Betsy Myers

Myers served as the Obama campaign’s Chief Operations Officer and was the National Women’s Chair for Obama for America. Prior to this appointment, Myers was the Executive Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

As Deputy Assistant to President Clinton, Myers launched and was the first Director of the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach.

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Premier Darrell Dexter

Darrell Dexter was sworn in as Nova Scotia’s Premier on June 19 after an historic election victory.

Nova Scotia’s New Democrats have their first ever majority government and a strong mandate for change.

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Premier Gary Doer

Premier Gary Doer is now into his third straight majority government in Manitoba and is the Dean of Canada’s First Ministers.

His government has an impressive record of balanced budgets and support for social programs. In 2005, Business Week magazine named Premier Doer a Top 20 world leader on clean energy development.

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Alexa McDonough

Alexa McDonough was leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada from 1995 to 2003 and is a pioneer in Canadian politics.

McDonough became the first woman to lead a major party when she was elected leader of Nova Scotia’s New Democrats in 1980. She won her first federal election in 1997 in the riding of Halifax.

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Alexa McDonough scholarship founded

Ed Broadbent

Ed Broadbent led the New Democratic Party of Canada from 1975 to 1989, a time of incredible growth and popularity for the party.

Under his leadership, the New Democrats won 43 seats in the 1988 election—its largest caucus ever.

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Marshall Ganz

Marshall Ganz is a professor at Harvard University and a renowned political and labour organizer.

He has worked with mayors, senators and presidential hopefuls—including Barack Obama—on techniques for mobilizing citizen participation, while researching the decline of civic engagement. He teaches organizing to students, community organizations and unions.

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Frank Corbett

Frank Corbett is Nova Scotia’s New Democrat MLA for Cape Breton Centre. First elected in 1988, he has since been re-elected four times. In June, he was sworn in as Deputy Premier.

Before his life in politics, Corbett was an active trade unionist, serving most notably as President of CEP Local 914M.

Denise Peterson-Rafuse

Denise Peterson–Rafuse was elected as the New Democrat MLA for Chester-St. Margarets in June, and now serves as the Minister of Community Services and Minister of Seniors.

A lifelong Chester resident, Peterson–Rafuse is very active in her community. She is a former program coordinator for the Heart and Stroke Foundation in Nova Scotia.

Leonard Preyra

Leonard Preyra has been the New Democrat MLA for Halifax Citadel since 2006. In June he was appointed Ministerial Assistant for the Office of Immigration.

Preyra is the former Chair of the political science department at St. Mary’s University in Halifax. He’s also served as a consultant on technology and political mobilization.

Lenore Zann

Lenore Zann is Nova Scotia’s New Democrat MLA for Truro-Bible Hill and the ministerial assistant to the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.

After more than 30 years as an actress, Zann ran in the 2009 provincial election and won a convincing victory in the former Conservative stronghold.

Murdena Marshall

Murdena Marshall is a well-known and much loved Mi’kmaw Elder and Spiritual Leader from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

She lives in Eskasoni First Nation and has devoted her life to the promotion and preservation of the Mi’kmaw culture.

Andrew Ference

Andrew Ference is a defenceman with the NHL’s Boston Bruins and one of the league’s leading environmental activists.

He was the driving force behind the NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge, where more than 500 players purchased credits to offset their carbon footprint and support green technology in developing countries.

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Ken Georgetti

Ken Georgetti was first elected President of the Canadian Labour Congress in 1999. Then only 46, he became the youngest president in the CLC’s history.

Since then, Ken has helped modernize the organization by actively promoting women, visible minorities and youth. As a result, it now represents a record 3.2 million workers.

Leo Gerard

Leo Gerard is only the second Canadian to become International President of the United Steelworkers.

In 2006, his organization teamed with other unions, as well as environmental organizations, to form the Blue Green Alliance — a partnership dedicated to expanding the number of good jobs in the green economy.

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