911 election, he became Leader of the Government in the Senate and minister without portfolio in the government of Sir Robert Borden. He was made Chairman of the Military Hospitals Commission in 1915, and, as a reward for this service, was knighted in 1916 (Order of St Michael and St George).
After Borden formed his wartime Union government, he appointed Lougheed as Minister of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment in 1918. From 1920 until the Conservative Party's defeat in the 1921 election, Lougheed also served as Minister of Mines, Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs in the government of Arthur Meighen.
With the Liberals in power, Lougheed resumed his position as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate until his death in 1925, aged 70.
Lougheed was a strict conservative in many ways. He held the virtually ubiquitous Western view that First Nations people were essentially unintelligent children who needed white control in order to survive; this even though (or perhaps because) his own mother-in-law was from a First Nation. He adhered to a strict interpretation of the British North America Act, was against women voting, disliked social innovations, and believed Canada's future was as a subordinate nation in the British Empire.
Lougheed was also a successful businessman through his real estate, newspapers, and other ventures in Calgary. He was a staunch advocate of provincial status for what became Alberta and argued that the province rather than the federal government should have control of natural resources. This argument was carried on by his grandson, Peter Lougheed, when he was premier of Alberta in the 1970s and 1980s.
Sir James Lougheed died of pneumonia, aged 71, in the Ottawa Civic Hospital, and was buried in Calgary on 8 November 1925.
The village of Lougheed, Alberta, Mount Lougheed in the Rocky Mountains, and Lougheed Island in Nunavut are named after him.
The mansion that was built for him in 1891 as a Senator has been restored and is now a Heritage Centre in the Beltline district of Calgary. 

Atiba Hutchinson
(born on February 8, 1983, in Brampton, Ontario) is a professional Canadian football player who plays for F.C. Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga. He can play all positions on the midfield and as supporting striker. He has played more than 25 matches for the Canadian national team, and represented Canada at the 2003, 2005 & 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cups.
Born in Brampton, Ontario to Trinidadian parents, Hutchinson began his professional career in the 2002 summer season, playing briefly with the York Region Shooters of the Canadian Professional Soccer League before signing with the Toronto Lynx of the then A-League in mid-season, on July 26, and playing in the teams final four games. In January 2003 he signed with Östers IF, newly promoted to the Swedish Allsvenskan. Hutchinson scored six times for Öster during the 2003 season. With the club relegated out of the Allsvenskan, Hutchinson was granted a transfer and signed with Helsingborgs IF in January 2004.
Expectations were high for him the first season in Helsingborg, but they were ultimately unsatisfied. However, in the 2005 season he was consistently the team's best player, scoring six goals from a primarily defensive midfield position.
Hutchinson moved to Danish F.C. Copenhagen, where, for the first half of the year, he played alongside Swedish international Tobias Linderoth in central midfield, latterly being used around the midfield and as a striker. Manager Ståle Solbakken said in an interview with the football paper TIPS-bladet, that he saw Hutchinson's attacking talents as being too impressive for a central midfielder, saying that he would be used more often as winger.
For Canada, Hutchinson has played more than 20 games and scored two goals - the first in a World Cup qualifying match against Honduras, on September 10, 2004. He also played in the 2001 and 2003 FIFA World Youth Championships.
In February 2007, Hutchinson was named Canada Soccer Fan’s Choice winner. Hutchinson received more votes than any other player in the online voting portion conducted by fans. But in the end, it was not enough to win over Dwayne De Rosario in the "Player of the year" award.
On June 21, 2007, Hutchison appeared to have scored a vital equalizer against the United States in a 2007 Gold Cup semi-final. However, he was controversially ruled off-side.

Mark Boswell
Born July 28, 1977 in Mandeville, Jamaica and grew up in Brampton, Ontario is a Canadian high jumper, who won a total number of six national titles in the men's high jump event.
Boswell attended the University of Texas at Austin. In 2006, he won gold at the Commonwealth games held in Melbourne, Australia. His other notable achievements in international competition include 7th place at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 6th place at the 2000 Summer Olympics, a silver medal at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain and a bronze at the 2003 World Championships in Saint-Denis, France. He is now a middle school teacher and coach at the Galloway School in Atlanta, and is often quoted for yelling "baseline fellas." 

Ronald Langley (Ron) Bloore, CM, FRSC
Born May 29, 1925 is a Canadian abstract artist and teacher. He was a member of the Regina Five which included Ken Lochhead, Art McKay, Ted Godwin, and Doug Morton.
Born in Brampton, Ontario, Bloore received a B.A. in art and archaeology from the University of Toronto in 1949. From 1949 to 1951, he studied art history and archaeology at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts. In 1953, he received a M.A. in art and archaeology from Washington University in St. Louis. From 1951 to 1954, he was also an Instructor in art and archaeology at Washington University. From 1955 to 1957, he studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London.
After completing his studies at the University of London, Bloore returned to Canada, and held a position as an instructor in art and archaeology at the University of Toronto from 1957 to 1958. Moving to Regina, Saskatchewan, he was an instructor in art and archaeology at the Regina Campus of the University of Saskatchewan from 1958 to 1966. Settling back in Toronto, he was a Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Fine Arts at York University from 1966 to 1990.
In 1993, Bloore was made a Member of the Order of Canada for being a "most accomplished abstract painter and educator, he has strongly influenced visual arts, particularly in Western Canada". In 2007, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
In 1993, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from York University and in 2001 an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Regina. 

