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Montreal Economic Institute

Canada based think tank From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Montreal Economic Institute
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The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) is a non-profit research organization (or think tank) based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It aims at promoting economic liberalism[2] through economic education of the general public and what it regards as efficient public policies in Quebec and Canada via studies and conferences. Its research areas include topics such as health care, education, taxation, labour, agriculture and the environment.

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History

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The MEI was incorporated in July 1987, after being created by a group of Québec intellectuals and businessmen as the continuation of the Institut économique de Paris à Montréal (which was directed by economists Pierre Lemieux). MEI's activities soared in the late 1990s with the nomination of Michel Kelly-Gagnon as executive director. Several members of its board of directors and many of its fellows play a significant role in Quebec's economy as entrepreneurs or intellectuals.[3]

Maxime Bernier served as its vice president, from May to November 2005, before he became federal Minister of Industry. Bernier explained that his role at the Institute was mainly fundraising and act as an advisor to Kelly Gagnon.[4] Tasha Kheiriddin also briefly occupied this position from March to September 2006, before moving to the Quebec branch of the Fraser Institute. From February 2007 to October 2009, the vice president was Marcel Boyer, professor of economics at the University of Montreal. The vice president is currently Jasmin Guénette, former director of public affairs who came back after spending two years at the Institute for Humane Studies in Virginia.

Paul Muller was president of the MEI from 2006 to 2012 and former policy adviser to leader of Action démocratique du Québec, Mario Dumont.[5][6]

During 2012 Quebec student protests, the MEI's office was damaged by militants who disapproved of their positions.[7] The MEI recruited Joe Oliver, the former Minister of Finance in Stephen Harper's Conservative Party of Canada government, as a 'Distinguished Senior Fellow' in 2016.[8]

Youri Chassin, the MEI's research director from 2012 to 2017, was elected as MNA for Saint-Jérôme.[9][10]

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Description

The MEI states that it does not participate in partisan activities. Its public interventions are meant only to analyze the relevance of public policies, their costs and benefits, and their impact on individuals and on private and public organizations.[11]

While it rejects characterizations such as "right-wing" and "libertarian," the MEI advocates policies in line with economic liberalism,[2][8][7] such as loosening Quebec’s labour laws, increasing the transparency of labour union financing, merit pay for teachers, and ending Canada Post's monopoly on letter delivery, as well as a general downsizing of the state.[7]

The MEI states that it maintains a wall between its researchers and its donors. According to the MEI's website, publications and videos are not submitted to donors or their representatives for approval or editing before they are released.[11]

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Funding

The MEI is a registered Canadian charity and Kelly-Gagnon has said that 65 to 70 percent of the MEI's funding comes from foundations, with an additional 15 to 20 percent coming from individuals and the remainder coming from corporations; it does not accept funding from the public sector.[8][11] Its 2015 budget was $2.3 million, and had a full-time staff of 12 as of 2016.[8] The MEI's tax returns indicate that major support comes from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, the Donner Canadian Foundation, and the Chase Foundation of Virginia.[8][12] It has also received funding from the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation.[13]

Reputation

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Commentators often characterize the MEI as Quebec's equivalent to the Fraser Institute[2][8][13] and a voice of fiscal conservationism in Quebec.[7] Former MEI vice president Tasha Kheiriddin placed it in the same group as the Fraser Institute as well as the National Citizens Coalition, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies.[2] An analysis of social networks on Twitter by the Institute for Research on Public Policy found that MEI is one of the Canadian think tanks with the highest "right-wing" scores, along with the Manning Centre, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the C.D. Howe Institute, the Canada West Foundation, and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies.[14]

Another former MEI vice president, Bernier stated the institute influenced him as an Industry Minister by giving him the experience to learn about public policies and how to implement good public policies.[4]

The MEI's reasoning was also questioned on several occasions by the Institut de recherche et d'informations socio-économiques,.[15][16][17] Ethan Cox, a political organizer and writer, has said that "MEI is part of the same problem they have with money in the U.S. political process: corporate interests who can outspend critics have too much influence in our political process."[8]

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Fellows and Associate Researchers

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References

External links

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