| The Fraser Institute | |
|---|---|
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| Motto | A free and prosperous world through choice, markets and responsibility |
| Formation | 1974 |
| Type | Public policy think tank |
| Headquarters | 1770 Burrard Street |
| Location | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Executive Director | Mark Mullins |
| Website | www.fraserinstitute.org |
The Fraser Institute is a think tank based in Canada that espouses free market principles. Its stated mandate is to advocate for freedom and competitive markets. It generally opposes public policy solutions based on government spending, taxes, deficits, and regulation. Some of the public policy stands taken by the Institute include: greater free trade throughout the world, privatization of various government services, the freedom to own and acquire firearms without controls, marijuana legalization, competition in primary schooling, and greater private sector involvement in the delivery of healthcare insurance and services.
Unlike the Cato Institute, the analogous free-market think tank in the United States, the Fraser Institute does not advance opinions on geopolitical issues.[citation needed] For instance, the Institute did not comment on the Canada's decision not to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq nor does it have a position on whether Canadian soldiers should be in Afghanistan. In terms of present hot topics in public policy, the Institute opposes government regulatory action as a possible solution to global warming. They argue that regulations have "the potential to impose high costs on Canadian citizens and drastically increase the regulatory state, while providing little or no environmental benefit."[citation needed] Its principles are generally that of classical liberalism and libertarianism.[citation needed]
The Institute (named for the Fraser River) is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded in 1974 by Michael Walker, an economist from the University of Western Ontario and businessman T. Patrick Boyle, then a Vice President of MacMillan Bloedel. The current executive director, Mark Mullins, was the Institute's previous director of Ontario policy studies.
Contents |
Operations
Funding
As a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency, the Institute must file annual registered charity information returns. In 2007, the most recent annual returns, the Institute and the affiliated Fraser Institute Foundation together reported having $15.2 million CAD in assets, $9.1 million in equity and $13.7 million in annual revenue.[1] [2]
Governance
The Institute is governed by a board of trustees. Current members of the board are: Hassan Khosrowshahi (chairman), Mark Mitchell (vice-chairman), Edward Belzberg (vice-chairman), Salem Ben Nasser Al Ismaily, Louis-Philippe Amiot, Gordon Arnell, Charles Barlow, Everett Berg, Tony Boeckh, T. Patrick Boyle, Peter Brown, Joseph Canavan, Alex Chafuen, Elizabeth Chaplin, Derwood Chase, James Davidson, Stuart Elman, Greg Fleck, Shaun Francis, Ned Goodman, Arthur Grunder, John Hagg, Paul Hill, Stephen Hynes, David Laidley, Robert Lee, Brandt Louie, David MacKenzie, William Mackness, Hubert Marleau, James McGovern, Gwyn Morgan, Mark Mullins, Eleanor Nicholls, Roger Phillips, Herbert Pinder, R. Jack Pirie, Conrad Riley, Anthony Sessions, William Siebens, Arni Thorsteinson, Michael Walker, and Catherine Windels.[3]
Former members of the board of trustees include David Asper, whose family owns CanWest Global, Canada's largest media corporation; Barbara Amiel, wife of Conrad Black; and David Radler, Black's former business partner.
High-profile figures
The Institute has attracted some well-known individuals to its ranks, such as founding member Friedrich Hayek. The Institute maintains that it has an apolitical stance and refuses to align itself with any political party. For example, in recent years, it has brought into its fold former politicians such as former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, former Ontario Conservative premier Mike Harris, former Alberta Conservative premier Ralph Klein and former Liberal cabinet minister and Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Tobin.
Controversy
The Institute has been a source of controversy from the beginning. Some charge that Michael Walker, an economist from the University of Western Ontario, helped set up the institute after he received financial backing from forestry giant MacMillan-Bloedel, largely to counter British Columbia's NDP government.[4] then led by Premier Dave Barrett. The relationship, though, was short-lived as MacMillian-Bloedel broke ties with the Institute when it published a book opposing wage and price controls.[citation needed] The CEO of MacMillian-Bloedel at the time supported wage and price controls.
Critics of the Institute and other similar agenda-driven think tanks have claimed the Fraser Institute's reports, studies and surveys are usually not subject to standard academic peer review or the scholarly method. Institute supporters claims their research is peer-reviewed both by internal and external experts.[5] The Institute's Environmental Indicators (6th Ed) has an academic article devoted to its flaws: McKenzie and Rees (2007), "An analysis of a brownlash report", Ecological Economics 61(2-3), pp505-515.
In 2002, a study by Neil Brooks of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives claimed the Institute's widely promoted Tax Freedom Day, described as the date each year when the average Canadian's income no longer goes to paying government taxes, included flawed accounting. The Brooks study stated that the Institute's methods of accounting excluded several important forms of income and inflated tax figures, moving the date nearly two months later in the year.[6] The Institute counters that Professor Brooks confuses the aggregate tax burden with the tax burden borne by those who actually pay tax.[citation needed]
In 1999, the Fraser Institute was attacked by health professionals and scientists[citation needed] for sponsoring two conferences on the tobacco industry entitled "Junk Science, Junk Policy? Managing Risk and Regulation" and "Should government butt out? The pros and cons of tobacco regulation." Critics charged the Institute was associating itself with the tobacco industry's many attempts to discredit authentic scientific work.
In 2004, the Institute published a Crime & Drug Policy paper suggesting the prohibition on marijuana cannot be sustained with the present technology of production and enforcement.[7]
Global warming
Ross McKitrick, a Senior Fellow of the Institute, has been a prominent critic of some scientific opinion on climate change. On February 5, 2007, the Institute published The Independent Summary for Policymakers, IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.[8]
Publications
- Caring For Profit: Economic Dimensions of Canada's Health Care Industry (1987)
- Privatization: Tactics and Techniques (1988)
- Waiting Your Turn: Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada series (1990-present)
- Economics and the Environment: A Reconciliation (1990)
- The Case for the Amero: The Economics and Politics of a North American Monetary Union (1999)[1]
- Measuring Poverty in Canada, (a series articles/studies from 1992-2006), see related article Poverty in Canada
- Immigration and the Welfare State in Canada: Growing Conflicts, Constructive Solutions (2005), see related article Economic impact of immigration to Canada
- Fraser Institute Report Card on Alberta's High Schools (2006)
- Independent Summary for Policymakers, IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (2007) [2]
References
- ^ CRA Annual Return 2007
- ^ CRA Annual Return 2007
- ^ The Fraser Institute
- ^ CBC News Indepth: Fraser Institute/
- ^ http://www.fraserinstitute.org/aboutus/peerreview/
- ^ Neil Brooks (16 June 2005). "Tax Freedom Day - A Flawed, Incoherent, and Pernicious Concept". http://www.policyalternatives.ca/index.cfm?act=news&call=1122&do=article&pA=BB736455. Retrieved 2005-12-11.
- ^ Marijuana Growth in British Columbia
- ^ The Fraser Institute
External links
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