Century Initiative
The Century Initiative is a Canadian lobby group that aims to increase Canada's population to 100 million by 2100. This includes increasing the population of megaregions, which are interlocking areas with more than one city centre and a typical population of 5 million or more.
The Century Initiative was co-founded by Mark Wiseman and Dominic Barton, who also led the Advisory Council on Economic Growth under three-term Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Initiative was supported by former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and by influential Liberal Party advisors including advisors to former Minister of Finance Bill Morneau. The Century Initiative has been listed on Canada's lobbyist registry since 2021 and has organized meetings with the immigration minister's office, the minister's parliamentary secretary, and Conservative and NDP members of parliament.
History
Laurier Project
The Century Initiative was founded in late 2009 as the Laurier Project Foundation by Mark Wiseman and Dominic Barton, who was the head of McKinsey & Company at the time, along with other "prominent Canadians".Initially, large-scale population expansion and immigration was not the stated goal of the project; rather, the project aimed to bring "Canada to a position of global leadership through the development and implementation of a major initiative that:
- "Successfully convenes Canadian leaders in the public, social, and private sectors to work collaboratively in its achievement;"
- "Catalyzes action to nurture and advance Canada's strengths as a nation by leveraging best practices, scholarly research, and building on the work of active partners on the ground;" and
- "Develops a roadmap for success to drive transformative impact over the long-term."
With this, the foundation's four areas of exploration were: The Arctic, Smart Nation, Virtuous Energy, and "A Genius for Getting Along."
Many prominent Canadians served on the Laurier Project's board or were advisors to the project, such as Chrystia Freeland, David Naylor, and Nadir Mohamed.
Century Initiative
In 2011, the project shifted to population expansion; it was later rebranded and reorganized as the Century Initiative.In March 2021, The Globe and Mail hosted a virtual event in partnership with the Century Initiative examining key indicators of the Century Initiative's progress towards growing Canada's population to 100 million by the year 2100.
The Century Initiative has also been written about by columnists including Andrew Coyne, Terence Corcoran, and Doug Saunders, who subsequently authored the book Maximum Canada: Why 35 Million Canadians Are Not Enough.
Key priorities
Century Initiative identifies five key "focus areas" to guide Canada's long-term growth planning, with the overarching goal of ensuring that Canada remains a stable, prosperous, and democratic society. These focus areas include:- Immigration
- Infrastructure & Environment
- Economy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
- Support for Children and Families
- Education, Skills & Employment
Immigration
Century Initiative advocates for maintaining robust immigration levels to address Canada's aging population and declining birth rates. Its leadership has cited the importance of skilled immigrants to Canada's long-term vitality, while aligning population targets with targeted commitments to expand housing, boost productivity, and strengthen health care and services, ensuring that population growth enhances, rather than overwhelms, these vital areas.Housing and infrastructure
The organization has called for a "war-time" effort to build the housing and infrastructure needed to support population growth, with emphasis on removal of municipal roadblocks to construction, legalization of six-plexes, lowering of development costs, and cutting red tape and prioritizing housing near city-led developments such as libraries, community centres and subway stations.Productivity
Century Initiative stresses the importance of enhancing productivity to secure economic prosperity. It advocates for policies that support innovation, skills development, and long-term economic planning.Board members
In 2024, the 9 official leaders of the Century Initiative group were:| Name | Position | Profile |
| Lisa Lalande | Chief Executive Officer |
|
| Mark D. Wiseman | Chair of the Board of Directors | |
| Thomas V. Milroy | Member of the Board of Directors | |
| Goldy Hyder | Member of the Board of Directors | |
| Tareq Hadhad | Member of the Board of Directors | |
| Ratna Omidvar | Member of the Board of Directors | |
| Muraly Srinarayanathas | Member of the Board of Directors | |
| Stuart Szabo | Member of the Board of Directors | |
| Marie-Lucie Morin | Member of the Board of Directors |
Controversies and critiques
McKinsey & Company involvement
Multiple founders and affiliates of the organization have been employed by McKinsey & Company, a multinational consulting firm. Due to this, the Century Initiative has been connected to a scandal over McKinsey consulting expenses by Justin Trudeau's government, in which whistleblowers have highlighted McKinsey's large and growing influence over Canadian immigration policy.Dominic Barton co-founded Century Initiative when he was the head of McKinsey & Company. Aleema Jamal, the inaugural executive director of the foundation, was also previously employed by McKinsey.
In 2016, four of the organization's five volunteers were employed by McKinsey. Also that year, one-third of the initiative's manpower was employed or formerly employed by McKinsey & Company.
Connections to BlackRock
The Century Initiative Board of Directors is chaired by co-founder Mark Wiseman, who was the Global Head of Active Equities of BlackRock and ran Blackrock's Alternative Investment division at the time that the Initiative was founded.BlackRock's Alternative Investment division includes the firm's international real estate investment portfolio which could potentially benefit from increased demand for financing of new home construction, and is the subject of the BlackRock house-buying conspiracy theory. The Century Initiative's other co-founder, Dominic Barton, is married to Geraldine Buckingham, BlackRock's Asia Pacific chief, which has previously generated conflict-of-interest concerns.