According to its website, the Aurea Foundation “supports qualified institutions and affiliated individuals involved in the study and development of public policy,” giving “special attention” to issues like the “economic foundations of freedom” and “the strengthening of the free market system.”
In practice, the Aurea Foundation is one of the biggest funders sustaining a network of right-wing think tanks in Canada.Canada Revenue Agency disclosures for 2017 show Aurea distributed nearly $1.8 million in funds. A few beneficiaries include:
The Fraser Institute ($518,238)
Macdonald-Laurier Institute ($250,000)
Montreal Economic Institute ($250,000)
Canadian Constitution Foundation ($250,000)
C. D. Howe Institute ($225,000)
Manning Foundation ($100,000)
These “gifts” to other registered charities and qualified donees accounted for nearly two-thirds (63%) of Aurea’s total expenditures in 2017.
Between 2011 and 2017, Aurea’s regular donations to these right-wing organizations have totaled in the millions:
The Fraser Institute ($1,675,568)
MacDonald-Laurier Institute ($1,255,000)
Frontier Centre for Public Policy ($1,204,000)
Montreal Economic Institute ($968,000)
C.D. Howe Institute ($870,000)
Canadian Constitution Foundation ($425,000)
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms ($275,000)
Atlantic Institute for Market Studies ($252,500)
According to group’s charitable disclosures, the right-wing Fraser Institute has been a top recipient of Aurea Foundation cash over the years.The Fraser Institute has received $1.7 million from the Aurea Foundation since 2011 and received a $5 million donation from Munk himself in 2016 to fund an education program that provides right-wing training sessions for teachers and offers teenagers cash prizes to write essays attacking minimum wage increases.
Programming accounted for 23% of the organization’s $2.7 million budget. The only program listed on the Aurea Foundation’s website is the semi-annual Munk Debate.
Speakers selected to participate in Munk Debates often voice right-wing and neoconservative views.
Past speakers have included the controversial University of Toronto professor andalt-right idol Jordan Peterson, the former leader of the anti-immigrant UKIP party Nigel Farage as well as Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Former Republican house speaker Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, has participated in no fewer than three Munk Debates.
- “The Group Behind Steve Bannon’s Toronto Event Also Funds Canada’s Biggest Right-Wing Think Tanks.” PressProgress.ca, November 2, 2018.
