SecondStreet.org
SOURCE: SecondStreet.org, captured 2020-08-06
Co-Founders: Troy Lanigan (part-time CEO) | Mark Milke
Founded: 2017
President: Colin Craig | Board | Staff
Registered Name: SecondStreet.org
Alias: Cartwright Centre | Centre Cartwright [Victoria B.C. address matches Troy Lanigan's home address]
Business Number: 770072098RR0001
Type: public policy think tank, educational charity
Vision: A prosperous, free Canada where all can pursue happiness. We see opportunity, choice and responsibility as three pillars for the successful, self-governing nation envisioned by Canada's founders.
Mission: To tell the stories of ordinary Canadians and their families, and show how public policy choices harm or help their prosperity, freedom and lives.
Approach: How do government policies impact everyday Canadians? That's what SecondStreet.org explores. From coast-to-coast we're telling the stories of Canadians from all walks of life and how they're affected - for better or worse - by government decisions.
Funding: "We are 100% funded by donations. With your help, we can tell even more Canadians' stories!"
Financials
Location: Regina, Saskatchewan
Website: SecondStreet.org | Policy Briefs
[2019-01-07]: Donner Canadian Foundation, prominent funder of right-wing groups, helps bankroll new 'think tank' [SecondStreet.org] closely connected to Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF)
A new "think tank" - SecondStreet.org - with close connections to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) received $50,000 last year from the Donner Canadian Foundation, a prominent funder of right-wing ideological organizations in Canada.
The $50,000 contribution to SecondStreet.org is shown in the Donner Canadian Foundation's list of 2018 grants.
... In 2017, according the Donner Canadian Foundation's report for that year, it gave $32,956 to en entity called the Cartwright Centre, which an online corporate data listing showed to be based at an address in Victoria, B.C. An online public telephone directory, in turn, showed it to be Troy Lanigan's.
Heidi McKillop [local copy] is the Director of Communications at SecondStreet.org. Heidi McKillop is also mentioned in the 2020-03-04 CBC article Groups linked to oil companies funded Facebook ads denouncing the rail blockades.
In 2019 SecondStreet.org received a grant of $21,000 from the Donner Canadian Foundation.
Approach: Storytelling Think Tank
Approach [local copy, 2021-11-25]: How do government policies impact everyday Canadians? That's what SecondStreet.org explores. From coast-to-coast we're telling the stories of Canadians from all walks of life and how they're affected - for better or worse-- by government decisions. ...
[Troy Lanigan] "Consider this simple, 'bite-sized' illustration involving two pieces of bread. John Montagu was the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He was a statesman and notorious gambler who, during a 24-hour gambling streak in 1762 instructed a cook to prepare his food in such a way that it would not interfere with his game. The cook presented him with a piece of meat between two pieces of bread - no utensils required, and could be eaten with one hand while the other hand was free to continue the game!
Now for reasons I don't fully understand it's a safe bet that for the rest of your life you will remember - mostly - how the sandwich came to be.
Did etching that into your mind require some secret memory tonic? No. Rather it required something far simpler yet far more powerful: It required telling a story.
For the past thirty years - most of it with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation - I've been working in the advocacy and public policy field mostly tossing around a lot of big numbers and economic jargon but also, importantly, telling a few stories along the way.
My observation has been that storytelling - or at minimum great narratives - lie at the heart of persuasive and lasting communication. And it's not just public policy. It's equally true in arts, business, politics or virtually any walk of life for that matter. Stories stick. Stories capture. Stories move hearts and imaginations in ways numbers cannot.
It's not that economic data and statistics aren't vitally important, they are, but that we often look past what's behind those numbers. We look past what the experiences are of the individuals, families and entrepreneurs that make up economic statistics.
[ ... snip ... ]
SecondStreet.org - a storytelling think tank - appears to pivot from the standard report based communications model, to a policy communications model (which is focused on the story rather than the report | local copy). The approach also appears to facilitate development communication, the use of communication to facilitate social development (note also: political communication).
