Thinking About Think Tanks

Newspapers quote the Fraser Institute quite often and I have been dismayed at how authoritatively the institute’s pronouncements have been taken. The Fraser Institute is not a government body; it is an independent, right-wing think tank that virulently defends a corporate agenda. Among the institute’s policy recommendations are:

--privatizing everything: auto insurance, education (even elementary & secondary), health care, pharmaceuticals, liquor retail, and on and on . . .
--an end to current treaty negotiations
--corporate freedom based on the premise that “economic freedom is key to fostering prosperity,” less corporate taxes and regulations
--anti-Kyoto Accord because they don’t believe global warming is happening
--they advocate “market-friendly solutions to environmental problems”
--Alberta is their Mecca, Ralph Klein their god
--reduced immigration, especially by families
--anti-union
--pro-free trade: less government protection for local, provincial, and Canada businesses
--support of Canada’s participation in the Ballistic Missile Defense system and greater integration with US defense and military
--less welfare support

If these policy statements seem extreme, they are. The Fraser Institute does not speak for British Columbians in any way, shape, or form. Their corporate affinities are obvious and those interests are rarely in the interest of ordinary British Columbians. Privatization and corporate rule in our communities might mean a raft of short-term jobs but it also certainly means job instability (what does the Chicago office of CN care about us?), environmental degradation, a lower overall standard of living, and a lack of regional identity. I do not believe in big, ungainly government, but I do believe in keeping our communities’ utilities, infrastructure, and natural resources in our own hands.

The next time you see the institute quoted by a news agency, make sure to mentally put in brackets, “from an extreme right and corporate-controlled point of view” beside the statement. The Fraser Institute hides behind shaky research and authoritative-sounding statements to advance a single-minded and, in my view, destructive way of thinking.

[published in PG Citizen February 2006]