Rohinton Mistry
(born 3 July 1952) is considered to be one of the foremost authors of Indian heritage writing in English. Residing in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Mistry is of Indian origin, and belongs to the Parsi Zoroastrian religious minority.
Born in Bombay, India, Mistry immigrated to Canada in 1975, after obtaining an undergraduate degree in mathematics and economics from Bombay University, in 1973. He worked in a bank for a while, before returning to studies, leading up to a degree in English and philosophy. While attending the University of Toronto he won two Hart House literary prizes (the first to win two), for stories which were published in the Hart House Review, and Canadian Fiction Magazine's annual Contributor's Prize for 1985. Two years later, Penguin Books Canada published his collection of 11 short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag. It was later published in the United States as Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag. The book consists of 11 short stories, all set within one apartment complex in modern-day Mumbai. This volume contains the popular, and oft-anthologized story, "Swimming Lessons."
When his second novel, Such a Long Journey, was published in 1991, it won the Governor General's Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, and the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award. It was short listed for the prestigious Booker Prize and for the Trillium Award. It has been translated into German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Japanese, and has been made into the 1998 film Such a Long Journey.
His third novel, A Fine Balance (1995), won the second annual Giller Prize in 1995, and in 1996, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction. It was selected for Oprah's Book Club in November 2001 and sold hundreds of thousands of additional copies throughout North America as a result.
In 2002, Mistry cancelled his United States book tour for his novel Family Matters (2002) because he and his wife were targeted by security agents at every airport he visited, apparently because Mistry appeared to be Muslim. Mistry reported that on his first flight of the tour, "we were greeted by a ticket agent who cheerfully told us we had been selected randomly for a special security check. Then it began to happen at every single stop, at every single airport. The random process took on a 100 percent certitude." His publisher issued a statement, "As a person of color Mistry was stopped repeatedly and rudely at each airport along the way to the point where the humiliation had become unbearable."
His books, thus far, portray diverse facets of Indian socioeconomic life; as well as Parsi Zoroastrian life, customs, and religion. Many of his writings are markedly "Indo-nostalgic", though he pointedly also exposes the seedy and grim side of life, not just the bright and cheery.
His literary papers are housed at the Clara Thomas Archives at York University. 

Jack Reid
A Canadian artist and a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water colour. With a career spanning six decades, his honours have been many. His paintings are seen in the diverse locales of people's homes, galleries, major corporate collections, or in Windsor Castle in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's personal collection.
Reid started out as a graphic artist, and with no formal training, plunged full-time into a new career. He knows only what he has taught himself, and paints what he feels.
He has taught workshops, demonstrations and foreign tours world-wide since 1971, passing his knowledge on to over 25,000 students. His passion for the renowned techniques he teaches is infectious and invigorating.
In 1992, he was awarded the Commemorative Medal by the federal Government for his contribution to Canadian Art and was honoured to be Arts Person of the Year in his hometown of Brampton. He has exhibited in London, England with the Royal Institute of Painters in Water colours; he is a life-time member of Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, Visual Arts Brampton and Canadian Society of Painters in Water colour.
He has authored two books, Water colour Basics: Let's Get Started, and Painting Snow and Water, and is currently penning and painting another. He has an instructional CD-ROM and did a mini-series of painting demos, broadcast on Rogers Cable. In 2001, Jack was featured in the popular American publication, Watercolour Magic magazine.
He and his wife and friend Maggie lived in his studio overlooking the Credit River. After 33 years of marriage, Maggie died in late-2002. In 2006, he moved to Lagoon City, Ontario.

Julien Christian Lutz
(born 1975), better known as Little X, is a Canadian music video director of Trinidadian and Swiss descent. A protégé of Hype Williams, Little X has been noted for his high-budget, visually distinctive videos for popular music singles, including Mystikal's "Shake That Ass" and "Danger! (Been So Long)", "Georgy Porgy" by Eric Benét & Faith Evans, No Sex in the Champagne Room by Chris Rock and Gerald Levert, and Usher's "U Got It Bad" & "U Don't Have to Call", Mario Let Me Love You, and Sean Paul Get Busy, Sean Paul Gimme The Light and many others. One of his trademarks is tweaking the letterbox format; instead of simply using black bars on the top and bottom of the frame to frame the image, many videos by Little X feature the bars opening vertically to reveal the video and closing vertically at the end. His private corporation is the simply referred to as "The Sun God Collection".
Was to direct now defunct vampire feature "Razorwire". He was represented by HSI Productions and is currently represented by DNA - David Naylor and Also goes by the names Mr. X and Lil' X or just X. He attended both Mayfield Secondary School and North Park Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario. Perhaps his most successful work yet came as the director for the music video of Usher's global hit, Yeah! 