Application of that approach is apparent in the 2020-03-04 CBC News story Groups linked to oil companies funded Facebook ads denouncing the rail blockades detailing a social media CBC News story astroturfing campaign in opposition to the Wet'suwet'en protests of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project.
Debunk Inc. produced a 2020-01-05 YouTube video in support of Canadian oil production. Debunk Inc. describes itself as a "group of people that believe in supporting the issues that matter most to Canadians," and says it pushes back at disinformation about the oil sector in mainstream media.
Adopting a narrative style - set in comforting, homelike settings - the Debunk Inc. video prominently features Heidi McKillop, Franco Terrazzano (Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation | local copy | LinkedIn | local copy), and other articulate young professionals defending the environmental and economic benefits of "local oil" - with Franco Terrazzano describing the economic benefits of the Trans Mountain pipeline [~4:30 in the video].
SecondStreet.org founder and CEO Troy Lanigan served as the President of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation from 2009-01 to 2018-12. Heidi McKillop is listed as a contributor on the SecondStreet.ca Staff webpage [local copy, 2021-11-25]. Heidi McKillop's LinkedIn page lists her as Director of Communications at SecondStreet.org from 2020-08 to 2021-06, indicating associations between Heidi McKillop, Debunk Inc., and SecondStreet.org.
2019 Annual Report
2019 Annual Report (local copy, pdf). SecondStreet's "2020 Case for Support" discusses our upcoming research activities and includes our 2019 Annual Report.
2019 At A Glance
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Six policy briefs ranging from natural resource development and health care to carbon taxes and supply management.
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26 videos released, including: several patients talking about how they had to travel abroad for surgery, a worker in Scarborough describing how he's affected by government-obstructed natural resource projects and a mom just outside Calgary explaining how her family pays more for milk due to supply management.
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1 million+ impressions through our social media content.
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520,000+ views of our videos online. Some viewers even contacted us to ask permission to play our videos in classrooms.
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50+ times our columns [News] were published by major news outlets.
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20+ radio interviews across Canada discussing SecondStreet.org research and the stories we've brought to light.
SecondStreet.org 2019 Annual Report: 2018-2019 Financials. SecondStreet.org fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30; e.g., 2019 is for period July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019.
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| Revenues: | 2019 | 2018 |
| Donations | $258,764 | $48,557 |
| Gifts in kind | n/a | $5,283 |
| $258,764 | $53,840 |
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| Expenses: | 2019 | 2018 |
| Salaries, benefits, and consulting | $137,191 | $28,025 |
| Research, videos, and equipment | $72,661 | $479 |
| Advertising | $4,691 | $32 |
| Bank charges | $1,291 | $46 |
| Other | $34,454 | $20,399 |
| $250,288 | $48,981 |
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Cartwright Centre
Established: 2016
Founder: Troy Lanigan
Alias: Cartwright Centre | Centre Cartwright [Victoria B.C. address matches Troy Lanigan's home address]
Namesake: Sir Richard John Cartwright (December 4, 1835 - September 24, 1912), a supporter of unrestricted free trade with the United States who was appointed minister of finance in the Liberal cabinet of Alexander Mackenzie in 1874
Name change (2018) to: SecondStreet.org
Registered Name: SecondStreet.org
Business Number: 770072098RR0001
Purpose: "educational think tank carrying out charitable activities"
History
Troy Lanigan and Mark Milke founded SecondStreet.org in 2017. Their observation was that public policy research and discussion would gain more traction amongst the public, stakeholders and lawmakers if it was better connected to real life experiences. In other words, put a face to numbers and statistics primarily though short videos and articles but also give voice to those people whose stories are being told through avenues like media or lawmakers seeking public input.
Moreover, while SecondStreet.org would undertake its own research it would also advance the work of other think tanks where public policy issues and the search for solutions overlapped with the stories and narratives being advanced by SecondStreet.org.
