Macdonald-Laurier Institute

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) is a right-leaning public policy think tank located in Ottawa, Canada. The Managing Director of MLI is Brian Lee Crowley who was also the founding President of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), a think tank based in Atlantic Canada.

Founded in 2010, the institute is named after two of Canada’s earliest and most recognizable political leaders: Sir John A. Macdonald was Canada’s first prime minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier was the country’s first French-Canadian prime minister. MLI maintains its political independence and is a Canada Revenue Agency-registered charity for educational purposes. Its official mandate is "to make poor quality public policy unacceptable in Ottawa", and to promote freemarket conservatism.

The institute provides detailed information with respect to its research independence, which includes both internal controls (through a board of directors that determines and approves themes, and a research advisory board that selects external review) and external peer review of research efforts. The institute derives its financial support from individual, corporate and private foundation funding sources.

Publishing

Since opening its doors in March 2010, MLI has produced papers dealing with crime statistics, aboriginal post-secondary education, inter-provincial trade, and prison radicalization. In addition, study series have been initiated in the areas of Canada’s founding ideas and the creation of a national security strategy for Canada such as the series on Aboriginal Canada and the Natural Resource Economy Series. The institute also published a policy paper reviewing mortgage insurance in Canada. (See list of publications below.)

The organisation also publishes irregular shorter papers that they refer to as Commentaries. These cover diverse topics and to date include: AbitibiBowater, Democracy and the Public Interest, Prison Radicalization, Keeping the US-Canada Border Open, Canadian Manufacturing, Corporate Income Taxes, Honouring Sacrifice, MLI Report Card on the Government Response to Human Smuggling, The Western Alliance: A Moral Superpower or Nothing, The International Court of Justice advisory Opinion on Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence: What does it mean for Quebec’s Sovereigntist Movement?, Seniors, Population Ageing and the Future of Canada, Why is Good Policy Toxic Politics?, Why Aiding Pakistan Matters, and The ‘Sun Sea’ Tamil Mass Refugee Claim: An Opportunity for Needed Reforms.

MLI also published its first book in May 2010. Titled The Canadian Century: Moving out of America’s Shadow, the book has met with considerable critical acclaim. It appeared on the best-seller lists of the Montreal Gazette and was cited as one of the year’s best political books by The Hill Times. The Globe and Mail reviewer, Neil Reynolds, called it a "visionary work".

Impact

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has generated substantial media coverage of its publications, public policy ideas and opinions during its time in operation. Contributors and staff have appeared in national and regional news media comment on a variety of national issues. The Institute maintains a list of media information on its web site. Of note are Op-Eds that have appeared in Canada’s national newspapers, the Globe and Mail and National Post, as well as in the Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, Windsor Star, Moncton Times-Transcript, Halifax Chronicle-Herald and more. The Institute has also been highlighted in Foreign Policy magazine, the Wall Street Journal and The Economist in its first year.

Organisation

Board of directors

• Rob Wildeboer, Chair
• Brian Lee Crowley, Managing Director
• Lincoln Caylor, Secretary
• Les Kom, Treasurer
• John Beck, Director
• Erin Chutter, Director
• Navjeet (Bob) Dhillon, Director
• J. Wayne Gudbranson, Director
• Martin MacKinnon, Director
• Peter John Nicholson, Director
• Rick Peterson, Director
• Jacquelyn Thayer Scott, Director
• Keith Gillam, Director
• Stanley Hartt, Director

Advisory Council 2013

• Purdy Crawford Former CEO, Imasco, Counsel at Osler Hoskins
• Jim Dinning Former Treasurer of Alberta
• Don Drummond Economics Advisor to the TD Bank, Matthews Fellow in Global Policy and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University
• Brian Flemming International lawyer, writer and policy advisor
• Robert Fulford OC, Former editor of Saturday Night magazine, columnist with the National Post, Toronto,
• Calvin Helin Aboriginal author and entrepreneur, Vancouver
• Hon. Jim Peterson Former federal cabinet minister, Partner at Fasken Martineau, Toronto
• Maurice B. Tobin The Tobin Foundation, Washington DC

Research advisory board

• Janet Ajzenstat
• Brian Ferguson
• Jack Granatstein
• Patrick James
• Rainer Knopff
• Larry Martin
• Christopher Sands
• William Watson

MLI fellows

• Jason Clemens, Fellow
• Alex Wilner, Fellow

Books and publications

Books

• The Canadian Century: Moving Out of America's Shadow, by Brian Lee Crowley, Jason Clemens and Neils Veldhuis, May 2010.
• Fearful Symmetry: The Fall and Rise of Canada’s Founding Values, by Brian Lee Crowley.
• The Economic Dependency Trap: Breaking Free To Self-Reliance, by MLI Advisory Council member Calvin Helin.

Study papers

• The Way Out: New thinking about Aboriginal engagement and energy infrastructure to the West Coast Brian Lee Crowley and Ken Coates, 30 May 2013
• Why Canadian crime statistics don't add up: Not the whole truth, by Scott Newark, February 9, 2011.
• From Rehabilitation to Recruitment, by Alex Wilner, October 18, 2010.
• Citizen of One, Citizen of the Whole: How Ottawa can strengthen our nation by eliminating provincial trade barriers with a charter of economic rights, by Brian Lee Crowley, Robert Knox and John Robson, June 21, 2010.
• Free to Learn: Giving Aboriginal Youth Control over Their Post-Secondary Education, by Calvin Helin and Dave Snow, March 15, 2010.

National security strategy

• To Stand On Guard, by Paul H. Chapin, November 29, 2010.

Pharmaceutical series

• Pills, Patents & Profits, by Brian Ferguson, March 25, 2011.

Canada's founding ideas

• Confederation and Individual Liberty, by Janet Ajzenstat, November 10, 2010.

Policy briefings

• Mortgage Insurance in Canada, by Jane Londerville, November 18, 2010.

Controversy

The Institute professes to be strictly non-partisan and points to its name as a prime indicator of this intent. However, as a think tank directed by high-profile businesspeople with an emphasis on lowering business taxes, reducing government spending [1], privatizing the healthcare system [2] and "working toward a common security perimeter with the United States"[3] the institute's sympathies are on the right wing of the political spectrum. There are direct links between the founding of the institute and Jim Flaherty, the Conservative finance minister [4]. The founder of the institute (Brian Lee Crowley) has been a close advisor of Flaherty as well.[5] In addition, some of the institute's report writers have strong conservative views.[6] Moreover, links between Brian Lee Crowley and the right-wing Galen Institute [7] and intellectual debts to free market economists such as Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises [8] mark clearly its neoliberal position.

External links

• The Macdonald-Laurier Institute