Keshia Chanté
Born as Keshia Chanté Harper on June 16, 1988 is a critically acclaimed Canadian Juno Award-winning R&B/Pop singer, songwriter, executive producer, actress and Ford model. She signed to Sony BMG Canada at 13 and as a result has released 2 major albums, and released 10 hit singles in Canada. She is best known in Canada for her 8 top 10 radio hits "Shook (The Answer)", "Unpredictable", "Bad Boy", "Does He Love Me", "Let The Music Take You", "Ring The Alarm", "Been Gone" and "2U". She is known in the U.S. for her "Bad Boy" video that was in heavy rotation on BET and her guest appearance in Bow Wow & Chris Brown's "Shortie Like Mine" video.
Keshia Chanté was born in Ottawa, Ontario and she went to St. Peter Catholic High School and then moved to Brampton, Ontario at the age of 14. She then attended Fletcher's Meadow Secondary School, and graduated as a straight-A student with her class in 2007. Her father is of Afro-Trinidadian descent and her mother is of Portuguese and Puerto Rican descent. Chante cites Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and Aaliyah as musical influences and Jennifer Lopez for career aspirations.
Her debut "Shook (The Answer)" appeared in early 2003. It was only meant to be a "buzz" single but it surprisingly broke into the Top 10 on Canadian music charts and won an Urban Music Award for "Best Pop/R&B Single".
For the follow-up, "Unpredictable", she released her first video, which hit number one on YTV and the top ten on Much Music. In November 2003, the CD single of "Unpredictable" was certified gold. Because of that single, in 2003, she won the Canadian Radio Music Award for "Best New Solo Artist".
In early February 2004, Chanté's third single, "Bad Boy", was released. It was also successful, breaking the Top 5 on radio and becoming the #1 video on Much Music for 4 weeks. The video was directed by director Little X. Later, in June 2004, Chanté topped the charts again (Top 5) with the release of her fourth single "Does He Love Me?" ft. Foxy Brown which Chanté & Foxy Brown wrote and "Young Gav" (Foxy Brown's older brother) produced. The video was also directed by Little X and became #1 on Much Music for 3 weeks.
On June 22, 2004 Chanté released her debut album self-titled debut album. On December 3, 2004 it was certified gold. It contained her previous singles, as well as her later to be released fifth "Let the Music Take You" penned by Chanté. In October 2004, at the Canadian Urban Music Awards Chanté swept all three of nominations, winning awards for "Best New Artist", "Video of the Year" (for Bad Boy), "Fans' Choice Award" and by surprise taking home the "Rising Star of the Year" award.
After her signing, Chanté moved to New York to begin working on her second album. During that time, Chante was on Teen People Magazines "Rock The Runway" Mall Tour (where Ciara started) and Seventeen Magazine's "Rock N' Shop" Mall Tour (where Britney Spears started). In May 2006, she posted 3 brand new songs, "Been Gone", "Kiss" and "Summer Love" on MySpace.
In March 2006 she released her "2U" Album teaser single, "Ring The Alarm", which was used for War Child's "Keep The Beat" charity campaign. All the proceeds from "Ring The Alarm" went to supported children at war and was also featured on triple platinum compilation "Much Dance 2006".
In July of that year, she released her single "Been Gone", produced by Philadelphia's Matrax Productions. The video was shot by Little X (making it her 3rd collaboration with him) and was shot inside of "Fletcher's Meadow Secondary School" where Chante attended in her last year of school and graduated. Her second single, "2U", produced by Matrax was released in early November. 2U's video was shot on October 22 in Miami by director Bobby O'Neill, and was released on Yahoo Music Canada on November 16.
Also in 2006, Chanté made a featured cameo appearance in label mate Bow Wow's video "Shortie Like Mine". The video depicts Rapper Bow Wow searching for Keshia Chanté on his laptop. They send messages back and forth throughout the video.
Her second album, in which Chante executive produced was released on December 5, 2006 in Canada through Sony/BMG Canada and was released in May 2007 in Japan.
Chante didn't get to finish promoting her album to its full potential because of dirty label politics infuriating her to back away from her album and begin working on a new one, which is her upcoming third album.
Chante has been busy working in film but has continued to start working on her third album. It is rumoured to be titled "The Vendetta."
In 2006, Chante starred as herself in the indie flick "Cats Cradle". In 2007 she had a guest starring role in "Da Kink in My Hair". In August 2008, Chante began filming Soul, a television series in which she stars as "Mahalia". In February 2009, Soul began to air on Vision TV throughout Canada. It was reported and confirmed that Chanté would star as Aaliyah in the upcoming biopic of the late singer's life.
Chante has been romantically linked to Chris Brown whom she met in 2006 after doing a TV show together. They began a definite friendship afterwards. Some media outlets, mainly TMZ reported that Chante was the "other woman" in the Chris Brown assault against Rihanna claiming Chante was the woman who sent the text message but Chante's rep's heavily denied that claim. Chante was in fact in LA during the incident 

