Menu
Marc Lee
Marc Lee is a Senior Economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Marc joined the CCPA’s British Columbia office in 1998, and is one of Canada’s leading progressive commentators on economic and environmental policy issues. From 2009 to 2015, Marc led the CCPA’s Climate Justice Project (CJP), which published a wide range of research on fair and effective approaches to climate action through integrating principles of social justice. Marc continues to write about climate and energy policy, strategies for affordable housing, federal and provincial budgets and macroeconomics. Marc has an MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and a BA in Economics from the University of Western Ontario. Marc is a past chair of the Progressive Economics Forum, a national network of heterodox economists. He also served as a Visiting Professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy in 2024 to 2025. Follow Marc on Twitter
-
Federal “one Canadian economy” legislation is a power grab
On June 6, Prime Minister Mark Carney tabled his much-anticipated “one Canadian economy” legislation that purports to help the government build nation-making projects and tear…
-
Can the federal Build Canada Homes program finally crack the nut of housing affordability?
While housing took a backseat to the Trump trade war in the 2025 federal election, the Liberal platform included some important new plans to boost…
-
Painting itself into a corner: LNG and the climate-affordability trade-off in B.C.
The B.C. government has painted itself into a corner by claiming to be climate action leaders while at the same time encouraging increased gas production for export
-
About that deficit: How much fiscal capacity does the federal government have?
In the absence of costed election platforms, political promises need to be scrutinized carefully for an “impossible trinity.” That is, the federal government can only…
-
A eulogy for carbon pricing–and what comes next
Canada’s bold experiment with carbon pricing is over, pulled by new Prime Minister Mark Carney to remove a controversial wedge issue before the coming federal…
-
Mark Carney’s Values: What his 2021 book reveals about the leader he might be
It’s fair to say that Mark Carney’s 2021 book, Values: Building a Better World for All, was his early application to be prime minister. Values…
-
BC budget boosts deficit and capital spending in response to Trump tariffs—and that’s a good thing
British Columbia’s 2025 provincial budget arrived just over four months after the October 2024 BC election but in the interim the world has changed. The…
-
Those big GDP numbers about interprovincial trade barriers are wrong
A lot of public discourse in Canada right now is about how we need to urgently remove interprovincial trade barriers in the face of the…
-
Can BC maintain its climate policies in the face of Trump’s tariff threats?
Even though they’re currently on pause, the threat of Trump tariffs has sent shockwaves through the Canadian economy. British Columbia’s exports to the United States,…
-
A dozen radical responses to Trump’s economic warfare that go beyond Canadian counter-tariffs
The belief that economic integration with the United States—epitomized by the 1989 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and finally…
-
Poilievre’s economic populism masks the same old failed conservative policies
With the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian politics is headed for a shake-up, with observers anticipating a federal election shortly after the Liberals…
-
Reading the policy tea leaves: What BC’s new cabinet appointments tell us about the government’s priorities
In the absence of mandate letters, let’s take a look at what the new cabinet picks and the reorganization of some key ministries tell us, in light of NDP and Green election promises.
Updates from the CCPA
Read the latest research, analysis and commentary on issues that matter to you.
CCPA Updates