Vassy Kapelos is the host of Power & Politics, based in Ottawa. Prior to working at CBC, she was Ottawa bureau chief and host of The West Block on Global News. While covering federal politics, Vassy interviewed everyone from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. She’s covered and anchored multiple elections – both federal and provincial. Vassy has also reported on stories and events all over the world, from places like Rio de Janeiro, Iraq, South Korea and Japan, and reported on breaking news across Canada, including the fire in Slave Lake, floods in Manitoba and the shooting on Parliament Hill. Before working in Ottawa, Vassy covered provincial politics in Alberta and Saskatchewan. She is the recipient of an Edward R. Murrow award for her work on a series called Code Red, which exposed the shortcomings of Edmonton’s emergency response system. Vassy was also part of a team that won an RTNDA Award for the documentary “16X9: Wives of ISIS”, which took an in-depth look at how young girls living in Canada are lured to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS.

Sarah Kendzior is a journalist based in St Louis, Missouri. She is an op-ed columnist for The Globe and Mail, where she focuses primarily on U.S. politics and is the co-host of Gaslit Nation, a weekly podcast which covers corruption in the Trump administration and the rise of authoritarianism around the world. SHe is also a frequent contributor to a number of news outlets, including Fast Company and NBC News, and has written for numerous publications, including Quartz, The Guardian and Foreign Policy. She is the author of the best-selling essay collection The View From Flyover Country, and is also a researcher and scholar, focussing on the authoritarian states of the former Soviet Union and how the internet affects political mobilization, self-expression, and trust.

Tonda MacCharles is a Newfoundland native and a senior reporter in the Toronto Star’s Ottawa bureau where she has covered federal politics and public policy for 20 years. Her 35-year journalistic career includes nearly 10 years in broadcast journalism with CBC’s The National and The Fifth Estate. Her beats have spanned coverage of all major political parties, legal affairs and public safety issues.

Alison Smith is host of Perspective with Alison Smith on CPAC. As an anchor and reporter for more than three decades, she was a senior award-winning member of the CBC News team. She has reported from every Canadian province and territory and across the globe. She has hosted a wide range of network TV and radio news programs including The National, CBC News Morning and CBC Radio’s The World at Six. As a live news anchor, reporter and foreign correspondent, some of the stories she has covered include the September 11th attacks, the death of Princess Diana, elections in Israel, South Africa and Mexico and as Washington correspondent, she covered the historic election of US President Barack Obama.