Michael Austin Cera
(born June 7, 1988) is a BAFTA-award-nominated Canadian actor. His roles have included George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development, Evan in Superbad, Paulie Bleeker in Juno and Nick in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Cera received two Canadian Comedy Award Best Actor nominations in 2008 for his work in Juno and Superbad, winning for Superbad.
Cera, the middle child of three siblings, was born in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. He is the son of Linda, a native of Quebec, and Luigi Cera, a Xerox technician who is originally from Sicily. Cera has an older sister, Jordan, and a younger sister, Molly. He attended Conestoga Public School, Robert H. Lagerquist Senior Public School, and then Heart Lake Secondary School until grade nine, but then completed high school through correspondence. His first role was an unpaid appearance in a Tim Horton's summer camp commercial.
In 2002, Cera played the young Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and provided the voice for Brother Bear in The Berenstain Bears animated series; he also voiced Josh Spitz in the cartoon Braceface. He played George Michael Bluth in the award-winning television series Arrested Development for three seasons before it was cancelled. In 2005, he starred as Harold in the award winning surreal humour short film Darling Darling, for which he was awarded Best Actor at the San Gio Festival in Verona, Italy. In 2006, he created and starred in a parody of Impossible is Nothing, a video résumé created by Aleksey Vayner. He also guest-starred in an episode of teen noir drama Veronica Mars (in the episode "The Rapes of Graff", which also featured Arrested Development co-star Alia Shawkat), and also in the Adult Swim series Tom Goes to the Mayor and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Cera, along with best friend Clark Duke, wrote and starred in a series of short videos released on their website. In 2007, they signed a deal with CBS Television to write, produce, direct, and act in a short-form comedy series entitled Clark and Michael. The show featured guest stars such as David Cross, Andy Richter and Patton Oswalt, and was distributed via CBS's new internet channel, CBS Innertube. Duke and Cera are both members of the band The Long Goodbye.
Cera also appeared in a staged comedy video that shows Cera being fired from the lead role of the film Knocked Up after belittling and arguing with the director, in a scene that mocks the David O. Russell blow up on the set of I Heart Huckabees. Other clips featured movie stars James Franco and Orlando Bloom in a similar situation.
Cera starred alongside Jonah Hill in the film Superbad, which was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film opened in North America on August 17, 2007, with Cera playing a character named Evan. In November 2007, Cera hosted Saturday Night Live on strike, a live staged version of SNL not shown on television due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America Strike. Also in 2007, Cera co-starred in Juno (written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman), playing Paulie Bleeker, who unexpectedly impregnates his long time teenage friend Juno (Ellen Page). Juno also starred Arrested Development co-star Jason Bateman. For Superbad and Juno, Cera won Breakthrough Artist in the Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2007.
In early 2008, Cera appeared in the comedy short "Drunk History", playing Alexander Hamilton in a comedic retelling of Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr. Cera will next star in film adaptations of the novels Youth in Revolt (in the role of the lead character, Nick Twisp). He will also appear as the titular character in graphic novel adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
In 2009, Cera's first published short story, "Pinecone", appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly. According to press reports, Cera will appear in the Arrested Development film.

Scott Thompson
(born June 12, 1959) is a Canadian television comedian, best known for his time as a member of the comedy troupe Kids in the Hall.
Thompson was born in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in Brampton, Ontario. He is the oldest of the five troupe members. He attended Brampton Centennial Secondary School and was a student there at the time of the 1975 shooting massacre. He enrolled in York University but in his third year was asked to leave for being 'disruptive'. He joined the comedy troupe The Love Cats and while performing with them met Mark McKinney. In 1984 he became a member of The Kids in the Hall. That troupe's series aired starting 1989 on the CBC in Canada and on Home Box Office in the United States, but moved to CBS for the fourth and fifth seasons.
Openly gay, he became best-known on the show for his monologues as the effeminate Buddy Cole, as well as his appearances as Queen Elizabeth II. He also acted regularly on The Larry Sanders Show and made numerous guest appearances on other television series, including Politically Incorrect, The Late Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Train 48. Scott Thompson was also the host of a reality television program in Canada called "My Fabulous Gay Wedding". Thompson defended Mordecai Richler's novel Cocksure in Canada Reads 2006. Thompson set-up a website called Scotland com, it was a fully interactive site where fans could sign up as "citizens" of the fictional nation of Scotland. (As Thompson explained in a video clip, dressed like Queen Elizabeth: "This Scotland has TWO T's; MY Scotland has ONE T.") 

