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. 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." Its principles are generally that of
classical liberalism and
libertarianism.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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. 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. The Institute's 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. The Institute counters that Professor Brooks confuses the aggregate tax burden with the tax burden borne by those who actually pay tax.
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.
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.
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)
- Measuring Poverty in Canada, (a series articles/studies from 1992-2006), see related article Poverty in Canada
- Independent Summary for Policymakers, IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (2007)