After writing a business plan in 2017, the pair sought seed capital in 2018 that would eventually secure the hiring of a full-time president, Colin Craig, late in 2018. After a short period of capacity building that included development of a student internship program, SecondStreet.org was launched publicly in February 2019.
SecondStreet.org President Colin Craig
Troy Lanigan
SecondStreet.org co-Founder, part-time CEO
Troy Lanigan was appointed President of the Manning Centre on 2019-04-01. Lanigan continued as President of the Canada Strong and Free Network during its transition June 2020-06.
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Troy Lanigan is the founder and part-time CEO of a new think tank, SecondStreet.org, that examines public policy through the lens of stories and experiences shared by individuals, families and entrepreneurs impacted by government policy.
Mark Milke
SecondStreet.org co-Founder
Mark Milke [local copy (html)] - who studied at the University of Calgary - was a Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute between 2010 and 2015. and was the Fraser Institute's Director of Alberta Policy Studies.
Mark Milke is currently an independent analyst and consultant in Calgary [website].
As the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF)'s former Alberta and British Columbia Director, Milke worked with various free-market thinktanks - e.g.: Frontier Centre for Public Policy | ...
Mark Milke has also penned columns for: Calgary Herald | MacLean's | National Post | Vancouver Sun | ....
Mark Milke.
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SecondStreet.org (2020) Projects & Priorities
Health Care. The COVID-19 pandemic helped shine a light on a major weakness of Canada's health care system - government rationing left Canadians facing a pandemic with access to fewer doctors, hospital beds and equipment per capita than most other developed nations. In 2020, we'll be examining this issue through a new report and patient stories.
We're also looking into the sad reality that long health care waiting lists in Canada are contributing to premature patient deaths. Dr. Brian Day, a past president of the Canadian Medical Association, has estimated the number to be in the thousands. We're taking a closer look.
Natural Resource Development. Canada has enormous potential when it comes to developing our oil and gas sector, mining and forestry divisions. Yet far too often, these projects are ground to a halt. We're going to keep talking with everyday people about how large projects, such as the $20.6 billion Teck mine, affect them.
SecondStreet.org will also continue its series on how our lives would be affected if we listened to activists who want to keep oil in the ground. In 2020 we will release a report and show the role oil plays in producing electric vehicles, our food supply and bringing a baby into the world.
COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered public policy discourse in Canada more than any other event in our modern history. SecondStreet.org has a few projects underway, one of which is to shine a light on all the government regulations that have been relaxed in the name of helping everyday Canadians and businesses cope - from allowing patients to videoconference with their doctors to allowing restaurants to sell alcohol with delivery orders.
We'll be telling the stories behind these relaxed regulations and examining whether or not the restrictions should be permanently rescinded.
Student Interns. From its inception, SecondStreet.org would be committed to supporting the next generation of public policy leaders in Canada. In 2019, we provided internships to two university students and plan to do so again in 2020. Whether a graduating student wants to work at a think tank, find stories as a member of the media or perhaps even run for public office, helping us with public policy analysis, research and reaching large audiences will prove to be a valuable experience.
About SecondStreet.org
How do government policies impact everyday Canadians? That's what SecondStreet.org explores. From coast-to-coast we're telling the stories of Canadians from all walks of life and how they're affected - for better or worse - by government decisions.
- How are patients affected by long health care waiting lists?
- How are workers affected when governments obstruct natural resource projects?
- How are families affected when governments raise taxes?
These are the types of questions SecondStreet.org is asking and researching.
You may be wondering - why the name "Second Street"? Second Street is actually the most common street name in Canada - there is one in almost every community. Second Street is where people live, work, learn, pray, shop, eat ... it's where lives are lived, discussions had, experiences shaped. It is from this place we gather the conversations and experiences of Canadians as they pertain to government policies.
Additional Reading
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