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Macdonald–Laurier Institute

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Macdonald-Laurier Institute
AbbreviationMLI
Formation2010[1]
TypePublic policy think tank
Headquarters323 Chapel Street, Suite #300, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7Z2, Canada
Key people
Brian Lee Crowley, Managing Director[2]
Websitemacdonaldlaurier.ca

The Macdonald–Laurier Institute (MLI) is a public policy think tank located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.[3][4]

Founded in 2010, the institute is named after John A. Macdonald, a Tory and Canada's first prime minister, and Wilfrid Laurier, a Grit (Liberal) the country's first French-Canadian prime minister.[5] MLI is a registered charity and is funded by corporate and individual donors and private foundations.[6][7][8]

MLI's analysis has been described as market-oriented.[9] It is affiliated with the Atlas Network, a conservative and libertarian group based in the United States.[10][11][12] MLI says it is non-partisan, a description used for it by The Economist in 2010 and by a story in The Globe and Mail in 2024.[13][14][15] In August 2022, Russia designated the MLI as an "undesirable organisation".[16]

Research areas and publishing

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MLI is described by Global News as "an Ottawa-based think tank made up of academics, activists and former diplomats and politicians".[17] MLI publishes the periodical Inside Policy,[18] and produces books, reports, commentary, columns, and video.[19] The institute's research areas encompass Canadian domestic and foreign policy, energy policy, and indigenous affairs, according to its website.[20] Examples of current and past MLI research projects include Competition Policy in Canada; DisInfoWatch.org; Aboriginal Canada and the Natural Resource Economy;[21] COVID Misery Index; The Great Energy Crisis; Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads; Internal Trade; Fiscal Reform; Fixing Canadian Health Care; Size of Government in Canada; Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative; and The Canadian Century Project: Why Balanced Budgets Matter.[22][20]

MLI published its first book in May 2010. Titled The Canadian Century: Moving out of America's Shadow, the book appeared on the best-seller list of the Montreal Gazette and was named to the 2010 Hill Times list of Best Books in the public policy category.[23][24][25]

Disinfowatch

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In September 2020, MLI launched "DisinfoWatch", a project to monitor and track disinformation in Canada and debunk misinformation, with a specific focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.[26][27] The project is funded by the Macdonald–Laurier Institute, Journalists for Human Rights, and the United States Department of State's Global Engagement Center, an organization created by former U.S. president Obama.[28] Its listed research partners include the East StratCom Task Force, European Values Center for Security Policy, Henry Jackson Society, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, and the Stockholm Free World Forum.[29]

Impact

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The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has been ranked among the top three Canadian think tanks in the Global Go To Think Tanks Report produced by the University of Pennsylvania's Think Tanks and Civil Society Program.[30][31] In 2012, the same organization ranked MLI as one of the top three of the Best New Think Tanks worldwide.[32]: 87 

MLI contributors and staff have provided commentary for national and regional news media on a variety of national issues.[33] The institute's Op-Eds have appeared in Canadian national newspapers such as The Globe and Mail and National Post, as well as in the Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, Windsor Star, Moncton Times & Transcript, Halifax Chronicle-Herald. The institute has also been highlighted in Foreign Policy magazine,[34] The Wall Street Journal[35] and The Economist.[36] According to MLI, its articles and op-eds appear in the national and international media on average once a day.[37]

According to a report in The Guardian, a multi-year MLI campaign defended oil and gas development rights on Indigenous land. For several years, it helped discourage Canada's government from implementing a United Nations declaration on Indigenous peoples' rights to reject pipelines or drilling, until Parliament eventually passed a law in 2021. The Guardian said the MLI campaign was in partnership with the Atlas Network, a libertarian-conservative group based in the United States, but MLI disputes the relationship.[38][39] MLI said its experts support Indigenous energy rights but took issue with the proposed legislation.[39][third-party source needed]

Political stance

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The Economist described MLI in 2010 as non-partisan, as did a story in The Globe and Mail in 2024.[14][15] MLI was included in a 2012 Forbes article by former Atlas Network president Alejandro Chafuen describing the market-oriented think tank landscape in Canada.[9] MLI was described in 2012 as one of a new generation of similarly-minded think tanks to the Fraser Institute in a story published in the National Post.[40] The social democratic Broadbent Institute referred to the MacDonald-Laurier Institute as a "right-wing charity" in a 2018 article.[41] MLI is one of ten Canadian think tanks that belong to the Atlas Network, a conservative and libertarian group.[10][11][42][43] MLI says it is non-partisan.[13]

In April 2023, MLI's website was blocked in Russia, along with that of other Western think tanks including Britain's Chatham House and the Woodrow Wilson Center in the U.S.[17] Global News said MLI had been "a leading voice against the Russian war in Ukraine".[17] In August 2022 MLI was added to the Russian Ministry of Justice's list of "foreign and international non-governmental organizations whose activities are recognized as undesirable in Russia."[44][45][46][17]

