Paul Desmarais, Sr., PC CC (born January 4, 1927, in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian financier in Montreal. With an estimated net worth of $US 4.5 billion (as of March 2011), Desmarais was ranked by Forbes as the 4th wealthiest person in Canada and 235th in the world. He is CEO of the Power Corporation of Canada (PCC), a Canadian company active in the fields of mass media, pulp and paper and financial services.

Desmarais has two sons: Paul Jr. and André (who is married to former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's daughter France) and two daughters, Sophie and Louise. Sophie Desmarais’ ex-husband, Eric Le Moyne de Sérigny, is involved in a political financing scandal in France known as the Bettencourt case widely covered by the French media. French President Nicolas Sarkozy came under fire after allegations that his presidential campaign was illegally funded by Liliane Bettencourt, L’Oreal heiress and France’s wealthiest woman. Sérigny is close to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, heads numerous companies, and a member of the board of directors of Imerys, a mining company partially owned by a subsidiary of the Power Corporation of Canada and majority owned by the Desmarais family and tycoon Albert Frère, the richest man in Belgium who was involved in the UN Oil-for-Food scandal.

Paul Desmarais, Jr., OC, OQ (born July 3, 1954) is a Canadian businessman in his hometown of Montreal.

He is the eldest son of Paul Desmarais, Sr. Currently he is the chairman and co-chief executive officer of Power Corporation of Canada.

Desmarais was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He was educated at Lakefield College School in Lakefield, Ontario, McGill University in Montréal, Quebec, and at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, where he earned a Master of Business Administration. He is a Roman Catholic.

Desmarais also sits on the board of directors of Suez, a multinational corporation that is a world leader in the water utilities sector and is a member of the Bilderberg Group.

Paul Desmarais also has four children: Paul, Alexandre, Nicholas, and Charles-Edouard.

In 2004, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 2009.

Micheline Lanctôt (born May 12, 1947 at Frelighsburg, Quebec, Canada) is an actress, film director, screenwriter, and musician.

Lanctôt's post-secondary education was in music, fine arts and theatre at Collège Jésus-Marie in Outremont, and in art history (at the Université de Montréal and the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal) before switching to film animation, which she did originally at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and then at Gerald Potterton's studios, Potterton Productions, where she remained for four years.

Lanctôt began her acting career in 1972, winning an Etrog (now called a Genie) award for best female performance for her starring role in Gilles Carle's La Vrai Nature de Bernadette. Since then, she has appeared in a wide variety of film and television roles, such as Les Corps Célestes (again by Carle); Ted Kotcheff's award-winning The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Blood Relatives (by Claude Chabrol) and Guy Fournier's Radio-Canada TV series, Jamais deux sans toi.

She has directed for the theatre also, directing Oleanna by David Mamet for the Théâtre de Quat'Sous in Montreal in 1994, and in 1999, Bousille et les justes by Gratien Gélinas for the Théâtre du Rideau Vert.

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin PC, CC (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin, Jr., is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

On November 14, 2003, Martin succeeded Jean Chrétien as leader of the Liberal Party and became prime minister on December 12, 2003. After the 2004 election, his Liberal Party retained power, though it was reduced to a minority government. Forced by a confidence vote, the 2006 general election produced a minority government for the opposition Conservative Party, making Stephen Harper prime minister. Martin stepped down as parliamentary leader after the election, handing the reins to Bill Graham for the interim. Martin stayed on as party leader until he resigned on March 18, being eventually succeeded by Stephane Dion.

Martin served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of LaSalle—Émard in Montreal from his election in the 1988 election to his retirement in 2008. He served as Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2002. He oversaw many changes in the financial structure of the Canadian government, and his policies had a direct effect on eliminating the country's chronic fiscal deficit by reforming various programs including social services.