page 4

January 2nd, 1985

 

THE FRASER INSTITUTE: FACTS AND FALLACIES

In May, 1984, the Fraser Institute

rose tp the attention of British.

Columbia due to the government’s
consulting of the Fraser Institute

by CYNTHIA KILT

 

regarding the current budget. This
budget led to disenchantment of the
people of British Columbia, and thus
led to fallacies disclosed about the
Fraser Institute. Some facts and
fallacies therefore, shall be disclosed
in this article.

The Fraser Institute, founded in
1974 as ah independent economic and
social research organization, provides
studies of economic policy and de-
velops strategies that are appropriate
for the development of Canada’s
economy. The director of the Fraser
Institute is Michael A. Walker. In an
interview he explained the reason why
the Fraser Institute was founded in
British Columbia.

“At the time we were founded,
there was in British Columbia a
government, the Barrett government,
which had been elected on the basis of
a socialist agenda which was largely
felt was not in the interest of economic
development of the province.”’

The Fraser Institute’s objective was
not to become involved in the political
ideologies espoused by these parties,
but rather to analyze and discuss the
economic policy theories of the govern-
ments. From its conception, the Fraser

~ Institute has focused its attentions on

federal rather than provincial issues.
This is indicated by a number of books
published by the Fraser Institute, as in

Anatomy of a Crisis: Canadian housing:

Policy in the Seventies.

THE FRASER INSTITUTE AND THE
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

In regards to the Fraser Institute’s
relationship with — governments,
Walker stated: The Fraser Institute is
not funded by any government. It is
not an ongoing advisor to the British
Columbian government, or any other
government across Canada, although,

we have advised all the governments .

at one time or another, except one.”’

In the absence of government
funding, the Fraser Institute is funded
by the following sources: contributions
of individuals and corporations; in-
come from Endowments; sales from
their books; profit from Foreign Ex-
change; and interest from Investment
funds.

Of the above sources, the largest
portion of the Fraser Institute’s bud-
get, 53 per cent, came from the
contributions of individuals and cor-
porations.

 

One misconception regarding the
Fraser Institute involves the consult-
ing contract, concerning the budget,
issued by the provincial government to
the Fraser Institute. At that time,
Walker ‘’gave an indication of what he
felt they (the provincial government)
should do if they had the interests of
the province at heart. Some of that
advice they took, others of it they did
not take. In fact, with a lot of it, they
did the opposite of what we (the Fraser
Institute) had suggested.’’

The Fraser Institute is a supporter
of economic analysis. According to
Walker, the objective of economic
analysis is to find out ‘’...the most

effective way of being caring about

individuals.’’

The Fraser Institute provides people
with specific economic ideology; it is
up to the people to choose whether or
not this ideology is consistent with

‘their beliefs.

An example of this was when the
Institute had advised the government -
not to increase taxes, in the presence
of a recovering economy. Yet, the
government disregarded this sugges-
tion and increased the sales tax by 2
per cent.

THE FRASER INSTITUTE AND
OPERATION SOLIDARITY

Operation Solidarity published a

‘brochure part of which was entitled

‘Thoughts behind the politics: Quotes
from Fraser Institute Publications and
Officials.’

A large percentage of these quotes
were written by Walter Block, chief
economist of the Fraser Institute. The
three quotes shown below are from his
books, Defending the Undefendable

 

and Margaret Caldwell:

‘“‘The Archetypical child labour em-
ployer is as kindly, benevolent, and as
filled with the milk of human kindness
as anyone else. Moreover, the institu-

tion of labour is an honourable one,

with a long and glorious history of
good works.”’

“The slumlord does make a positive
contribution to society: without him,
the economy...would be worse off.
That he continues in his thankless
task, amidst all the abuse and vilifica-
tion, can only be evidence of his
basically heroic nature.’

“Employers should have the right to
demand that employees spin hula-
hoops all day, or do a pirouette at odd

hours, be married, be unmarried, have
certain religious beliefs, and practice
them or not.’’

Such quotes lead to many fallacies
about the Fraser Institute. They were
not published by the Fraser Institute,
and such quotes are not supported by
it. The Fraser Institute commissions
economists to write their books, not by
their point of views, but because they
either are knowledgeable on the
subject studied, or they have express-
ed an interest in the subject.

The Fraser Institute does honour

‘their economists with a freedom of

individuality, as is indicated by the
following quote which is standard to
Fraser Institute publications: ‘‘owing

‘to the independence of the authors,

the view expressed by them may or
may not conform severally or collect-
ively with those of the members of the
Institute.’’

OTHER QUOTES FROM MICHAEL
WALKER AND FRASER INSTITUTE
PUBLICATIONS

On the CBC:

“It has become a self-serving bur-
eaucracy in pursuit of its own goals. Its ~
maintenance of separate French and
English broadcasting systems serves
to institutionalize the notion of two
solitudes and in essence, amounts to a
form of ‘‘cultural apartheid’.

On The Abolishment of the B.C. Milk
Board:

“Having determined the annual cost
of taxation to consumers is approxi-
mately $12 million dollars (in 1975),
they (the authors) suggest that it
would be cheaper and more efficient to
subsidize needy farmers directly.’’
On Affirmative Action Programs:

“Affirmative action programs harm
highly competent minority persons, by
making it appear that their accomp-
lishments are not due to their own
efforts, but to government
‘largesse’; they harm unqualified
minority persons by placing them in
positions which expose their incom-
petence; they harm minority persons
excluded from affirmative action, by
increasing their frustration and lower-
ing their motivation to attain job
qualifications on their own; as well,
affirmative action exacerabates racial
and other inter-minority group animo-
sity.””

THE FRASER
EDUCATION

INSTITUTE AND

“The view is widely held that money
spent on universities is spent to
provide people with support for an
education who otherwise wouldn’t
have the opportunity. The fact is, a
vast majority of the resources ear-
marked for post-secondary education
is spent on individuals from very
wealthy families; those with incomes
well above the national average,’’ said
Walker.

In effect, according to Walker,
money is transferred from average-
income Canadians to high-income
Canadians. The Fraser Institute sup-
ports direct subsidies to those people
who can not otherwise support them-
selves, regarding their education, but
they also support higher tuition fees
for post-secondary institutions. The
reason given for such an increase is
that higher tuition fees promote stu-
dents to devote themselves more to
their studies.

The Fraser Institute is a supporter of
economic analysis. According to Wal-
ker, the objective of economic analysis
is to find out ‘’... the most effective
way of being caring about individ-
uals,’”

The Fraser Institute provides people
with specific economic ideology; it is.
up to the people to choose whether or
not this ideology is consistant with
their beliefs.