The Power List: 50 Canadians who are shaping how we think and live

Monday, January 18, 2021 / Campus

Sean Speer headshot

Maclean’s canvassed the landscape for Canadians with qualities they think represent power in a time of transformative change.  Lakehead alumnus Sean Speer (HBA'05) made their Top 50 list: "By their actions, words or character, they force us to watch, listen and learn. They are moving the needle in their chosen fields, and in many cases the wider world. Importantly, they are good-faith actors. History may judge them wrong, but they act in the belief that doing so will result in a better world."

Sean's entry writes: "The Tories in Ottawa feast on scandal, always hunting for the next ethical lapse or spending spree that might knock the Liberals off their game. Sean Speer, a big-ideas machine and former economic adviser to Stephen Harper, takes a longer view. Speer publishes papers at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and serves as director at Ontario 360, a think tank based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. His arguments on economic growth and recovery are credible enough that Liberals have a hard time disagreeing with him. He wrote that no party is speaking to the “forgotten people” of Canada who struggle to shift to an “intangible economy” based on intellectual property and data. Those voters are up for grabs. Will the Conservatives listen to one of their keenest thinkers and build a tent for them?"
(written by Nick Taylor-Vaisey)

 

Read the complete article here: https://www.macleans.ca/rankings/canadas-most-powerful-people-2021/#ranking