John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative (PC or Tory) party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an election victory, doing so three times, although only once with a majority of seats in the Canadian House of Commons.

Diefenbaker was born in southwestern Ontario in 1895. In 1903, his family migrated west to the portion of the Northwest Territories which would shortly thereafter become the province of Saskatchewan. He grew up in the province, and was interested in politics from a young age. After brief service in World War I, Diefenbaker became a lawyer. He contested elections through the 1920s and 1930s with little success until he was finally elected to the House of Commons in 1940.

In the House of Commons, Diefenbaker was repeatedly a candidate for the PC leadership. He attained leadership of the party in 1956, leading it for eleven years. In 1957, he led the party to its first electoral victory in 27 years; a year later he called a snap election and spearheaded the Tories to one of their greatest triumphs. Diefenbaker appointed the first female minister in Canadian history to his Cabinet, as well as the first aboriginal member of the Senate. During his six years as Prime Minister, his government obtained passage of the Canadian Bill of Rights and granted the vote to the First Nations and Inuit peoples. In foreign policy, his stance against apartheid helped secure the departure of South Africa from the Commonwealth of Nations, but his indecision on whether to accept Bomarc nuclear missiles from the United States led to his government's downfall. Diefenbaker is also remembered for his role in the 1959 cancellation of the Avro Arrow project.

Paul Michael Gross (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, producer, director, singer and writer born in Calgary, Alberta. He is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the television series Due South as well as his 2008 war film Passchendaele, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. During Due South's final season, Gross acted as executive producer in addition to starring, wrote the season three opener and finale, the two part series finale and wrote and sang for the show, some of which can be found on the two Due South soundtracks. He later found success with another Canadian TV series, Slings and Arrows. He also produced one film with Akshay Kumar called Speedy Singhs starting Camilla Belle and Vinay Virmani.

Gross studied acting at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, but he left during the third year of his study. He went back later to complete the half-credit needed to receive his fine arts degree. He appeared in several stage productions, such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. Other productions in which he appeared include Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and As You Like It.

Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, PC CC SOM (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Baptist minister, and Canadian social democratic politician. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party. He left federal politics to become the Saskatchewan CCF's leader and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961. His government was the first social democratic government in North America, and it introduced the continent's first single payer, universal health care program. After setting up Saskatchewan's medicare program, he stepped down as premier and ran to lead the newly formed federal New Democratic Party, the National CCF's successor party. Douglas was elected as its first federal leader in 1961. Although he never led the party to government, through much of his tenure, the party held the balance of power in the House. He was noted as being the main opposition voice to the inposition of the War Measures Act, during the 1970 October Crisis. He stepped down as leader the following year, but remained as a Member of Parliament until 1979. He was awarded many honorary degrees, and a foundation was named for him and his political mentor M.J. Coldwell in 1971. In 1981, he was invested into the Order of Canada; and became a member of Canada's Privy Council in 1984. He died in 1986 after a battle with cancer. In 2004, a CBC Television program named him "The Greatest Canadian," based on a viewer-supported survey.