BC Business
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Mark Mullins is the former executive director of the B.C. premier conservative think tank, the Fraser Institute. Four years after taking the reins from founding executive director Michael Walker, Mark Mullins announced last July that, “with a heavy heart,” he was leaving the free-market-pushing think tank. Though he looks forward to the life of a self-employed consultant, he looks back with pride at his accomplishments at the institute. What has the Fraser Institute contributed to Canadian public life?
Four years after taking the reins from founding executive director Michael Walker, Mark Mullins announced last July that, “with a heavy heart,” he was leaving the free-market-pushing think tank. Though he looks forward to the life of a self-employed consultant, he looks back with pride at his accomplishments at the institute.
What has the Fraser Institute contributed to Canadian public life? We’ve expanded public discourse on health care. You go back 20 years and there was a strong perception that the Canadian system was the best in the world. But it’s expensive and there are a lot of negative elements in it.
You ranked fourth on Western Standard’s “Liberty 100” for your work with the Fraser Institute. “Liberty” seems more an American than a Canadian word – what does it mean to you? Liberty is personal freedom but with responsibility. It’s the absence of coercion, of restriction, of things that infringe on other’s freedoms. You’re right to say it’s not a terribly Canadian word. We don’t use it much, and I don’t think the institute has gone out of its way to promote the word. But at the heart of the work we do is the idea of voluntary exchange, of people coming together to trade goods and services and information. That’s a prerequisite for liberty.
You’ve done a lot of writing about tax reform. If you could wave your magic wand, what would you change about taxation in Canada? Eliminate corporate tax. I think we could have a lot more economic growth, job creation and investments.
How do you feel about Canada’s present course? I wish people were more adventurous. I think we’ve got a moment here that is pretty exciting for this country – sadly, because the U.S. is doing so many things wrong. I wish we could sort out some of these border issues. I wish that the Canadian government were doing a lot more to attract capital to Canada.
Are we out of the woods on this recession? I think the panic itself, which was global, ended way back in December. We’ve had financial markets on a tear here since early March. There are some very good indicators in manufacturing. We’re right at the turn. We’ve got three, four, five years of growth ahead of us.
How do you get your news – particularly market news? It’s all Internet. I track Bloomberg. I get the Financial Times in London; they’ve got a great site there called FT Alphaville, which is a gossipy financial markets blog. I track the Globe and Mail, Wall Street Journal and a lot of information from central banks as well.
What economist has had the greatest influence on you? [Friedrich August von] Hayek. A lot of what he taught had to do with the impossibility of trying to control the system and the unknowability of people’s trying to plan things and to motivate their fellow man – the incredible sophistication of the economy and also, generally, of life.
Who’s your political hero? [Former Ontario Premier] Mike Harris. I like conviction in politicians. I admire that about Obama. I don’t agree with his policies, but he’s incredibly effective in getting his program under way.
What advice would you give to a young economist? Stay in school and read as broadly as you can. One of the enemies of good economics is specialization.
What sort of child were you? Pretty quiet, not terribly sports minded, a curious fellow. I was reminded recently with the anniversary of the moon landing that I was eight when it happened – but I remember tracking it prior to that. I had a strong interest in current events even then. I guess that makes me a nerd.
What game are you most skilled at? Being a klutz, I don’t do a lot of team sports. I guess skiing is the thing I’m best at. I used to play Risk but I haven’t done that for a long time. Figuring out financial markets may not sound like a game, but the market is something that is changing by the second, and I find that sense of dynamism pleasing.
As a man of 48, how are you going to fill your days, now that you’re no longer at the Fraser Institute? I intend to get involved in a combination of finance, economics and public policy, providing consulting and advisory services. I have incorporated under the name of Veras – Latin for truth – and I hope to have some initial research released this fall. I am also reading widely to possibly write a book on human psychology. That should keep me out of mischief.