After three years as the head of the Conseil du Patronat du Quebec, a group representing Quebec’s largest businesses, Michel Kelly-Gagnon will be returning to the Insitute Economique de Montreal (MEI) next February 2009. “It is with great enthusiasm that I accept the presidency of the MEI to strengthen an orientation based on making economic research accessible to the general public and on promoting a free market approach open to various tendencies,” Kelly-Gagnon said. “While I very much enjoyed my work representing Quebec’s businesses, I nevertheless came to miss the freedom of action and speech provided by a think tank.” In his capacity as president, he will be working to extend MEI’s reach beyond Quebec to the rest of Canada.

MEI is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research and educational institute based in Montreal, Canada. MEI was awarded a Templeton Freedom Award from Atlas in 2004. Kelly-Gagnon was President of MEI from 1999-2006.

Welcome back to MEI, Michel!

“The absence of strong institutions and a clear framework has impeded a healthy and profitable exploitation of African resources by both indigenous and foreign investors,” according to James Shikwati, director of the Inter Region Economic Network and organizer of the 6th Annual African Resource Bank meeting.

After three days of presentations and group discussions, participants concluded that “Natural resource investment in Africa is still marred by a number of challenges ranging from lack of mineral exploration/exploitation technology, a difficult investment climate, weak corporate governance, poor infrastructure, perception that mining is a riksy venture, difficulty in accessing land for exploration and mining, unfavorable mining legislation and fiscal policies and conflicts.”

The meeting was held from November 9-12th in Mombasa, Kenya. For more details about the meeting and the resolutions suggested by the conference participants, click here.

Le Centre des Affaires Humaines (CEDAH) just published the first volume of the Atlas Economic Magazine, a journal on entrepreneurship and economic freedom. The inaugural edition of this journal includes a commentary about Burkina Faso’s ranking in the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report as well as select articles by Dr. Emmanuel Martin (www.unmondelibre.org) and James Shikwati (Inter Region Economic Network, Kenya). CEDAH’s executive director, Mahamadou Sinte says, “The journal is named Atlas Economic Magazine in recognition of the great contribution of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation to the creation of CEDAH, which is the first libertarian think tank in Burkina Faso.” If you are interested in receiving an electronic copy of the journal, please contact Mahamadou Sinte at info@cedahburkina.com.

Health care was a top concern among Americans throughout this presidential campaign season. Conventional belief in the  U.S. says that the government can solve America’s health care problems. The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) just realeased a new book, The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen’s Guide, that challenges this belief. The book’s author and PRI president and CEO, Sally Pipes, suggests that “Government overreach has put the system in a state of crisis.”

The book tackles popular myths regarding the state of America’s health care system and lays out several patient-centered prescriptions for reform. “If we want to bring costs down and extend coverage to more Americans, we have to open the health care marketplace to competition– by abolishing costly government regulations and reforming the tax code to make insurance more affordable,”according to Pipes.

William J. “Jerry” Hume has been selected to receive the Pacific Research Institute’s first Sir Anthony Fisher Freedom Award during it annual gala dinner in San Francisco, California, tomorrow night. Upon hearing this news, Atlas’s Alex Chafuen said, “Jerry Hume’s example and generosity will continue to inspire all those who, like Fisher, devote their time to champion the principles of the free society, especially in the area of economics.”

The entire Atlas’s staff and board salute Jerry Hume for this much merited award!

In addition to casting their vote for the President of the United States last week, Marylanders also voted on- and approved- a constitutional amendment which legalizes slot machines in Maryland. This approval paves the way for up to 15, 000 machines to be installed in five locations, including two horse racing tracks in Laurel and near Ocean City. This approval ends years of grueling debate about gambling in the Old Line state.

To view Maryland Public Policy Institute (MPPI)’s market analysis, click here, and its predictions for potential revenue figures, click here.

In three days, think tank leaders, academics, business leaders, and policymakers from Africa and around the world will convene in Mombasa, Kenya for the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN)’s 6th Annual Resource Bank meeting. Taking place from November 9-12, 2008 at the White Sands Beach Resort, the meeting will focus on how Africa can utilize its natural resources to raise the living standards of its people. “The event is very important for Africa since it is expected to discuss the importance of building institutions and frameworks that will facilitate a peaceful and profitable exploitation of natural resources for the benefit of the African people,”says James Shikwati, the Director of IREN, a Nairobi-based think tank.

If you are interested in attending the event, please contact IREN’s Events Manager, Anne Mugoya, at 020-2731497 or by email. For a report about this event, stay tuned to this space.

If you weren’t able to make it up to Toronto for the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s second annual law conference on October 17-19, don’t fear, you can now watch it all on YouTube. Close to one hundred lawyers, law students and other liberty-minded individuals attended the conference on “Individual Freedom and the Common Good- Defining Human Rights in a Free Society.” Panel topics included aboriginal rights, judicial activism, environmental protection and freedom of expression. Conference attendees were also treated to keynote addresses by David Frum, Eugene Meyer and Randy Barnett. To view the YouTube video, click here. The Canadian Constitution Foundation is the winner of one of Atlas’s 2008 Fisher Venture Grants.

Tobacco smuggling is not only illegal in Nigeria, but it undermines potential revenue sources for legitimate suppliers, discourages innovation, poses health risks for consumers and increases border security expenses. The Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA), a Lagos-based free market think tank, brought together key stakeholders impacted by this issue to discuss the repercussions of illicit tobacco trading on Nigeria’s economy, tobacco manufacturing industry and consumers. “Local industries suffer huge economic losses as they lose a tremendous percentage of market shares to smuggled products and the government also suffers because smuggleres naturally evade tax,” according to Thompson Ayodele, executive director of the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis.

The IPPA event concluded with the decision to implement a ban on all tobacco smuggling into the country. To read a recent article about the event, click here.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s film, Flunked, which shows the disturbing realities of America’s failing education system, has won an award for Best Documentary at the San Fernando Valley International Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA. Narrated by award-winning actor Joe Mantegna, Flunked showcases teachers who are applying strong leadership, high standards, teacher excellence, and solid curricula in their schools as a way of countering this downward trend. The film festival showcased 66 projects from over 500 submissions.

To view a trailer for the Flunked documentary, click here.

Congratulations Evergreen!