Michael is Senior Scholar at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy. Prior to his appointment to the Caledon Institute, he was the Deputy Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Cabinet Office in Ontario. He has served as an Assistant Deputy Minister in Ontario’s Ministries of Finance, Community Services and Health. In Manitoba, he was Secretary to Treasury Board and Deputy Minister of Social Services.
Michael has been an active participant in several of Canada’s major developments in federal-provincial relations, finance and social policy. He co-led Ontario’s delegation on ‘division of powers’ in the Charlottetown Constitutional negotiations. In the Federal Privy Council's Ministry of State for Social Development, he played a critical role in the development of the Canada Health Act. He was a consultant for the National Forum on Health and the Parliamentary Task Force on Federal-Provincial Fiscal Relations. As Deputy Minister in Manitoba he oversaw the recognition of path breaking First Nations Child Family Service agencies on reserve and the establishment of the first major off-reserve Aboriginal controlled child and family preventive agency in Canada.
He recently published “Why We Need a First Nations Education Act” (October, 2009) through the Caledon Institute of Social Policy – a paper discussing the need for the federal government to cede control over First Nations education.