The Canada Strong and Free Network (formerly the Manning Centre for Building Democracy (MCBD) or Manning Centre) based in Calgary, Alberta, is a not-for-profit political advocacy group[1] that was established in 2005 by Preston Manning to promote conservative principles.[2] It was known for the annual "high-profile" Manning Networking Conference (MNC). The Manning Centre operates the for-profit think tank the Manning Foundation, which undertakes some research and analysis, while the Manning Centre self-describes as a "do-tank", that focuses on advocacy, training and networking events for conservatives.
The Centre is managed by the board of directors with Troy Lanigan as president. Lanigan was formerly president of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Current members of the board of directors include Joe Oliver,[3] who served as Finance Minister under then Prime Minister Stephen Harper and is now on the board of directors of High Arctic Energy Services.[4] Cliff Fryers,[5] Jocelyn Williams Bamford,[6] Chuck Strahl,[7] and Questerre Energy's CEO Michael Binnion, who also serves on the High Arctic Energy Services board,[8] and Preston Manning.[9]
Preston Manning PCCCAOE, was the founding father of the Centre and served as its director until July 2016, when he resigned from his executive functions with the Manning Foundation and the Centre. He continued to support and pursue its objectives.
On January 16, 2020 Manning announced that he was retiring from the Centre, to spend more time with his family.[1]
The Manning Centre supports small government, free market, and individual liberties and promotes "Canada's conservative movement."[15]
The motto is "Networking Canada's Conservative Movement".
The Manning Centre trains people to participate in federal, provincial and/or municipal partisan politics. The Manning Centre self-describes as a "do-tank" not a think tank as it "does not try to generate new ideas."[16]
In his 2016 publication on the "global think tank phenomenon", Donald E. Abelson described the different functions of the Manning Foundation, the Manning Centre and the Manning Networking Conference.[17] While Jan Gerson's September 20, 2014 National Post profile of five Canadian think tanks included the Manning Centre, Abelson said that MCBD does not "conduct research and analysis", which is the function of the for-profit institute, the Manning Foundation.[17] The Foundation is the think tank and the MCBD helps "educate and train future leaders of the conservative movement" by "offering internships and sponsoring various educational programs, seminars, and workshops", and by participating in "several partisan-related activities and events".[17] He said that the "express purpose" of the MNC is to "organize larger events at which policy-makers, academics, journalists, students, donors, and other groups of individuals can interact."[17]
The Centre's charitable branch, the Manning Foundation, does conduct some research and provides a way for donors to support them. However, Manning said that neither the Centre or the Foundation conduct original research. He said that instead of "trying to compete or replace the conservative-oriented think tanks, The Centre is "basically trying to take much of the work [think tanks] do, interpret it and translate it into action that results in the implementation of policies."[18]
The Manning Centre has often been compared to the progressive and social democratic think tank Broadbent Institute, which was established in 2011.[18] They were both founded by "former political party leaders" and they both "identify as partisan organizations".[18] However, the Broadbent Institute and the Manning Foundation—unlike other organizations operating within the think tank sector—are not registered as charities—which "allows them to operate without limits on their partisanship".[18] Both organizations focus on "communicating and developing the skills of the masses and attempting to influence public policy from the bottom up".[18]
Funding
The annual budget of the Manning Centre is not made public.[16] However, in a 2011 presentation, Nicholas Gafuik, who was then a MC Senior Fellow and previously a managing director, said that since its inception in 2005, the Manning Centre had won "commitments for funding" of about $30 million, which represented about $4 million a year.[16]
Some corporate sponsors support both the Manning Networking Conference and the Broadbent Institute's Progress Summit. Banks and the petroleum industry tend to support the MNC while labour unions tended to support the Progress Summit.[18]
The lead sponsor of the Manning Networking Conference 2019 held in March in Ottawa was the Modern Miracle Network (MMN), an advocacy organization that was incorporated in 2016 by Michael Binnion and operates out of Questerre Energy's offices.[19]
Background
Preston Manning founded the Manning Centre for Building Democracy in 2005 and the Manning Foundation, shortly after he retired from a lengthy career in politics.
