[Opinion] What use are “think tanks” when emotion rules?

“Did you hear the din from your house? my friends outside of Ottawa often asked me during the Freedom Convoy demonstrations. In a word, no. But it would take a more complex answer. Because a certain “din”, or rather an emotional storm, has indeed disturbed my sleep. I mulled over the words of those who dismiss evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines or who propagate aberrant conspiracy theories. But I also feared that our decision-makers would lose interest in the root causes of such a surge.

These demonstrations perfectly illustrated the extent to which emotion reigns in public debate today. Too often, politicians put feelings before facts. Faced with the omnipresence of disinformation relayed instantly on social networks, research based on data seems almost outdated.

While tempers are rapidly heating up and citizens and politicians seem unconcerned with hard facts, think tanks and research institutes still have a role to play? Absolutely ! In many respects, their importance is even more crucial than ever… if they can evolve to reflect a country that has changed a great deal.

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The network of think tanks Canadians is small but very influential. Some have only made one lap, others have marked the spirits. This is the case of FOCAL (Canadian Foundation for the Americas), which has conducted valuable research on hemispheric relations. Or the Mowat Centre, which studied public policy from an Ontario perspective. Fortunately, others have succeeded them, notably the Yellowhead Institute, run by Aboriginal researchers. The one I direct, the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), the only major think tank with a pan-Canadian perspective based in Montreal, is fortunate to cross the milestone of its half-century of existence this year and to have a bright future ahead of it.

The relevance of these expert groups lies in their distance from governments and the news cycle. Working at their own pace, between retrospective and prospective analysis, they act like a radar that detects new challenges, stubbornly reminds decision-makers of the lessons of the past and highlights the interdependence of issues in several areas.

On the fringes of the academic world, they can scrutinize public policy issues in depth and propose concrete solutions. But they also play an essential role in collaborating with researchers and academics by disseminating their work and sending it to decision-makers.

More than ever, our research organizations must serve as a bulwark against the torrent of pseudoscience, misinformation and unlikely opinions that masquerade as political analysis.

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To fully fulfill this role, however, they must evolve, particularly by emphasizing inclusiveness. The public policy environment has always been very homogeneous. However, our institutions will not be able to produce credible research without bearing witness to the range of realities that make up Canadian diversity. We must be aware of the biases that can easily affect our research work: colonial approach, exclusively urban perspective, point of view centered on the south of the country and a “racial color blindness” that neglects the impact of political decisions on racialized groups.

We also need to reach our target audiences more effectively, wherever they are, so they can easily find our content. Because traditional modes of communication are no longer enough. Like all media, think tanks now rely on live and virtual events, newsletters, search engine optimization, social media platforms and their own publications (the IRPP is a pioneer in this regard, having launched its magazine in 1980 Policy options).

The groups of experts do not work miracles, underlined Ronald Ritchie, the economist who had advocated the creation of the IRPP, but they try to prevent decision-makers from basing their action on crises and emotion. “More often than not,” he observed in his report to the government in 1971, “we seem to drift toward solutions and expedients; Circumstances push us to act even before we have had a fair idea of ​​the problem. »

The 50th anniversary of the IRPP is an opportunity for me to highlight the passion of our researchers for facts and data. But also the calm and methodical approach which ensures that we conduct our work away from all noise.

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