Russell Dominic Peters
(born September 29, 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comic, and actor of Anglo-Indian descent.
Russell Peters is a Canadian Anglo-Indian comedian and actor, born to Eric and Maureen Peters in Toronto and grew up in Brampton, Ontario in Canada. His father was born in Bombay, India and worked as a Federal meat inspector and his mother, born in Calcutta, India, worked at a K-mart. He has an older brother named Clayton who was also born in Calcutta. He went to Georges Vanier Catholic Elementary School in Brampton from kindergarten to Gr. 8.
Peters began performing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1989. He has since also performed in the UK, Australia, mainland China, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore, Denmark, South Africa, the Caribbean, Vietnam, New Zealand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Pakistan, India, UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United States among other places.
He has been nominated for four Gemini Awards, the Canadian television awards. He has also been nominated for Best Male Comic at the Canadian Comedy Awards. Peters has been featured at such shows as Montreal's Just for Laughs (Juste Pour Rire) Comedy Festival, the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival. He hosted the Canada Day Comedy Festival 2006.
His comedy special Russell Peters: Outsourced, aired on Comedy Central on August 16, 2006. The DVD version features his uncensored performance. The DVD has been popular, especially in Canada, selling over 100,000 copies. Outsourced remained on the National DVD Chart over one year after release.
Peters' new DVD/CD combo Russell Peters: Red, White, and Brown was recorded on February 2, 2008 at The WAMU Theatre at Madison Square Garden. Peters and his brother self-produced and financed Red, White and Brown. Peters encourages fans not to be 'downloading bastards' with this one.
Peters also currently produces and stars on the radio situation comedy series, Monsoon House, on CBC Radio One.
In September 2007, it was confirmed that Peters made a deal with FOX to develop a new sitcom, based on his experience in Canada. Peters says, "It's really a snapshot of where my family maybe was ten years ago" and he ensures that the sitcom is "Something that will be funny and honest."
Peters participated in a USO tour of Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Africa and Greenland in November 2007 with Wilmer Valderrama and Mayra Veronica.
Peters was the host of the 2008 Juno Awards televised ceremonies in Calgary on April 6, 2008. He won a Gemini Award for "Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series" for hosting the Junos III. The 2008 awards received the second-highest ratings ever for the program.
Peters was asked to host the 2009 Juno Awards for an unprecedented second year in a row. The 2009 Juno Awards took place in Vancouver on March 29, 2009.
Peters latest DVD/CD is called Red, White, and Brown. It was released in Canada in September 2008 and in the US on January 27, 2009. Peters produced this DVD along with his brother and manager, Clayton Peters.
Peters has also appeared in a few films, most recent of which is "Senior Skip Day" also starring Larry Miller, Tara Reid & Gary Lundy. Besides these, Peters has also had short appearances in the 1994 film "Boozecan" as 'Snake's Friend', the 1999 film "Tiger Claws III" as Detective Elliott, the 2004 film "My Baby's Daddy" as the obstetrician, the 2006 film "Quarter Life Crisis" as 'Dilip Kumar', the 2007 film "The Take" as Dr. Sharma and the 2008 film "Senior Skip Day" as 'Uncle Todd'. Peters is also listed for his appearances in two upcoming films. He is scheduled to star as 'Pervius' in "National Lampoon's The Legend Of Awesomest Maximus". Peters had made countless numbers of comedy stands gradually increasing with time.
Peters' popularity extends to several countries. In Canada, Peters became the first comedian to sell out at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, with more than 15,000 tickets in two days for the single show. He ended up selling over 30,000 tickets nationally over the two-day sales period. A total of over 60,000 tickets were sold across six cities.
Awards and recognitions
1997 - Nomination for the Gemini Award in the category "Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program or Series". This was for Show Me The Funny, from the TV-series Comics! (1997)
2004 - Nomination for a Gemini Award for his Comedy Now! special.
2008 - Nomination for a Gemini Award for hosting The Junos.
2008 - Winner of a Gemini Award for 'Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series'.  

Paulo Costanzo
(born September 21, 1978 in Brampton, Ontario) is a Canadian actor of Italian and Jewish ancestry, who is perhaps best-known for his roles in the 2000 comedy Road Trip and the sitcom Joey which ran from 2004-2006.
His mother is a singer-songwriter. In addition to various television productions, Costanzo has also performed on stage in Canadian productions of Bogeyman and The Good Doctor.
Costanzo is currently living in Los Angeles.
In his elementary school years, both of Costanzo's legs were broken when he was involved in a car accident. Paulo kept the staples from this incident for years afterwards, in a jar on his mantle.
For high school, Paulo attended Balmoral Senior Public School, before transferring to Mayfield Secondary School, the local school of the arts. In high school, Costanzo starred as Tony in his high school's production of West Side Story. Also, his class put on a Friends parody, in which he played Ross. Costanzo later commented to The Toronto Sun that, "I had a cold so I sounded more like a Jewish old woman than Ross".
Costanzo started his non-stage career in tele-films, like many actors. He appeared in The Don's Analyst as Young Vito, as Arthur in My Date with the President's Daughter, and Yaakov/Gaston in the "Marie Taquet" segment of Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples.
In 1998, Costanzo scored his first truly major role in the TV series Animorphs, as the alien Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.
His film career started in 2000, when he played Rubin Carver in the DreamWorks movie Road Trip. Reportedly, he had some on-set conflicts with director Todd Phillips. From there, he played Alexander Cabot III, the light-brained friend/manager of the fictitious pop-rock band Josie and the Pussycats, in the movie Josie and the Pussycats.
More roles followed, including Troy in Gypsy 83, as Ryan, opposite Josh Hartnett in 40 Days and 40 Nights for Miramax, and as Stu, opposite Alicia Silverstone and Woody Harrelson in the independent project Scorched.
In 2003, Costanzo starred as Laurie in the Canadian comedic film A Problem with Fear, or Laurie's Anxiety Confronting the Escalator.
"I'm very insecure. I have low self-esteem just like a lot of actors do."
Zap2it's TV columnist Amy Amatangelo commented positively on his role in Joey. "The real surprise is Paulo Costanzo (Road Trip) who is great as Joey's nephew Michael, a rocket scientist who still lives at home with his overprotective mother and doesn't have any luck with the ladies."
He is not related to the actor Robert Costanzo, despite that actor having had an occasional role as Joey Tribbiani's father (and therefore Michael Tribbiani's grandfather) in both Friends and Joey. 

