Macdonald-Laurier Institute | Macdonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy

    SOURCE:  Wikipedia, captured 2020-07-30

  • Name: Macdonald-Laurier Institute  [small "d" in "Macdonald"]
  • Abbreviation: MLI
  • Founded: 2010
  • Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • Type: registered charity (for educational purposes), Canada Revenue Agency, and U.S.A.
  • Description: conservative (right-wing), neoliberal free market think tank  |  similar to Fraser Institute
  • Managing Director: Brian Lee Crowley  (Founder, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies)
  • Board of Directors
  • Funding: Koch Family Foundations  |  Donner Canadian Foundation
  • Annual Reports
  • Website: MacdonaldLaurier.ca
  • Associations: member of Atlas Network


    The Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) is an independent and non-partisan think tank located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Managing Director of MLI is Brian Lee Crowley who founded the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, which is located in Atlantic Canada.

    Founded in 2010, the Macdonald-Laurier 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 is as a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency.

    The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has a Board of Directors and an internal Advisory Board that select themes and submit its research for external review.

    Funding

    The Macdonald-Laurier Institute derives its financial support from corporate and individual donors, as well as and private foundation funding sources.

  • The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has received funding from the Machiavellian  Koch family -- cited [2019-09-03] in:  Death of David Koch a reminder of who bankrolls Canada's right.

  • In 2019 the Macdonald-Laurier Institute received grants totaling $162,888 from the Donner Canadian Foundation.

    Publishing

    Since opening its doors in March 2010, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute has produced papers offering its perspective on 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 Macdonald-Laurier 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 provide commentaries on a range of topics including 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 appeared on the best-seller lists of the Montreal Gazette.

    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 Macdonald-Laurier 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 Macdonald-Laurier Institute has also been highlighted in Foreign Policy magazine, the Wall Street Journal and The Economist in its first year.

    Organisation

    Board of directors

    • Pierre Casgrain, Chair
    • Laura Jones, Vice-Chair
    • Brian Lee Crowley, Managing Director
    • Vaughn MacLellan, Secretary
    • Martin MacKinnon, Treasurer
    • Blaine Favel, Director
    • Jayson Myers, Director
    • Dan Nowlan, Director
    • Vijay Sappani, Director
    • Veso Sobot, Director

    Advisory Council 2019

    • John Beck, executive chairman of Aecon
    • Erin Chutter, executive chair of Global Energy Metals Corporation
    • Navjeet (Bob) Dhillon, President and CEO of Mainstreet Equity Corp.
    • Jim Dinning, former Alberta Treasurer
    • David Emerson, former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • Richard Fadden, Former National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada
    • Robert Fulford OC, Former editor of Saturday Night magazine, columnist with the National Post
    • Brian Flemming, Lawyer
    • J. Wayne Gudbranson, CEO of Branham Group Inc.
    • Calvin Helin Aboriginal author and entrepreneur, Vancouver
    • Peter John Nicholson, former President of the Council of Canadian Academies
    • Jim Peterson, former Canadian Minister of International Trade & Partner at Fasken Martineau, Toronto
    • Jacquelyn Thayer Scott, past President and Professor, Cape Breton University
    • Barry Sookman, Senior Partner, McCarthy Tétrault
    • Rob Wildeboer, executive chairman and co-founder of Martinrea International Inc

    Research advisory board

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

    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.

    Political stance

    Alejandro Chafuen, former President of the Atlas Network and current President of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, praised the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in a 2012 Forbes article describing the market-oriented think tank landscape in Canada. The social democratic Broadbent Institute (a think tank on the political left) referred to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute as a "right-wing charity" in a 2018 article and MLI was described as similarly-minded to the Fraser Institute in a 2012 National Post article.


    Additional Reading

  • [Ai-Men Lau (Macdonald-Laurier Institute Communications Officer, and an Advisor to Alliance Canada Hong Kong), MacDonaldLaurier.ca, 2021-05-07] The Unfolding Crisis of Hong Kong: Ai-Men Lau for Inside Policy.  |    local copy

    • Living in fear and uncertainty, pro-democracy Hong Kongers are struggling to see a brighter future, writes Ai-Men Lau. Today, they can be arrested for simply holding up blank pieces of paper in protest. The following remarks are based on the research, analysis, and recommendations developed by the Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK) as part of their testimony before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights (SDIR). These remarks were delivered by Ai-Men Lau, an ACHK Advisor. For more information, the full testimony is available here  [local copy], and ACHK's recommendations can be read here   [local copy].

      [ ... snip ... ]


    • Ai-Men Lau is also mentioned here:  [CBC.ca, 2021-12-07] Spy agency warned Trudeau China's tactics becoming more "sophisticated ... insidious.  CSIS says foreign interference operations "have become normalized."


  • [2020-10-02]  Right-Wing Think Tank Accused of Demonizing Sikh-Canadians Also Works to Send Canadian Oil to India.  Why did the Macdonald-Laurier Institute publish a controversial report authored by retired CBC journalist Terry Milewski?


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