Manning and Mike Harris wrote a series together that was published by the Fraser Institute including "A Canada Strong and Free" in 2005,[20] "Rebalanced and revitalized: A Canada strong and free" and "Building Prosperity in a Canada Strong and Free" in 2006,[21] International Leadership by a Canada Strong and Free in May 2017[22] and "Vision for a Canada Strong and Free" in 2007.[23]
The Manning Centre provided a networking opportunity for "conservatives from different provincial parties", and their "federal counterparts" and a space to "exchange ideas and propose policy initiatives", according to Chuck Strahl, who was Manning Centre's chairman[24] and had served as a Reform MP and Conservative cabinet minister under Prime Minister Harper.[1] Prior to the creation of the Manning Centre, there "wasn't a networking opportunity for what Preston always called the 'conservative movement,' as opposed to political parties."[1] Preston believed that "the conservative movement benefit[ed] from getting together, in all of its facets, and without having the party hierarchy managing it or overlooking it. This was the best way to get the best conservative ideas."[1]
Conservatives that the MC targets include "card-carrying Tory loyalists", "those who feel more comfortable outside the tent", and "those who lean more towards the libertarian or social conservative side of the true-blue ideological spectrum."[25]
There is an interlocking of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Manning Centre at the level of the board of directors, staff members, and participation at the annual conferences.
In 2018 the Centre shifted away from advocacy and increased focus on hosting conferences. As a result, about 50 percent of the permanent staff were laid off and part of its Calgary downtown building was leased.[26]
In 2020, Lanigan said that the Centre and the Manning Networking Conference were in the process of being renamed and "rebranded".[1] The newly branded entity will continue to break "down silos"—"getting conservatives to work together and work strategically to create opportunities for success", as Manning had done.[1]
The rebranding will not change the mandate of "supporting conservatism in Canada...by networking best practices and ideas pertaining to limited government, free enterprise, individual responsibility and a more robust civil society."[26]
Manning Networking Conference
For twelve years, the Manning Centre organized the annual "high-profile" Manning Networking Conference.[1][27]Global News journalist Tom Clark said that Manning Networking Conference (MNC) was like "Woodstock for Conservative Canadians."[17] and the Hill Times called it the Coachella for conservatives.[28]
In 2010, Nicholas Gafuik, who was at that time the Executive Director of the Manning Centre, said the reason behind the 2010 Manning Centre's Conference on Alberta's Future was that Alberta was in a "time of change" and there was a "need to generate ideas, proposals, and plans for shaping a more positive and inspiring future" for Alberta. Keynote speakers included Mark Milke from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Michael Percy, Marlo Raynolds from the Pembina Institute, Peter McCormick, Peter Cowley and Nadeem Esmail from the Fraser Institute, and Monte Solberg a former Federal Minister.
The 2011 MNC included Nicholas Gafuik as a key speaker.[16][29]
In 2014, CBC News described the two-day annual conference, which was then in its sixth year, as a "pre-spring tradition" where "small- and big-C conservatives" converge in Ottawa to "hobnob with senior federal cabinet ministers, talk policy with provincial premiers and trade tips with some of the country's most successful campaign strategists."[25][31][32] The CBC said that the MNC had "grown steadily in size, scope and — perhaps most critically — influence within Canada's conservative movement." The "political debate" was "spirited and substantial" and the "ManningFest" was at that time "one of the hottest political tickets in town."[25] Key speakers included Mark Steyn, Jim Prentice, Brad Wall and Ross Douthat.[25] Breakout sessions included speakers such as Jason Kenney, Dimitri Pantazopoulos on "Conservatives and the City",[25]Susan Delacourt on "Shopping for Votes", Paul Wells on "The Longer I'm Prime Minister", Bob Plamandon "The Truth About Trudeau", and Tom Flanagan on "Winning Power". There was a panel for journalists which include CBC News Network's Power & Politics contributors, John Ivison from the National Post, Jennifer Ditchburn from the Canadian Press, Bob Fife from CTV News, and Luiza Ch. Savage from Maclean's.[25]
Key speakers at the 2015 Manning Networking Conference (MNC15), which was held on March 7 and 8, included Christy Clark, Jim Prentice, Darrell Pasloski, Tony Clement and James Moore. Topics discussed included "Technology and Politics" "Perpetual Fundraising Machine", "income-splitting", "market-based environmentalism, euthanasia,[33]:39 "Islamic extremism, municipalities and the runaway Supreme Court".[24] Jason Kenney, who was then serving as Defence Minister under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, gave a speech on "defending Canada's values and interests" and Strahl talk was on the "State of the Conservative Movement."[24] In his March 2015 article, National Post columnist Andrew Coyne described as "emptiness" and "careerism" displaying "how vapid Canadian conservatism has become."[24]
Sponsors for the tenth annual MNC held in Ottawa for four days in February, included Enbridge, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), and CN Railways, according to Maclean's.[34] Questerre Energy's CEO, Micheal Binnion, who is also on the CAPP's board of governors, was a prominent speaker at the 2018 MNC. During the panel discussion entitled "Development and Sustainability", Binnion took credit for outlining the "key elements of the Conservative's energy platform". Binnion suggested alternatives to the carbon tax introduced by federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Binnion notes included alternatives such as "regulation by target reductions", "targeted regulation by caps", an "incentive-based approach", "conservationism", "green technology credits, or doing nothing until Canada’s trading partners demand it."[34]
