EVENT DATE: February 13, 2013
TOPIC: More Government or Less?  The public-private shift and what it means

The shift has been taking place without debate. He states: “in all political parties have twisted themselves into pretzels to avoid the conversation” about taxes and public services. “This has to change.”

Hugh Mackenzie is principal of a Toronto consulting firm, Hugh Mackenzie and Associates. He is a recognized expert on economic policy, public finance, and education financing. As an associate of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, he authors its annual Ontario Alternative Budget, a counterview to the official budget.

Mr Mackenzie was a key adviser to the Kingston Community Roundtable on Poverty Reduction, whose report A Living Wage for Kingston was published in 2011. He has worked as executive director of the Ontario Fair Tax Commission, and research director at the Canadian national office of the United Steelworkers. He is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario, and holds a Masters degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin (Madison).

Currently, he serves on the Ontario Pension Board, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board, and the investment advisory committee of the Canada Post Pension Plan. He is president and chair of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation — established in 1942 by the Toronto Star publisher Joseph Atkinson in support of health, social welfare, economic justice and education projects.