David Phillips
April 19, 1978 (Age 30) is a Canadian actor.
David Joseph Phillips was born in Brampton, Ontario to a waitress mother, and a father who was the foreman at General Electric light bulb plant. Phillips attended St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School (Brampton), then attended Ryerson University's Theatre School, where he received his BFA, and played the lead in his graduate production of Henry IV, directed by John Neville.
After graduating he took a hiatus from performing and was a grade nine math and geography teacher at his old high school in Brampton. He went back to entertainment when he was asked to co-host the hit Canadian kids game show Video & Arcade Top 10. He did this for two years on YTV, before leaving to be a part of the classical acting company at The Stratford Festival of Canada for three years, where he appeared in eight productions and studied in their illustrious conservatory program. He then returned to the Greater Toronto Area, where he performed in many theatrical productions such as the lead in "Waiting For Godot" and Hamlet in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" at The Heritage Theatre, and Daniel in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at the Rose Theatre. He was then asked to host the Miss World Canada Pageant.
Film performances include Poker Night, Winter and recently was the lead in Shark City, as well as was the visual effects acting partner for Eric Bana in The Time Traveler's Wife, acting opposite Eric and Rachel McAdams.
He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is a founding member of Icebox Theatre Company, along with fellow actors Ceciley Jenkins, Billy Tangradi, Chris Redman, Marguerite Moreau, and Kate Campbell.

Kristopher Lemche 
born February 23rd 1978 is a Canadian actor.
Lemche was born in Brampton, Ontario to a schoolteacher mother and a father who was the proprietor of a heating business. Lemche attended the Mayfield School of Arts, not so much because he dreamed of being an actor, but because his friends attended the school. At 17, when a summer job as a lifeguard was not ideal, he answered a newspaper casting call and won a role on the Disney series Flash Forward. Things quickly snowballed from there.
Abandoning plans to study biochemistry in University, he instead moved to Prince Edward Island to work on the CBC series Emily of New Moon. His work on the show not only earned him a Gemini Award, it also brought him to the attention of various casting directors which lead to putting in some frequent flyer miles. He traveled to Dublin to film Newton: A Tale of Two Issacs, Romania for Teen Knight and Prague for Joan of Arc.
He has appeared on La Femme Nikita and in movies such as eXistenZ, Ginger Snaps and Knockaround Guys. In in the United States, he has appeared on 'Dragnet', was a series regular on My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star, and had a recurring role on Joan of Arcadia as one of the incarnations of God. He was then seen on the big screen in Ginger Snaps, Final Destination 3 and the critically acclaimed A Simple Curve. He appeared in three episodes of the show " Ghost Whisperer ". Most recently, he had a major role in the television movie 24: Redemption.

Nicole Lyn Hill
Born on February 24, 1978 in Brampton, Ontario is a television actress. She is also known for her role in Student Bodies, a Canadian teen comedy series.
Lyn married actor Dulé Hill (of The West Wing) on July 10, 2004.
Lyn was born to Jamaican mother of African descent and a Jamaican father of Chinese/Caucasian descent. She grew up in the Toronto area. As a child, Nicole also danced in the National Ballet School's Junior Dance division, and was a member of The Canadian Children's Opera Chorus. Nicole entered show business when she was offered a spot on a Jordache billboard after accompanying her aunt (who was at the time a model) to her audition.
She auditioned for and was admitted to Claude Watson School for the Arts at age 10. She worked filming commercials, guest starring roles, and had co-starring role on the Canadian kid-com Eric's World (1991).
She later moved to Jamaica (where her father resides) in 10th grade and attended Belair High School in Mandeville.
One of her first auditions upon returning to Canada was for a YTV Teen Comedy titled Student Bodies (1997), on which she landed a lead role alongside Jamie Elman (of American Dreams (2002)), Katie Emme McIninch, Ross Hull, Jennifer Finnigan, and Mark Taylor.
Lyn made her acting debut in the television series Ramona. She has made television guest appearances in Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Relic Hunter, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, My Secret Identity, The West Wing, Half & Half, and Psych. She was a series regular in the Canadian television shows Eric’s World and Student Bodies.
Lyn has appeared in television films such as On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story, Dying To Dance, the Showtime miniseries Anne Rice's The Feast Of All Saints, and she appeared in the feature film Deliver Us From Eva. 

