Editing Fraser Institute (section)

==History==
The Fraser Institute was founded in 1974 by [[Michael Walker (economist)|Michael Walker]], an economist from the [[University of Western Ontario]], and businessman T. Patrick Boyle, then a vice-president of [[MacMillan Bloedel Limited|MacMillan Bloedel]].<ref name="retro" /> The institute is named after the [[Fraser River]].<ref name="EFN" /> According to [[CBC News]], some people allege that Michael Walker helped set up the institute after he received financial backing from forestry giant [[MacMillan Bloedel]], largely to counter [[British Columbia]]'s NDP government, then led by premier [[Dave Barrett]].<ref name="FI30">{{Cite web |date=August 11, 2010 |title=CBC News Indepth: Fraser Institute |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/fraserinstitute/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811205932/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/fraserinstitute/ |archive-date=11 August 2010 |website=[[CBC News]]}}</ref>

[[Antony Fisher]], who had founded the [[Institute of Economic Affairs]] in the United Kingdom, was a co-founder.<ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine |last1=Westervelt |first1=Amy |author1-link=Amy Westervelt |last2=Dembicki |first2=Geoff |author2-link=Geoff Dembicki |date=2023-09-12 |title=Meet the Shadowy Global Network Vilifying Climate Protesters |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/175488/meet-shadowy-global-network-vilifying-climate-protesters |access-date=2023-09-16 |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |issn=0028-6583}}</ref> It obtained charitable status in Canada on October 22, 1974, and in the United States in 1978.<ref name="retro">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160313063050/http://fraseramerica.org/files/pdfs/about_us/30th_retrospective.pdf The Fraser Institute at 30: A Retrospective]}} Fraser Institute</ref> It is a member of the [[Atlas Network]], which Fisher founded in 1981.<ref name=":2" />  Fisher was appointed acting director in 1975, until Walker became executive director in 1977.<ref name="retro" />

In late 1997, the institute set up a research program emulating the UK's [[Social Affairs Unit]], called the Social Affairs Centre. Its founding director was [[Patrick Basham]]. The program's funding came from [[Rothmans International]] and [[Philip Morris USA|Philip Morris]].<ref name="letter">Fraser Institute letter of 28 January 2000 to [[British American Tobacco]] chairman Martin Broughton, [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lbc53a99 Letter to Martin Broughton regarding research program in emulation of the social affairs unit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614121101/http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lbc53a99|date=2011-06-14}}, disclosed via [[Legacy Tobacco Documents Library]].</ref> When Rothmans was bought by [[British American Tobacco]] (BAT) in 1999, its funding ended,<ref name="Gutstein" /> and in 2000 the institute wrote to BAT asking for $50,000 per year, to be split between the Social Affairs Centre and the Centre for Risk and Regulation.<ref name="letter" /> The letter highlighted the institute's 1999 publication ''Passive Smoke: The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy'',<ref>[[John Luik]] and [[Gio Batta Gori]] (1999), ''[http://www.fraserinstitute.org/publicationdisplay.aspx?id=15937&terms=passive+smoke Passive Smoke: The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310080044/http://www.fraserinstitute.org/publicationdisplay.aspx?id=15937&terms=passive+smoke|date=2012-03-10}}'', Vancouver: Fraser Institute</ref> "which highlighted the absence of any scientific evidence for linking cancer with second-hand smoke [and] received widespread media coverage both in Canada and the United States".<ref name="letter" /> At this time the CEO of BAT's Canadian subsidiary, Imasco, was also on the Fraser Institute's board of trustees.<ref name="Gutstein" />

In 1999, the Fraser Institute was criticized by health professionals and scientists for sponsoring two conferences on the [[tobacco industry]] entitled ''Junk Science, Junk Policy? Managing Risk and Regulation'' and ''Should Government Butt Out? The Pros and Cons of Tobacco Regulation.'' Critics charged the institute was associating itself with the tobacco industry's many attempts to discredit authentic scientific work.<ref name="FI30" />

The Fraser Institute accepted donations worth $100,000 from [[Philip Morris International|Philip Morris]] for "publishing research studies" in 2011–2012.<ref name=":4">{{cite news |author1=Jessica Glenza |author2=Sharon Kelly |author3=Juweek Adolphe |date=January 23, 2019 |title=Free-market groups and the tobacco industry - full database |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2019/jan/23/free-market-thinktanks-tobacco-control-polices-database#0/?cato-institute |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621024634/https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2019/jan/23/free-market-thinktanks-tobacco-control-polices-database#0/?cato-institute |archive-date=June 21, 2020 |access-date=November 21, 2023 |work=[[The Guardian]] |agency=}}</ref> Research produced by the Institute has previously argued that "tobacco taxation causes smuggling",<ref>{{cite web |author1=Nachum Gabler |author2=Diane Katz |date=July 2010 |title=Contraband Tobacco in Canada: Tax Policies and Black Market Incentives |url=https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/contraband-tobacco-in-canada.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121162358/https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/contraband-tobacco-in-canada.pdf |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |access-date=November 21, 2023 |publisher=Fraser Institute}}</ref> a common claim by corporations in the industry that has been disputed by public health officials and critics as exaggerated and erroneous.<ref name=":4" />

According to the January 2020 ''Global Go To [[Think Tank]] Index Report'' ([[Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program]], [[University of Pennsylvania]]), Fraser is number 14 (of 8,200) in the "Top Think Tanks Worldwide" and number 1 in the "Top Think Tanks in Mexico and Canada".<ref name="Global Go To" />