Sean Speer and Robert Asselin are going to help us deconstruct the federal budget – both were economic advisors to Canadian prime ministers – one Liberal the other Conservative.

Sean Speer is Assistant Professor in Public Policy at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He is also the project co-director of the Ontario 360 research project at the Munk School. And he is currently Fellow in Residence and Prime Minister of Canada Fellow at the Public Policy Forum. He previously served as a senior economic adviser to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Robert Asselin is Senior Vice-President, Policy at the Business Council of Canada. He leads the Council’s work on economic recovery and the development of policies that contribute to jobs and economic growth. He is also responsible for fiscal and tax policies. Prior to joining the Business Council, Robert was Senior Global Director, Public Policy at BlackBerry. Robert brings with him more than 10 years of experience in providing economic advice to government, including roles as Policy and Budget Director to Canada’s Finance Minister and as Policy Advisor to Prime Ministers Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau. Robert also spent almost a decade in academia as Associate Director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and as Visiting Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.