Dear John,
Last Thursday the Fraser Institute held its Annual General Meeting, which was followed by our annual Dr. Harold Walter Siebens Lecture and Luncheon.
The guests this year were former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, former BC Premier Gordon Campbell, as well as historian and author Conrad Black, who wrote an excellent column in the National Post summarizing the panel discussion.
I have included a link to the article below, I encourage you to read it!
Thanks,
Niels
Conrad Black: Canada not hopeless but desperate for leadership
This column is being composed as I return to Toronto on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver after a very convivial celebration by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think tank. The occasion was the retirement after 15 years as Fraser‘s chairman of Peter Brown, an outstanding and very public- minded financier, a delightful friend, and one of Canada‘s great men. There appeared to be at least 500 people packing out a large hotel ballroom and the featured attraction was a joint discussion chaired by the Fraser Institute’s President, Niels Veldhuis, in which I was privileged to join former prime minister Brian Mulroney and former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell. The ostensible subject of discussion was how we all thought Canada was doing. Readers will recognize the strong electoral credentials of my colleagues: Gordon Campbell won four consecutive municipal elections, three as
mayor of Vancouver, and five provincial elections, one as leader of the opposition and the last three emerging as premier. Brian Mulroney won all three elections he contested, twice being elected prime minister, the first person to win two consecutive majority election victories to that office since Louis St. Laurent in 1953. I was victorious in my one election, to the British House of Lords, but only because of the miniature though distinguished electorate: then leader of the opposition (William Hague), then Prime Minister (Tony Blair), and on their advice, her Majesty the Queen.
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