Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP)

Background

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy describes itself as "an independent, western Canada based public policy 'think tank' with offices in Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary." FCPP attained status as an "educational charity" in April, 1999. [1]

Their mission "is to develop and popularize policy choices that will help Canada's prairie region live up to its vast but unrealized economic potential."

FCPP's "Policy Orientation" is generally "in the direction of decentralization, properly constructed free markets and expanded choices for individuals."

According to their 2010 annual report (PDF), "Frontier distinguished itself by highlighting the mounting policy damage created by the politically driven, anti-conventional energy green lobby."

Stance on Climate Change

"When the consequences of rapid global warming are compared with those for rapid global cooling, it’s clear that mankind suffers more harm from the latter." [2]

See a full list of FCPP's publications on global warming here (almost all of them are highly skeptical, and many are authored by well-known climate change deniers).

Funding

According to FCPP, "In order of importance, the majority of funding comes from private charitable foundations, followed by corporations, local businesses, individuals, and event revenue. The Centre does not accept any funding from governments to maintain its independent and fresh perspective on public policy." [3]

According to their sources of support for 2010, 78% of FCPP's funding came from Foundations, 12% from Corporations, 8% from individuals, and 2% from event revenue.

Key People

Board of Directors

According to the FCPP website (accessed in January, 2012), the Board of Directors included: [4]

• Peter Holle — Founding President
• Wayne Anderson
• James Blatz
• Dale Botting
• Rob Coghlan
• Bradley D. Farquhar
• John Heimbecker
• Peter Jessiman
• Alexander J. MacKenzie
• Honourable Charlie Mayer, P.C
• John R. (Jack) Messer — CEO, Saskatchewan Power Corporation.
• Richard M. Riffel
• Allan Grant
• Dale Bossert — Board of directors, Gasfrac Energy Services Inc. and Forbes Energy Services Inc. Held past positions with Amoco Corporation and with Union Pacific Resources Company.
• Victor T. Thomas

Expert Advisory Panel

According to the FCPP website (accessed January, 2012), FCPP's "Expert Advisory Panel" included:

• David Beito
• Rodney Clifton
• Wendell Cox — Senior Fellow.
• Sir Roger Douglas
• Johan Hjertqvist
• Ronald Jensen
• Owen McShane
• Ruth Richardson
• Alex Avery
• David Henderson
• Niger Innis
• Sheldon Schwartz
• Kenneth P. Green
• Ken Phillips 

The following according to FCPP's 2010 Annual Report (PDF):

Board of Directors (2010)

• Wayne Anderson — Chairman.
• Peter Holle — President.
• Alexander J. McKenzie — Secretary.
• James Blatz
• Dale Bossert
• Rob Coghlan
• Allan Grant
• John Heimbecker
• Sue Hicks
• Peter Jessiman
• Charlie Mayer
• John R. Messer
• Rick Riffel

Expert Advisory Panel (2010)

• Alex Avery
• Tim Ball
• David T. Beito
• Rodney Clifton
• Wendell Cox
• Brian Lee Crowley
• Sir Roger Douglas
• Kenneth Green
• David Henderson
• Johan Hjertqvist
• Niger Innis
• Ronald Jensen
• Owen McShane
• Ruth Richardson

Staff (2010)

• Peter Holle — President.
• Mark Milke — Director of Research, Calgary AB.
• Marco Navarro-Genie — Director of Research, Calgary AB.
• Darla Hooker — Director of Development.
• David Seymour — Senior Policy Analyst, Regina SK.
• Don Sandberg — Aboriginal Policy Fellow.
• Joseph Quesnel — Policy Analyst.
• Ben Eisen — Policy Analyst.
• Michael C. Zwaagstra — Research Associate.
• Claire Toews — Director of Administration.
• Erin Hartness — Office Administrator.
• Lisa Blackadar — Project Coordinator.

Other

Other notable FCPP people include:

• Tom Harris — Contributor. [5]
• Fred Goldberg — Contributor. [6]
• Tim Ball — Senior Research Fellow. [7]

Actions

May 21 - 23, 2012

The FCPP is listed as an official Co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute's Seventh International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC7).

May 16, 2010

The FCPP was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute's 4th International Conference on Climate Change.

October, 2009

The Frontier Centre was a co-sponsor of Christopher Monckton's climate change tour to Canada. The other sponsor was the Fraser Institute.

April 22, 2008

FCPP released the "Smart Green Frontiers Climate Change Quiz."

According to the FCPP media release, "Peter Holle, the Frontier Centre's president, said the focus, in our schools today, is on indoctrinating children to 'take action against climate change', without ever actually teaching them about the controversy surrounding the science. 'The quiz,' he said, 'takes students to the heart of climate science. It is an interactive quiz that gives detailed explanations of why any given question can be right or wrong.'" [8]

Holle added that "Exposing children individually to the raw science in an engaging and interactive way is the best medicine for preserving our heritage of open scientific enquiry, and preparing the next generation to deal with increasingly complex environmental questions."

The content of the quiz was prepared by prominent climate change deniers Tim Ball and Tom Harris (past executive of the High Park Group lobbying firm).

The "Smart Green Frontiers" quiz was shared with a network of over 45 think tanks making up the Civil Society Coalition of Climate Change.

Related Organizations

There is speculation that the Frontier Centre has supported actions by the Friends of Science (FoS) in addition to the support FoS was receiving through Barry Cooper's fund at the University of Calgary. [9]

Resources

1. "About the Frontier Centre for Public Policy," Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Accessed January, 2012.

2. Fred Goldberg. "Climate Change in the Recent Past" (PDF) Background: Brief Analysis, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, April, 2007.

3. "Who Funds the Frontier Centre for Public Policy?", Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Accessed January, 2012.

4. "Board of Directors," Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Accessed January, 2012.

5. Tom Harris. "Getting Society Off the Climate Change Bandwagon" (PDF), Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Policy Series No. 102 (February, 2011).

6. Fred Goldberg. "Climate Change in the Recent Past" (PDF) Background: Brief Analysis, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, April, 2007.

7. "Frontier Research Fellows," Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Accessed January, 2012.

8. "An Intelligent Discussion About Climate Change" (Media Release), Frontier Centre for Public Policy, April 22, 2008.

9. "Friends of Science hits the airwaves," Deep Climate, November 19, 2009.

10. "Frontier Centre for Public Policy," SourceWatch profile.