Municipal governance project
In early March 2013 at a conference in Ottawa, David Seymour, a Manning senior fellow the project manager for the Manning Centre's municipal governance project—Dimitri Pantazopoulos, described the changes they wanted to see in municipal politics which they described as a "field dominated by over-spenders and over-regulators".[35] The Manning Centre launched their municipal governance project during the 2013 Calgary municipal election, providing free seminars and receiving free training to five municipal candidates in five wards, as part of their "mission to make city halls across Canada more conservative".[35] Calgarians have voted conservative at the federal and provincial level but are far less conservative at the municipal level.[35] The candidate "largely agree[d] that city council needs to be more conservative".[35][Notes 1][36]
2019 Canadian federal election
In the run up to the 2019 Canadian federal election, the Manning Centre provided a "total of $312,450 to a network of related third-party advertising groups" operating on Facebook and Instagram.[37] This included $240,000 to Canada Strong and Proud for a "series of anti-Trudeau and anti-Liberal campaign ads."[1] The Centre also "gave $4,500 to Newfoundland and Labrador Strong and another $11,200 to Nova Scotia Strong.[1]
In 2018, Manning called for a "co-ordinated response" by governments, companies, and citizens Canadians to the opposition against pipelines, by creating a Corridors Coalition. The Coalition would create and maintain a transportation corridor for Canadian oil and natural resources, running from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and eventually to the Arctic Ocean.[38] Manning called for the creation of the Coalition for mid-2019 to "offer a clear and powerful challenge to the federal political parties contesting the 2019 federal election in the fall".[38]
Notes
↑ Pantazopoulos did "strategy and public opinion research" for both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Joe Clark, and more recently for Ontario premier Doug Ford and as "senior strategic adviser" for Jason Kenney's UCP campaign.
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government, and some are associated with particular political parties, businesses or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.
John Edward Broadbent was a Canadian social-democratic politician and political scientist. He was leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 1975 to 1989, and a member of Parliament from 1968 to 1990 and from 2004 to 2006. He led the NDP through four federal elections. He oversaw a period of growth for the party with its parliamentary representation rising from 17 to 43 seats as of the 1988 federal election.
Brian Vincent Tobin is a Canadian businessman and former politician. Tobin served as the sixth premier of Newfoundland from 1996 to 2000. Tobin was also a prominent Member of Parliament and served as a cabinet minister in Jean Chrétien's Liberal government.
Ernest Preston Manning is a retired Canadian politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in turn merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form today's Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. Manning represented the federal constituency of Calgary Southwest in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 until his retirement in 2002. He served as leader of the Official Opposition from 1997 to 2000.
The 1988 Canadian federal election was held on November 21, 1988, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA); the Progressive Conservative Party campaigned in favour of it whereas the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party (NDP) campaigned against it.
Charles Richard "Chuck" Strahl is a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2011. First elected for the Reform Party, he was the leader of the Democratic Representative Caucus that left the Canadian Alliance in opposition to Stockwell Day's leadership. When the Conservatives won power in 2006, he became a prominent cabinet minister and served as Minister of Agriculture, Indian and Northern Affairs, and Transportation.
Jason Thomas Kenney is a former Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022, and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Calgary-Lougheed from 2017 until 2022. Kenney was the last leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party before the party merged with the Wildrose Party to form the UCP. Prior to entering Alberta provincial politics, he served in various cabinet posts under Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2015.
The Fraser Institute is a libertarian-conservative Canadian public policy think tank and registered charity. It is headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. It has links to think tanks worldwide through the Economic Freedom Network and is a member of the free-market Atlas Network. Fraser describes itself as independent and non-partisan.
Ezra Isaac Levant is a Canadian far-right media personality, political activist, writer, broadcaster, and former lawyer. Levant is the founder and former publisher of the conservative magazine, The Western Standard. He is also the co-founder, owner, and CEO of the far-right media website Rebel News. Levant has also worked as a columnist for Sun Media, and he hosted a daily program on the Sun News Network from the channel's inception in 2011 until its demise in 2015.
Siobhán Coady is a Canadian businesswoman and politician who represents the riding of St. John's West in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as a Liberal. Coady previously served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of St. John's South–Mount Pearl from 2008 to 2011. She served as Minister of Natural Resources in the Ball government. She is currently Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier in the Furey government.