Organisation

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The Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Managing Director is Brian Lee Crowley.[47][48] He has served as the Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at the Department of Finance,[49] and founded the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies.[50] MLI has a Board of Directors, an Advisory Council, and a Research Advisory Board.[51] MLI is a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "The Macdonald-Laurier Institute: A Decade of Canadian Public Policy Thought Leadership". Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
  2. ^ "Who Makes MLI Work". Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
  3. ^ Northam, Jackie (December 27, 2023). "Canada grapples with the effects of deteriorating relations with India and China".
  4. ^ "Who we are". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  5. ^ "Welcome to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  6. ^ a b "The Macdonald-Laurier Institute / L'institut Macdonald-Laurier". Canada Revenue Agency. 2022-05-25. Archived from the original on 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  7. ^ http://watch.sixthestate.net/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PeterMunk?from=Main.AureaFoundation[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ "Support Us". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  9. ^ a b Chafuen, Alejandro (6 August 2013). "We See Thee Rise: Canada's Emerging Role In Policy Leadership". Forbes. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  10. ^ a b Dembicki, Geoff (2022-07-18). "How a conservative US network undermined Indigenous energy rights in Canada". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2023-08-17. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  11. ^ a b Westervelt, Amy; Dembicki, Geoff (2023-09-12). "Meet the Shadowy Global Network Vilifying Climate Protesters". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  12. ^ "Global Directory". Atlas Network. Archived from the original on 2021-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ^ a b "Welcome to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  14. ^ a b "A smaller welcome mat". The Economist. 16 December 2010.
  15. ^ a b Silcoff, Sean (3 January 2024). "Size of federal public service swells to record high, according to report". The Globe and Mail.
  16. ^ "Российский Минюст объявил "нежелательными" три канадских организации. Две из них связаны с Украиной". Meduza (in Russian). 2022-08-19. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  17. ^ a b c d Bell, Stewart (26 April 2023). "Russia targets Ottawa think-tank as part of foreign interference campaign against critics". Globalnews.ca. Global News.
  18. ^ "Inside Policy: The Magazine of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute". Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
  19. ^ "Home". Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
  20. ^ a b "Home". Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
  21. ^ Crowley, Brian Lee; Coates, Ken (30 May 2013). The Way Out: New thinking about Aboriginal engagement and energy infrastructure to the West Coast (PDF) (Report). Aboriginal Canada and the Natural Resource Economy Series. Macdonald–Laurier Institute. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  22. ^ "The Canadian Century Project: Why Balanced Budgets Matter". Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
  23. ^ "Canadian Century one of Hill Times 2010 Best Books". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. 22 November 2010.
  24. ^ "Best Books 2010". The Hill Times. 22 November 2010.
  25. ^ "Bestsellers". The Montreal Gazette. 19 June 2010.
  26. ^ Amad, Ali (17 April 2023). "'They're a threat to the entire political spectrum': This researcher is tracking how Russian bots are targeting Canadians". Toronto Life.
  27. ^ "MLI Launches DisinfoWatch project led by Marcus Kolga | MLI". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  28. ^ Chase, Steven (February 28, 2021). "Canada among targets of Twitter accounts shut down for links to Kremlin and proxies". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  29. ^ "About". DisinfoWatch. Archived from the original on 2023-03-02. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
  30. ^ "International rankings recognize the Macdonald-Laurier Institute as Ottawa's top think tank". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. 30 January 2016.
  31. ^ McGann, James G. (9 February 2016). "2015 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report". Think Tanks & Civil Societies Program, The University of Pennsylvania.
  32. ^ McGann, James (28 January 2013). "2012 Global Go To Think Tanks Report and Policy Advice". International Relations Program, University of Pennsylvania.
  33. ^ See "Media" on MLI web site www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/category/library/media/ Archived 2010-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ See Foreign Policy magazine, June 25, 2010 Archived May 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, "The Canadian Century", Crowley, Clemens, and Veldhuis
  35. ^ See Wall Street Journal, December 1, 2010 Archived September 22, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, "Emerging from the Shadow", Phred Dvorak
  36. ^ "What's next for Canada's economy?". The Economist. 1 March 2018.
  37. ^ "Who we are". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  38. ^ Dembicki, Geoff (2022-07-18). "How a conservative US network undermined Indigenous energy rights in Canada". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
  39. ^ a b "Disproving disinformation perpetuated in the Guardian and the Narwhal". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. 6 September 2022.
  40. ^ Carlson, Kathryn Blaze (6 May 2012). "Thinking outside the tank: The Fraser Institute is embracing the competition its success helped inspire". National Post. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  41. ^ "Right-wing charities report zero political activity…again". PressProgress.ca. 14 May 2018. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  42. ^ "Unleashing Individual Ingenuity to Enrich Humanity". Atlas Network.
  43. ^ Lempert, Ronnie P. A. (2021-02-24). "DisinfoWatch: Ties To Atlas Network, Connected To LPC Political Operatives". Canuck Law. Archived from the original on 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  44. ^ "The Macdonald-Laurier Institute listed as "undesirable" in Russia". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. 22 August 2022.
  45. ^ "The Ministry of Justice included three Canadian organizations in the list of undesirables: They were the Canadian Ukrainian Congress, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada (Translation)". TASS. 19 August 2022.
  46. ^ "Russia brands three Canadian organizations as undesirable – Justice Ministry: The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada are now considered undesirable, as the ministry said". TASS: Russian News Agency. 19 August 2022.
  47. ^ "Brian Lee Crowley". Google Scholar.
  48. ^ "Brian Lee Crowley". The Library of Congress.
  49. ^ "Dr. Brian Lee Crowley Appointed to Department of Finance Advisory Post". Government of Canada.
  50. ^ "Brian Lee Crowley". www.cpacanada.ca. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  51. ^ "Who Makes MLI Work". Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
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