MEDIA RELEASE
OTTAWA, December 3, 2012 – The Macdonald-Laurier Institute releases the new issue of Inside Policy, its flagship bi-monthly magazine.
“In this issue,” writes Editor L. Ian MacDonald, “we review policy and politics in 2012, a remarkable year in many respects.”
For openers, Inside Policy and the MLI have selected Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney as Canada’s Policy Maker of the Year. Carney has emerged not only as the architect of Canada’s monetary policy, but as a leading figure among central bankers on the international stage, as Chairman of the Financial Stability Board and as the newly named Governor of the Bank of England. Robin Sears profiles Carney in a timely cover story.
Other highlights of the December-January issue, from the Editor’s Note:
Tom Mulcair not only won the NDP leadership, but he has kept the Official Opposition united behind him as a surprisingly disciplined team in the House of Commons. We asked NDP insider Brad Lavigne, NDP campaign director in 2011, to write an appraisal of Mulcair’s first nine months on the job, and the challenges he faces in the run-up to the next election in 2015.
Looking at the economy in 2012, Kevin Lynch and Karen Miske of BMO Financial Group write that Canada is in very good shape “relatively speaking,” compared to most of our partners in the G7 and G20.
It was also a year when economic and social policy met, and both won, writes Geoff Norquay, citing health care funding, public service pension reform, as well as reforms to Employment Insurance and Old Age Security.
From Montreal, Celine Cooper looks back at the Quebec election and writes how the Parti Quebecois played the identity and language card, but in a world that has moved beyond that. And presidential scholar Gil Troy offers a wrap on the 2012 race for the White House, and concludes that President Barack Obama was running against himself—candidate Obama from 2008.
Two former prime ministers also grace our pages. We have a Verbatim of Brian Mulroney’s speech to the Free Trade @ 25 Tribute Dinner in his honour in Toronto in October. Of the many results of free trade he cites the continuum of trade policy by successive governments, and the “confidence in the ability of Canadian firms to compete on a level playing field.” And Paul Martin spoke to a Washington symposium on fiscal frameworks organized by the MLI and the American Enterprise Institute. While the US is facing a “fiscal cliff,” Canada has benefited from the fiscal dividend of a decade of balanced budgets, surpluses and paying down debt. Martin had a lot to do with that, and suggests the US can learn from it.
Finally, from the MLI Great Canadian Debates, columnist Jeffrey Simpson argues Yes on whether the War of 1812 has been over-hyped, while historian Jack Granatstein is a No.
The new issue of Inside Policy is posted to the MLI website (www.macdonaldlaurier.ca). Subscriptions can be purchased on the MLI website for $39.95, one-year subscription, or $6.95 for a single issue. The digital edition for smart phones and tablets will be available for $3.95 on www.zinio.com.
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is an independent non-partisan Ottawa-based national think tank devoted to the development of Canadian public policy.
For more information, please contact:
Tripti Saha
Communications Officer
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
613-482-8327 ext 105
tripti.saha@macdonaldlaurier.ca
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