Fraser Institute vice president denies he works for a right-wing organization

Here's something that will surprise critics of the Fraser Institute.

It's a video of the Vancouver-based think tank's executive vice president, Jason Clemens, denying that he works for a right-wing organization.

The interviewer, TVO's Steve Paikin, tries without success to get Clemens to admit where the Fraser Institute is on the political spectrum.

Had Paikin read Burnaby author Donald Gutstein's recent book Harperism, he might have zeroed in with a more precise question: is the Fraser Institute a Hayekian think tank?

I doubt that Clemens would have denied that, given that free-market economist Friedrich Hayek inspired the type of work that he does.

Then Paikin could have followed up by asking Clemens if he agrees with Hayek that we must live with inequality because too much government intervention interferes with economic freedom.

Clemens would have answered "yes".

From there, Paikin could have posed this question to Clemens: do minimum-wage laws interfere with economic freedom?

After Clemens answered "yes", then Paikin could have asked if it's true that the Fraser Institute has often criticized minimum-wage laws.

Clemens would again answer "yes".

Then Paikin's closing question could be: "Okay, you oppose a minimum-wage law. You say we must live with inequality because government intervention undermines the economy. And you're an adherent of Friedrich Hayek. How does that not make the Fraser Institute a right-wing organization?"

Checkmate. 

By the way, this video came courtesy of Press Progress, which is a section of the admittedly left-wing Broadbent Institute.