Pierre Trudeau - one of the most loved and loathed Prime Ministers of Canada, his influence continues to be felt today. But was he a good Prime Minister? 

This evening from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Canadian Museum of Civilization Theatre, David Frum and Lawrence Martin will debate this topic under the watchful eye of moderator Michael Bliss, one of Canada's most distinguished historians. You can have your say by taking part in what is anticipated to be a lively question and answer period.

There is still time to get your tickets! Click here for more information and to register to attend an individual debate ($30 per debate) or the entire series ($100 for the series).

History Wars is a series of four provocative debates exploring some of the most compelling subjects in Canadian history. Well-known historians and personalities debate topics ranging from Pierre Trudeau to Canada's role in international peacekeeping.

Even at the most solemn state occasions, MLI is there! In his speech to the Canadian Parliament on September 22, 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron began by citing MLI's first book, The Canadian Century. He said, "As the author Brian Lee Crowley has set out, there is a strong argument that the 21^st Century could well be the Canadian Century."

We are honoured to receive such recognition from a world leader. Mr. Cameron is extremely familiar with the Canadian political and policy scene, having come to power in the UK in 2010 promising "Canadian-style reform". MLI's Crowley has been to the UK to talk about how Canada managed one of the Western world's most comprehensive fiscal turnarounds. The media coverage of that visit perhaps caught Mr. Cameron's eye.

MLI also congratulates the two other co-authors of The Canadian Century, MLI Director of Research Jason Clemens, and Niels Veldhuis for this outstanding recognition of their work. For more details, click here.

We are delighted to welcome new Senior Fellow, Professor Benjamin Perrin, to the MLI team. Professor Perrin brings a wealth of experience in Canadian and international criminal law, human rights, immigration, and national security. MLI's work in these areas will be advanced through this fellowship and we are pleased to have attracted such a distinguished individual.

Professor Perrin is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia. His recent book Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking (Viking Canada, 2010) became a bestseller and was named one of the top books of the year by the Globe and Mail. In 2010, amendments proposed by Professor Perrin to the Criminal Code were adopted by Parliament to enact stiffer penalties for child trafficking (Bill C-268) - the only private member's bill to become law between 2008 and 2010 and only the fifteenth time since Confederation that the Criminal Code had been amended by a private member's bill.The U.S. Department of State has recognized Professor Perrin as a "hero in the fight against modern-day slavery".

MLI marks the election that shaped a country: 1911

On September 21^st, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute celebrated the centenary of Canada's momentous 1911 election at the prestigious Rideau Club. The event drew a great crowd of politicians, civil servants, consultants and academics who engaged in a lively Q & A session after the brief talk by Canada 1911 co-author Patrice Dutil and panel discussion by historian Jack Granatstein and political strategist Derek Burney.

If you missed out on this event, please click here to view photos and watch the video of the evening. 

The current Conservative government has reiterated its commitment to balancing the budget by slowing growth in spending, hoping both that interest rates remain low, and that revenues rebound robustly. This slow, incremental action on deficit reduction is grounded in the view that more direct action to balance budgets sooner through spending cuts is a political loser. In this context, MLI released a Commentary on September 7^th by MLI Director of Research Jason Clemens who uses historical evidence from both Canadian provincial governments as well as the federal government in the 1990s to show that this is not true. In Balancing Budgets: Good Politics, Good Policy, he discusses how purposeful action to eliminate budget deficits relying on spending reductions rather than tax increases can be a foundation for not only sound economic policy, but electoral success.

Since the release of the Commentary, The Globe and Mail published an op-ed by Jason on the same topic, iPolitics.ca published the full Commentary, and Jason appeared on CJOB's Night Hawk with Geoff Currier.

A disproportionately large volume of crime in this country is committed by a disproportionately small number of offenders. In a new series called Straight Talk, MLI author Scott Newark tackles this issue by evaluating Canada's corrections and parole systems in dealing with repeat offenders and his recommendations generated a great deal of media attention. The National Post published Scott's op-ed on this topic on September 13^th. He appeared on a number of radio shows including CKOM's John Gormley Live in Winnipeg, Newstalk 1010's The Live Drive with John Tory in Toronto, CFAX's David Dickson Show in Victoria, and the Dave Rutherford and Roy Green show in Alberta. In addition to this, he was invited to appear on Byline with Brian Lilley on Sun News Network to discuss his eight recommendations to fix Canada's parole system. 

On September 1^st, The Globe and Mail posted MLI Senior Fellow Alex Wilner's 2010 Senate Testimony on prison radicalization in full as part of a backgrounder to an article on radicalization in jails. On September 5^th, The Hill Times quoted MLI's Lincoln Caylor in an article about creating a national crime prevention strategy. Also on September 5^th, MLI Managing Director Brian Lee Crowley was quoted in an article for the Toronto Star discussing Canada's prison reforms. In his September 10^th column in the Ottawa Citizen, Brian discusses what America means to him on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. On September 19^th, Brian writes about how claims of wholesale Americanization of our criminal justice system are highly exaggerated in his monthly column for The Hill Times.On September 24^th, he discusses how the Ontario NDP shouldn't take credit for the fiscal record of their Prairie cousins in his latest column for the Ottawa Citizen.