The Calgary School is a term coined by Ralph Hedlin in an article in the now defunct Alberta Report in reference to four political science professors – Tom Flanagan, Rainer Knopff, Ted Morton, and Barry F. Cooper – who became colleagues at Alberta's University of Calgary in the early 1980s. They shared and promoted similar ideas about how political scientists could shape the rise of a particular kind of conservatism in Canada – informed by theories based on Friedrich Hayek and Leo Strauss. Cooper and Flanagan had met in the 1960s at Duke University while pursuing doctoral studies, while Knopff and Morton were both mentored by Walter Berns, a prominent Straussian, at the University of Toronto. They were economic, foreign policy, and social conservatives who were anti-abortion and were not in favour of legalizing gay marriage. They supported Stephen Harper in his 1993 election campaign, and former Alberta premiers Ralph Klein and Jason Kenney. A fifth University of Calgary professor, David Bercuson, co-authored publications with Cooper but was more loosely associated with the group and, at times, disagreed with the others on these public policies and candidates.
Atlas Network, formerly known as Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking, and grants for libertarian, free-market, and conservative groups around the world.
The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) is an Australian right-wing think tank founded in 1976 by Greg Lindsay. The CIS specialises in public policy research and publishes material in areas such as economics, education, culture and foreign policy. Although there are no explicit ties between the CIS and the centre-right Liberal Party, the CIS is politically aligned with the Liberal Party, praising Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies, hosting various Liberal Party politicians and holding very critical views of the Labor Party. However, it has also hosted Labor prime ministers and politicians, and often also criticises the Liberal Party's policies.
The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) is a non-profit research organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It aims at promoting economic liberalism through economic education of the general public and what it regards as efficient public policies in Quebec and Canada through studies and conferences. Its research areas include different topics such as health care, education, taxation, labour, agriculture and the environment. Its studies are often mentioned in the media.
Tasha Kheiriddin is a Canadian public affairs commentator, consultant, lawyer, policy analyst and writer.
The Macdonald–Laurier Institute (MLI) is a public policy think tank located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Mark R. Strahl is a Canadian politician. He is the current Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Chilliwack—Hope and was first elected in 2011. Strahl is the son of former Conservative MP and federal Cabinet Minister Chuck Strahl, who was the predecessor of the riding.
Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank founded by Ed Broadbent.
This article is a list of notable think tanks based in Canada.
Modern Miracle Network (MMN) is a Canadian fossil fuel advocacy organization that was incorporated in 2016 by entrepreneur Michael Binnion, and operates out of the offices of Calgary, Alberta-based Questerre Energy. Binnion is chair of the Manning Foundation and a member of the board of governors of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).
1 2 3 4 Himelfarb, Alex; Himelfarb, Jordan (November 8, 2013). Tax Is Not a Four-Letter Word: A Different Take on Taxes in Canada. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN978-1-55458-903-6.
1 2 3 4 5 Abelson, Donald E. (2016). Northern Lights: Exploring Canada’s Think Tank Landscape. McGill-Queen's Press (MQUP).
1 2 3 4 5 6 Brunet, Natalie, The Emergence of Partisan Think Tanks: A Case Study of the Manning Centre and Broadbent Institute, p.29
↑ Wherry, Aaron (March 10, 2013). "Ezra Levant, Ron Paul, Jason Kenney and the eternal conflict of the ideological mind - Macleans.ca". Retrieved May 26, 2020. Jason Kenney listed Conservative values as "hard work and personal responsibility, a respect for tradition, a belief in family as the most important social institution, a respect for religious faith, a respect for law and order that ensures safe streets and values victims' rights over those of criminals, a belief in entrepreneurship and initiative and risk-taking, the freedom to take chances and reap the rewards of initiative free of crippling taxes and red tape, a belief in an opportunity to succeed by playing by the rules without the over-developed liberal sympathy for those who refuse to do so, belief in a principled, democratic foreign policy that stands up for freedom and fundamental values and a pride in our Canadian armed forces and our history of military sacrifice and glory."
↑ Baier, G.; Bakvis, H. (2010). "Think tanks and political parties in Canada: Competitors or Collaborators". In Garcéy, A.; Uña, G. (eds.). Think tanks and Public Policies in Latin America. Buenos Aires: Fundación CIPPEC. pp.33–45. The Supreme Court had just overturned the ban against physician-assisted suicide.
1 2 Campbell, Meagan (February 12, 2018). "At the Manning Conference, the conservative climate plan is a scrap of paper". Maclean's. Retrieved May 28, 2020. I want to tell you right now that this official list for the conservative movement on the options that we're going to discuss, I've just added one to it called 'conservation measures and carbon sinks,' We've now got an agreed list.
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