Discover

The 'Fraser Institute' is a libertarian think tank based in Canada. In Canadian political terminology, it is fiscally conservative. It is also a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency. Its mandate is to advocate for competitive markets which would, according to their philosophy, better provide for the economic and social well-being of all Canadians. It is critical of government spending, high taxes, government deficits, and generally any government action that cannot be supported by Libertarian principles. For example, it supports free trade, closer integration of the Canadian economy with the United States through the adoption of the Amero, privatization of government services, and does not support the prohibition of certain drugs, like marijuana. The Fraser Institute is also skeptical of the need for regulatory action against global warming since they support prioritization of environmental initiatives and view climate change regulations as having "the potential to impose high costs on Canadian citizens and drastically increase the regulatory state, while providing little or no environmental benefit." [1]
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 who was the first executive director of the FI. The current executive director, Mark Mullins, was the Institute's previous director of Ontario policy studies. As a registered charity in Canada, the Institute must file annual registered charity information returns. In its most recent annual return, the Institute reported having: $10.4 million CAD in assets, $6.9 million CAD in annual revenue, and $6.9 million CAD in annual expenditures.

Contents

Operations

Funding

Governance

High-profile figures

Controversy

Global warming

Publications

Notes

External links

Operations

Funding

The last year for which financial data is available for is 2004. The Institute reported in its 2004 year-end annual report that it had $6.9 million CAD in revenues that year. The annual report outlined that 62% of this sum came from charitable foundations, 25% came from corporations and 13% came from individuals. These percentages amounted to roughly $4.3 million, $1.7 million, and $0.9 million CAD, respectively. In 2004, $2.1 million, or roughly 49%, of funds donated to the Institute by a charitable foundation came from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, as per its 2004 registered charity information return with the Canada Revenue Agency.

Governance

The Institute is governed by a board of trustees. Current members of the board are: Raymond Addington (chairman), Hassan Khosrowshahi (vice-chairman), Mark Mitchell (vice-chairman), Gordon Arnell, Charles Barlow, Sonja Bata, Edward Belzberg, Everett Berg, Tony Boeckh, T. Patrick Boyle, Peter Brown, Alex Chafuen, James Chaplin, Serge Darkazanli, James Davidson, John Dobson, Greg Fleck, Shaun Francis, Arthur Grunder, John Hagg, Raymond Heung, Paul Hill, Stephen Hynes, David Laidley, Robert Lee, Brandt Louie, David MacKenzie, William Mackness, Jim Main, James McGovern, Gwyn Morgan, Mark Mullins, Roger Phillips, Herbert Pinder, R. Jack Pirie, Peter Pocklington, Conrad Riley, Anthony Sessions, William Siebens, Arni Thorsteinson, Michael Walker, Peter White, and Catherine Windels.
Former members of the board of trustees include: Barbara Amiel(Conrad Black's wife), David Asper, whose family owns CanWest, Canada's largest media corporation; and Conrad Black accomplice David Radler.

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 Michael Harris, former Alberta Conservative premier Ralph Klein and former Liberal cabinet minister and Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Tobin.

Controversy

Though little known at the time of its founding, the Institute has been a source of controversy since its beginning. It was founded by T.Patrick Boyle with a grant from forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel Limited, at a time when MacMillan-Bloedel was in conflict with the left-wing NDP government of British Columbia then led by Premier Dave Barrett.
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. The accuracy and reliability of the information they produce would therefore often be questioned. The Institute's own publications often refer specifically to their internal peer review process.[2][3] A Google Scholar Search reveals that the Fraser Institute's work is cited more often in peer reviewed journals than the work of any other public policy Institute in Canada. The Institute dedicates less than five percent of its budget to actively promote their findings and their agenda to broadcast and print media, a practice followed by most research foundations or in the research work of university departments.
For one example, a 2002 study by Osgoode Hall Law Professor Neil Brooks 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 demonstrated how 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.^[1] The Institute counters that Professor Brooks confuses the aggregate tax burden with the tax burden borne by those who actually pay tax.
Fraser Institute supporters respond that some of the FI research, like the ''Economic Freedom of the World'' report, have been used in papers that have been peer-reviewed. [4] They assert many other advocacy organizations like Greenpeace also publish research often not peer-reviewed and actively try promote their findings and agenda.
In 1999, the Fraser Institute was attacked by health professionals and scientists 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.
The group has also come under fire from social conservatives, who feel it is too liberal in matters of social policy. For example, the Institute favors the legalization of marijuana.

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.

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)[5]

★ ''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) [6]

Notes

1. Tax Freedom Day - A Flawed, Incoherent, and Pernicious Concept Professor Neil Brooks

External links

★ Fraser Institute of Canada

★ Policy.ca Profile: Fraser Institute

★ CBC Profile: Fraser Institute

★ Canada Revenue Agency registered charity information database: The Fraser Institute