fraser institute
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
According to an article published in CBC News Online, some people 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[22] then led by Premier Dave Barrett. The CEO of MacMillian-Bloedel at the time supported wage and price controls. As the institute espouses free market views, it has been criticized by trade unions for its recommendations to abolish minimum wage. 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 2002, a study by Neil Brooks of the left-wing Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives concluded that 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 claimed 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
Global warming
Ross McKitrick, a Senior Fellow of the Institute, has been a critic of some scientific opinion on climate change. On February 5, 2007, the Institute published The Independent Summary for Policymakers, IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.