Friendly Rich (real name Richard Marsella)
A Canadian avant-garde composer/musician from Brampton, Ontario. His music has been featured on CBC and The Tom Green Show.
Mr. Rich has composed background music for 3 seasons of MTV's The Tom Green Show. Since 1994, he has recorded exclusively for his own eclectic record label, The Pumpkin Pie Corporation. Rich has a Masters degree in music at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Lee Bartel and composer R. Murray Schafer. His main areas of study include musical instrument construction and parade pedagogy.
Friendly Rich has produced and composed 7 full-length CDs to date, having been featured on CBC Radio One (5 documentaries for Out front), CBC Radio Two (continuous airplay on Brave New Waves), TFO (VOLT) and Much music (Much news, Brad TV).
Friendly Rich is also the founder and director of the Brampton Indie Arts Festival, an annual event which promotes underground artists, held in February at the Rose Theatre in downtown Brampton. Since 2000, this event has attracted artists as Nash the Slash, The Nihilist Spasm Band, Ron Sexsmith, Cuff the Duke, Bob Wiseman, John Oswald, Moneen, Scott Thompson, Hayden, and many more...
Friendly Rich and his live ensemble The Lollipop People recently signed a deal with Hazelwood Records (Germany) to release two albums in Europe. They toured in Germany and Austria with The Great Bertholinis in Spring 2008. They will return for another tour in Europe in Spring 2009. 

Moneen
Is an indie rock band from Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
The band formed in 1999 after the dissolution of another band, called Perfectly Normal. Moneen's original bass player, Mark Bowser, was replaced by Chris Slorach, who left the band after the release of The Theory of Harmonial Value. Erik Hughes (who played bass for the band on their first Canadian tour) later became the permanent bass player for the band.
The band released their first two albums on Smallman Records, and later signed to Vagrant Records. Smallman Records still distributes their albums in Canada. In 2005 they released a split EP with Alexisonfire on Dine Alone Records, on which each band covered two of the other's songs, plus an original song.
In 2005, director Alex Liu followed the band through the recording process for The Red Tree, filming a documentary entitled The Start to This May Be the End to Another. The Red Tree was released on April 11, 2006. The documentary was released as part of The Moneen DVD: It All Started with a Red Stripe on May 13, 2008. The DVD has been nominated for a Juno Award for Music DVD of The Year.
In March 2008, Moneen parted ways with their drummer Peter Krpan, who decided to start a solo project named One Grand Canyon, and acquired new drummer Steve Nunnaro as a permanent replacement. In the same announcement, the band revealed they are nine songs into their upcoming record.
Moneen began recording their fourth studio album in December 2008, which is expected to be released in 2009. 

Jason Collett
Toronto based singer-songwriter. He is a member of Broken Social Scene but also tours on his own, having released four solo CDs. His latest album, Here's to Being Here, was released in February, 2008.
Born in Bramalea, Ontario, a Toronto suburb, Collett began writing songs at a young age to escape the boredom of his suburban life. He lists Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Nick Lowe as influences. Eventually Collett moved to downtown Toronto where he worked as a woodworker and carpenter, doing renovations and custom home building, while he pursued his music. He was a part of the short-lived country-alt group "Bird", of which Andrew Cash and Hawksley Workman were also members. "Bird" released one album, 2000’s Chrome Reflection. Collett also took part in Toronto’s popular indie music gathering, Radio Mondays. Collett, along with others such as The Weakerthans and artists on the record label Arts & Crafts, would perform and write songs together. Collett has mentioned how Radio Mondays were great community-building events, with 5 or 6 artists on stage at a time.
It was his work with Broken Social Scene that allowed Collett to give up woodworking and become a full time musician. Collett became a member of Broken Social Scene, serving as one of their guitarists, after the band’s album You Forgot It In People. Collett was eventually convinced by Kevin Drew to join the band once they moved from a strictly instrumental band into one that wrote their own songs (digphilly). Though Collett took a break from touring with Broken Social Scene in the fall of 2005 to pursue his solo career and spend time with his family (BSS wiki), Collett has made many musical connections through the band. His 2005 album, Idols of Exile, produced by Howie Beck, featured many prominent Canadian artists. Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, Leslie Feist and Bramptonn Canning all contributed, as did members of Stars and Metric.
Collett now focuses on his solo work, having completed four solo albums. In 2001 he released Bitter Beauty; in 2002 it was Motor Motel Love Songs. In 2005 he released Idols of Exile, his first on his current record label, Arts & Crafts; it is the same label to sign Broken Social Scene. Jason's latest, Here's to Being Here, was released in February 2008 and is different from Idols of Exile. Instead of a group effort, with many collaborating artists, Collett decided to focus on making an album that was meant to be played live. Collett tours under his own name with backing band The Dark Horse. In February 2008, Collett added Gregory McDonald, who plays keyboards with Sloan, and Jeremy Little, a bass player, to his touring band. Formerly touring with backing band Paso Mino, made up of members Robbie Drake, Afie Jurvanen, Mike O'Brien and Michael P. Clive, Collett’s band has undergone many changes in recent years. For Collet's Wood Wires and Whiskey tour in Autumn 2008, the band consisted of Robbie Drake and Mike O'Brien, as well as newcomers Carlin Nicholson (also a member of Toronto acts Zeus and the 68's) and Neil Quin (also a member of Toronto acts Zeus, Major Grange and The Sexy Moving Parts). Paso Mino’s guitarist now tours full time with Feist.
Collett, now based in Toronto, is married to a social worker. Together they have three children. He has lived in many neighbourhoods in Toronto, from Kensington to the Ossington and Bloor area. Jason has been eating organic food since the mid 1990s and makes an effort to ensure that all the food on his tour bus is organic. Jason is also very politically involved. He is a member of Canada’s New Democratic Party and performed at an NDP kick-off rally in Toronto during the Fall 2008 election. At a recent show at Queen's University, Collett expressed his displeasure for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He also brought a petition to get Canadian citizen Omar Khadr released from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre where he has been kept for some time.

