Catch up on all things MLI with our latest newsletter.
Highlights of this edition include a column in the Ottawa Citizen by MLI Managing Director Brian Lee Crowley in which he remembers his friend, Jim Flaherty. The former Finance Minister passed away on April 10. Crowley worked with Flaherty as a visiting professor in the Ministry of Finance and chaired Flaherty’s summer policy retreats, and he recalls Flaherty’s willingness to listen and his reluctance to prejudge. After relating Flaherty’s self-deprecating line in speeches about “going on almost as long as it seems”, Crowley concludes “Canada could have used more Jim Flaherty. I know I could have”.
We also recap the latest instalment of the Great Canadian Debates, the last of the season, which took place on March 27 at the Canadian War Museum in front of a large and engaged audience. The resolution, “Free speech in Canadian universities is an endangered species”, was debated by National Post columnist Barbara Kay and York University professor Daniel Drache. Click here for video of the debate, now available on CPAC’s website.
And there is a new issue of Inside Policy out. In the cover story, Robin Sears profiles Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Chong, who introduced an amended version of his Reform Act this month. Chong’s bill, which was originally introduced last December and is expected to come up for debate soon, has “captured the imagination of those who have long dreamed of parliamentary reform”, writes IP managing editor, Jim Anderson.
Also in this issue, Chong makes the case for reform himself with an op-ed encouraging his fellow MPs to help strengthen Canada’s Parliament by supporting his bill, and former Conservative campaign manager Tom Flanagan offers a counterpoint, with a warning against empowering caucus members to unseat party leaders.
Also in the April IP: Stanley Hartt explains how the government’s strategy of resolute support for Israel may leave Stephen Harper best-positioned to influence the Mideast peace process; Nick Hann advocates moving from a not-for-profit model to a concession model for Canadian airports; Mike Priaro explains his startling conclusion that Alberta’s crude oil reserves are the largest on Earth; and Dean Karalekas of Taiwan’s National Chengchi University argues that Canada needs a Taiwan relations act.
Also in this edition of the newsletter, a study by Christian Leuprecht titled “The Blue Line or the Bottom Line of Police Services in Canada?: Arresting runaway growth in costs”, is getting lots of media attention, and Brian Lee Crowley explains in a new commentary paper what’s wrong with Canada’s health care system.
