September 23, 2011, Ottawa, ON – In his speech to the Canadian Parliament, British Prime Minister David Cameron began by citing the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Managing Director Brian Lee Crowley and the Institute’s first book, The Canadian Century. He said, “As the author Brian Lee Crowley has set out, there is a strong argument that the 21st Century could well be the Canadian Century.”
Mr. Cameron is extremely familiar with the Canadian political and policy scene, having come to power in the UK in 2010 promising “Canadian-style reform”. MLI’s Crowley has been to the UK to talk about how Canada managed one of the Western world’s most comprehensive fiscal turnarounds. The media coverage of that visit perhaps caught Mr. Cameron’s eye.
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is honoured to receive such recognition from such a world leader and is pleased to have been the leading exponent of the Canadian model in the world today. We would like to congratulate Dr. Crowley and the co-authors of The Canadian Century, MLI Director of Research Jason Clemens and Niels Veldhuis.
According to Dr. Crowley, “When one of the world’s most prominent leaders visits Canada and in a speech to Parliament makes such a direct reference to our work it only serves to confirm that we were right in our decision to found the Macdonald-Laurier Institute a mere 18 months ago. Canada has a great story to tell, but there is so much to be done to make it even better. We are truly humbled and gratified by this further confirmation of the value of our work from such an unexpected and prestigious source.”
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank based in Ottawa that focuses on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. It was founded in 2010 and was named one of the top-20 new think tanks in the world by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program.
The book cited by Mr. Cameron, The Canadian Century: Moving out of America’s shadow, is a Canadian bestseller and received the 2011 Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award, presented by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. For more information about the book, click here.