FCPP Staff

Peter Holle is the founding President of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, an award-winning western Canadian based public policy think tank. Since its founding in 1997, Frontier has brought a distinctive and influential Prairie voice to regional and national debates over public policy in areas such as core public sector reform, housing, poverty, aboriginals, consumer-focused health care performance, equalization, rural policy and much more. Of the nearly 100 recognized think tanks in Canada, Frontier is one of only 5 to make the 2008 global "Go-To Think Tanks" list published by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. Mr. Holle has worked extensively with public sector reform and has provided advisory services to various governments across Canada and the United States. His publications have appeared in various newspapers and journals including dozens of newspapers, the National Post and the Wall Street Journal. He has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is a member of various organizations including the Mont Pelerin Society, an international organization of classical liberals.

Marco Navarro-Génie, Director of Research (BA [Hons.] Concordia University; MA, PhD [Political Science] University of Calgary) also teaches political science in the Department of Policy Studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, and has taught at St. Mary’s College, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), the University of Calgary, and Concordia University in Montreal. His academic work focuses on radical revolutionary movements, and cultural and political identity in Latin America. His teaching and pioneering research have been recognized, respectively, by a Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award (1999) at Mount Royal University, and an Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (2004-2006) held at the University of Calgary. He is a Fellow at the Latin American Research Centre at the University of Calgary, and is author of Augusto "César" Sandino: Messiah of Light and Truth. Dr. Navarro-Génie is a member of the Board of Directors for The International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights and Democracy). He is fluent in English, French, and Spanish, he regularly comments on Canadian and Alberta politics for various local, national, and international print and broadcast news outlets including CTV News and RDI.

Darla Hooker is the Director of Development at the Frontier Center for Public Policy. She was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1990 she completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Manitoba and then continued her education in the field of Respiratory Therapy at the Health Science Center in Winnipeg where she worked as a Respiratory Therapist at the St. Boniface Hospital. She has been very involved with the Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary Schools; as a board member, active participant of the parent council as well as coordinating numerous fundraising events. Darla has managed youth hockey and flag football teams in the community. She has worked with a variety of organizations such as the Canadian Cancer Society Gala Ball, and more recently the Women’s World Hockey Championships.

David Seymour directs the Centre’s Saskatchewan office. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Philosophy from the University of Auckland, where he also taught Economics. After working as an engineer in New Zealand, he is applying his passion for sound policy analysis to policy issues on the Prairies. In his first two years working for the Frontier Centre, David has carried out extensive media work, presenting policy analysis through local and national television, newspapers, and radio. His policy columns have been published in newspapers in every province as well as the Globe and Mail and the National Post. David has produced policy research papers on telecommunications privatization, education, environmental policy, fiscal policy, poverty, and taxi deregulation. However, his major project with the Frontier Centre is the annual Local Government Performance Index (LGPI). The inaugural LGPI was released in November 2007 and comes at a time when municipal accounting standards in Canada must improve if the municipal government sector is to reach its potential as an economic growth engine for Canada.

Erin Hartness is the Office Administrator at the Frontier Centre. She was born and raised in Manitoba and has recently returned to the province after a few years in Alberta. After completing certification, she worked as a Pharmacy Technician from 2002 to 2006 before deciding on a career change to the Administration field.

Joseph Quesnel is a policy analyst at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy who focuses on aboriginal matters among many other things. He is from the Sudbury region of Northern Ontario, and has Metis ancestry from Quebec. He graduated from McGill University in 2001, majoring in political science and history. He specialized in Canadian and American politics, with an emphasis on constitutional law. In 2004, he completed a master of journalism degree at Carleton University in Ottawa, where he specialized in political reporting. For two years, he covered House standing committees, as well as Senate committees. His career in journalism includes several stints at community newspapers in Northern Ontario, including Sudbury and Espanola. He also completed internships at CFRA 580 AM, a talk radio station in Ottawa and the Cable Public Affairs Channel. He writes a weekly column in the Winnipeg Sun and contributes to the Taxpayer, the flagship publication of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Ben Eisen is a Policy Analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Toronto where he specialized in history and political science. He also holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance. Ben completed a public policy internship with the federal government, and he worked as a researcher for the CBC. Ben’s policy columns have been published in the National Post, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Calgary Herald, The Gazette and the Toronto Sun.

Michael C. Zwaagstra is a research associate at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy who specializes in education policy. He has extensive teaching experience at a variety of grade levels and currently teaches high school social studies in Manitoba. He received his B.Ed., P.B.C.E., and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Manitoba where he won several academic awards such as the A. W. Hogg Undergraduate Scholarship, the Klieforth Prize in American History, and the Schoolmaster’s Wives Association Scholarship. As an educator, Michael is a strong proponent of raising academic standards, holding schools accountable for their results, and expanding the educational options available to parents. His columns promoting common sense education reform have been published in major daily newspapers including the National Post, Winnipeg Free Press, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, and Calgary Herald. He is also a frequent guest on radio stations across the country. His first book, What's Wrong with Our Schools and How We Can Fix Them, is scheduled to be released in mid-2010.

Lisa Blackadar is the Projects Coordinator at the Frontier Centre, who provides support for both the Education Frontiers and Aboriginal Governance Index projects. Earning a diploma in Business Administration from Red River College, she has worked in service and manufacturing sectors.

FCPP Staff

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