The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) is a non-profit research organization (or think tank) based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It aims at promoting economic liberalism[2] through economic education of the general public and what it regards as efficient public policies in Quebec and Canada via studies and conferences. Its research areas include topics such as health care, education, taxation, labour, agriculture and the environment.
It was founded in 1987 and relaunched in 1998 by Michel Kelly-Gagnon and Adrien D. Pouliot. It has been noted for having ties to Quebec political right.
History
The MEI was incorporated in July 1987, after being created by a group of Québec intellectuals and businessmen as the continuation of the Institut économique de Paris à Montréal by co-founder economist Pierre Lemieux.[3][citation needed]
In 1995, in Saint-Eustache Quebec, Michel Kelly-Gagnon met with four friends Éric Duhaime, Martin Masse, Lemieux and Pierre Desrochers, a professor of geography at the University of Toronto Mississauga.[3][4] These five friends agreed on three priorities to advance the libertarian movement in Quebec: to revive the MEI, create Les amis de la liberté (Friends of Liberty), an association serving as a meeting place and to present conferences and to found a magazine which would be Le Québécois Libre.[3]
Kelly-Gagnon alongside Adrien D. Pouliot, who also served as president of MEI and leader of Conservative Party of Quebec from 2013-2020,helped relaunched it in 1998.[3][5] MEI's activities soared in the late 1990s with the nomination of Kelly-Gagnon as executive director. [citation needed]Kelly-Gagnon served from 1999 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2023 after a brief stint as head of the Quebec Employers Council.[4]
Maxime Bernier served as its vice president, from May to November 2005, before he became federal Minister of Industry. Bernier explained that his role at the Institute was mainly fundraising and act as an advisor to Kelly Gagnon.[6] MEI is where Bernier met Masse, who worked at MEI while editing Le Québécois Libre.[3] Masse later became an political advisor to Bernier and co-founded the People's Party of Canada with him.[3] Duhamie, who later co-founded Réseau Liberté-Québec and currently is the leader of Conservative Party of Quebec, also worked there.[3]
Several members of its board of directors and many of its fellows play a significant role in Quebec's economy as entrepreneurs or intellectuals.[7]Tasha Kheiriddin also briefly occupied this position from March to September 2006, before moving to the Quebec branch of the Fraser Institute. From February 2007 to October 2009, the vice president was Marcel Boyer, professor of economics at the University of Montreal. The vice president is currently Jasmin Guénette, former director of public affairs who came back after spending two years at the Institute for Humane Studies in Virginia. [citation needed]
Youri Chassin, the MEI's research director from 2012 to 2017, was elected as MNA for Saint-Jérôme for the CAQ.[11][12]Pascale Déry, who worked for MEI became minister of higher education in 2023.[13] In 2026, Florence Plourde, communication director of communications advisor to premier Francois Legault was hired by MEI.[14]
Description
The MEI states that it does not participate in partisan activities. Its public interventions are meant only to analyze the relevance of public policies, their costs and benefits, and their impact on individuals and on private and public organizations.[15]
While it rejects characterizations such as "right-wing" and "libertarian," the MEI advocates policies in line with economic liberalism,[2][10][5] such as loosening Quebec’s labour laws, increasing the transparency of labour union financing, merit pay for teachers, and ending Canada Post's monopoly on letter delivery, as well as a general downsizing of the state.[5]
The MEI states that it maintains a wall between its researchers and its donors. According to the MEI's website, publications and videos are not submitted to donors or their representatives for approval or editing before they are released.[15]
Funding
The MEI is a registered Canadian charity and Kelly-Gagnon has said that 65 to 70 percent of the MEI's funding comes from foundations, with an additional 15 to 20 percent coming from individuals and the remainder coming from corporations; it does not accept funding from the public sector.[10][15] Its 2015 budget was $2.3 million, and had a full-time staff of 12 as of 2016.[10] The MEI's tax returns indicate that major support comes from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, the Donner Canadian Foundation, and the Chase Foundation of Virginia.[10][16] It has also received funding from the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation.[17]
Another former MEI vice president, Bernier stated the institute influenced him as an Industry Minister by giving him the experience to learn about public policies and how to implement good public policies.[6] While running the Conservative Party of Quebec, both Pouilot and Duhaime has cited inforation from MEI when developing policies for their party.[3]
The MEI's reasoning was also questioned on several occasions by the Institut de recherche et d'informations socio-économiques,.[19][20][21] Ethan Cox, a political organizer and writer, has said that "MEI is part of the same problem they have with money in the U.S. political process: corporate interests who can outspend critics have too much influence in our political process."[10]
Journalist Thomas Laberge, writing En rupture avec l’État, which documents the libertarian movement in Quebec, noted ties between several members of the institute and Le Québécois Libre as either readers or contributors.[3]
12Hong, Beth (30 August 2012). "Charitable Fraser Institute received $4.3 million in foreign funding since 2000". Vancouver Observer. Retrieved 16 December 2017. The Koch brothers' Claude R. Lambe Foundation also funds the Montreal Economic Institute, the Fraser Institute's ideological counterpart on the east coast. ... The John Templeton Foundation ... also awarded the Montreal Economic Institute its 2004 Templeton Freedom Award Grants for Institute Excellence
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