Posts by Marc Lee

Marc Lee

About Marc Lee

Marc Lee is a Senior Economist at the CCPA’s BC Office. In addition to tracking federal and provincial budgets and economic trends, Marc has published on a range of topics from poverty and inequality to globalization and international trade to public services and regulation. Marc is Co-Director of the Climate Justice Project, a research partnership with UBC's School of Community and Regional Planning that examines the links between climate change policies and social justice. Follow Marc on Twitter

BC’s climate action masquerade

Nov 29, 2015
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When BC Premier Christy Clark arrives at the Paris climate conference, as part of a reinvigorated Canadian delegation under PM Trudeau, the world will hear bold statements about BC’s climate leadership. BC has received much praise since its 2008 introduction of a carbon tax (under previous Premier Gordon Campbell), and for its legislated greenhouse gas… View Article

Five LNG whoppers

Nov 12, 2015
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British Columbians have heard many “too good to be true” claims about the benefits the province will receive by launching a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry. The CCPA-BC’s LNG Reality Check series has been examining these claims, and what we have uncovered is a pattern of misinformation about LNG – coming primarily from the… View Article

Austerity comes to BC’s health care system

Oct 29, 2015
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For many years, BC’s health care system escaped the austerity imposed on other parts of the public sector. No longer. While total dollars allocated to health care are still increasing somewhat, those increases are not sufficient to keep up with cost drivers in the system, leading to a real reduction in health care services. This needs… View Article

Just how bad is BC’s LNG deal with Petronas?

Jul 13, 2015
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Last week, the BC government released the text of its Project Development Agreement with Pacific Northwest LNG (led by Malaysian state enterprise, Petronas), considered the front-runner in getting BC an LNG export industry. The agreement goes to the BC legislature this week in order to convince Petronas to make a “final investment decision.” There are still other barriers to this… View Article

Energy and climate in the Harper decade

Jun 26, 2015
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The costs of climate change are piling up, and can no longer be ignored. 2015 is poised to be a landmark year, with a new global treaty on climate to be signed in Paris. In contrast, the Harper decade succeeded in stalling any meaningful climate action. The PM’s record is not just of neglect, but… View Article

Climate Justice and the Good Life, for Everyone

Jun 2, 2015
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In our Climate Justice Project, our research has stressed structural changes and collective action to lower carbon footprints rather than individual behavioural change. The ability of many actors to respond to incentives like a carbon tax is constrained by their circumstances. Suburban households often have no realistic option but to keep driving. Renters have little agency over… View Article

David Hughes responds to BC government and LNG industry

May 28, 2015
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Our recent report by David Hughes, A Clear Look at BC LNG, prompted dismissive comments from the BC government and the LNG industry. They argue that David’s numbers about energy security are wrong, and theirs are right. We asked David to respond: Response to Rich Coleman and the BC LNG Alliance criticism of my “Clear Look… View Article