The World Bank: A Change in Our Saturday Routine

27 February 2012Jim Ganley

On Saturday morning the Lecture Theatre was full of Brentwood students for a lecture by economist and University of Victoria Professor, John Fryer.

Following his graduation from the London School of Economics, John has been, in turn, an American correspondent for the ‘Economist’ magazine, a Canadian public sector trade union leader, a popular professor in the University of Victoria’s School of Public Administration, a senior BC government official and currently an international consultant on public policy issues. Some of his international assignments have included assisting the new South African government of Nelson Mandela in developing modern labour relations policies, helping the public sector trade unionists in Guyana to rebuild their organization, working with the World Bank in Washington D.C. on public sector reform, and advising the government of the world’s biggest city, Chongqing, China, on introducing collective bargaining for its 18 million member workforce.

John’s public service was recognized in 1994 when he was awarded Canada’s highest civilian honour. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada “for his bargaining skills and contribution to economic and social justice”. In 1995 he was honoured with the Gerard Dion Award of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association (CIRA/ACRI) for his “outstanding
contributions to Canadian labour relations”. John has also been awarded Queen Elizabeth’s Silver, Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medals for his public service.

His topic on Saturday was the World Bank, how it came into being, and the work it attempts to do today. John enjoyed answering a wide range of questions from students and faculty on global economic issues. We hope he will return soon to host a seminar or two in our new Global Studies classrooms. We are fortunate indeed to a have a world class university on our doorstep and faculty of that university who are willing to bring their experience and expertise to Mill Bay.

Mr. Dave McCarthy, Director of Academics

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