Weekly regulars on the panel included outspoken freelance writer David Menzies, liberal Muslim Tarek Fatah, journalist and broadcaster Marianne Meed Ward, new media personality Andrew Lawton, CUPE leader Sid Ryan, legal agent and socialist Harry Kopyto and high-profile guests, including prominent politicians, journalists and cultural figures such as Mohamed Elmasry,[2] David Orchard,[3] Marva Wisdom,[4] and Bert Archer.
[5] Topics of discussion regularly included provincial and federal and international politics, social issues, religion and healthcare as well as general news and cultural subjects.
Programs on the Middle East have proven contentious in the past with leaders of both the B'nai Brith and Canadian Islamic Congress facing recriminations for controversial remarks.
In the aftermath of program aired on October 19, 2004, Adam Aptowitzer, Ontario chairman of the B'nai Brith Institute for International Affairs, was forced to resign his position after arguing that Israel had used terror against Palestinians legitimately[6] stating that "When Israel uses terror ... to destroy a home and convince people ... to be terrified of what the possible consequences are, I'd say that's an acceptable use to terrify somebody.
"[7] On the same broadcast Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, asserted that all adult Israelis are legitimate targets of attack as a consequence of their service in the Israel Defense Forces.