Nathaniel Branden, né Nathan Blumenthal
(born 9 April 1930 in Brampton, Ontario, Canada), is a psychotherapist and writer best known today for his work in the psychology of self-esteem. A one-time associate of novelist Ayn Rand, Branden had a prominent role in promoting Rand's philosophy, Objectivism.
Branden received a BA in psychology from the University of California Los Angeles, an MA from New York University, and in 1973, a Ph.D. in psychology from the California Graduate Institute, an unaccredited, state-approved school whose graduates may be licensed by the State to practice psychology.
In 1950, after having become a fan of Ayn Rand's novels and exchanging letters and phone calls with her, the 19-year-old Branden met Rand. The pair went on to develop an eighteen-year personal and professional relationship. Eventually, Rand and the much younger Branden had a romantic affair. While both were married to other people at the time, both of their respective spouses consented to the affair before it started. According to Barbara Branden, however, "the affair was agonizingly painful", both to her and Rand's husband.
For many years Branden was considered to be the leading figure in the Objectivist movement, second only to Rand herself. He was the leader of a group of Rand's closest associates known as The Collective, which also included his wife Barbara Branden, Leonard Peikoff and Alan Greenspan. At the time, Rand considered him to be a soul mate of hers and designated him her "intellectual heir". In 1958 Branden founded the Nathaniel Branden Institute to promote Objectivism through lectures and educational seminars around the United States. The NBI became enormously successful, and soon had representatives all over the US and around the world.
During the period of her affair with Branden, Ayn Rand wrote Atlas Shrugged, which she considered to be her magnum opus. She named one of the minor characters in the book "Nathaniel" after Branden. He was a heroic 19th Century railroad builder, an ancestor of the book's main protagonist whom she seeks to emulate and whose picture she keeps on her wall throughout the book.
In 1965 Branden separated from his wife. In 1968, the close relationship between Rand and Branden came to an abrupt end when Rand discovered that Branden had been having a sexual relationship with a third woman, actress Patrecia Scott, without Rand's knowledge, for more than four years. While Rand had grown skeptical of Branden's feelings, she had also grown skeptical of his general intellectual "drift" along with the weakening commitment to Objectivism that Branden would admit to in later interviews. Rand then expelled Branden from the Objectivist movement. She published a letter in The Objectivist repudiating Branden for these reasons, including his dishonesty, but she did not mention their affair. Branden published a response in which he, too, did not disclose an affair, but in which he publicly accused Rand of desiring such an affair with him. He claimed that their age difference was "an insuperable barrier," for him, to such an affair. The two never reconciled, and Branden remained persona non grata to the mainline Objectivist movement, particularly the group that would go on to form the Ayn Rand Institute.
Shortly thereafter, Branden moved to California and married Scott (a divorce with Barbara having occurred before his break with Ayn). In 1977, Scott unexpectedly died at home due to what was thought to be an epileptic seizure presumably triggered by sunlight off the water in the pool while feeding their dog.
Branden married a third time in 1978, wedding businesswoman Devers Israel, from whom he is also divorced.
Branden retained a relationship with first wife Barbara – sometimes friendly, sometimes acrimonious – who wrote a successful book entitled The Passion of Ayn Rand which detailed Branden's relationship with Rand and the bitter breakup. The book was made into a motion picture in 1999 starring Helen Mirren as Rand and Eric Stoltz as Branden.
However, the accuracy of the film, the book, and Branden's own later memoir have been repeatedly challenged, most notably by James Valliant's The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics. 

Brenna O'Brien
A Canadian actress. She is best known for voicing Rin in the anime series Inuyasha.
She is also known for playing Meghan in Zixx: Level Two and appears in X-Men: The Last Stand as the girl in the car with her family during Magneto's displacement of the Golden Gate Bridge. She also played the daughter of Kerry Norton and Jason Priestly in Masters of Horror: The Screwfly Solution.
O'Brien has dubbed over Yuko Sasamoto's voice twice: in Hamtaro, and Gundam SEED Destiny.

The Junction
Is an indie rock band from Brampton, Ontario 

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