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

Upzoning and housing affordability

Mar 3, 2022
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With the 2022 municipal elections now in sight—and a housing affordability crisis that’s as bad as ever—the City of Vancouver has embarked on two new directions for more dense housing in its detached-housing neighbourhoods. These moves are modest but point to the type of new housing supply needed region-wide. First, as part of a new… View Article

What happened to the National Housing Strategy?

Mar 1, 2022
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Launched in 2017, the National Housing Strategy (NHS) was billed as a major re-engagement by the federal government on affordable housing after more than two decades on the sidelines. Starting with a headline commitment of $40 billion when first announced and supplemented in subsequent budgets, the NHS is now ostensibly valued at more than $75… View Article

BC budget moves in the right direction but too slowly to address pressing challenges like housing, climate, toxic drug supply and poverty

Feb 24, 2022
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With COVID centre stage for the past two years, Budget 2022 marked a shift back to normal. Yes, the budget earmarks $2 billion in contingencies for potential COVID needs, but this took up a mere half page of the main budget document. The budget narrative instead is framed around child care, climate change and investments… View Article

Time to reform the unfair Home Owner Grant—here’s how

Jan 28, 2022
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Early January showed how much BC’s housing system is biased towards existing homeowners to the detriment of renters and housing affordability. First, the latest property value assessments in BC revealed double-digit increases across the board. Large annual increases, such as the 16 per cent hike we see in the City of Vancouver, have become the… View Article

BC should look to zero waste solutions to reduce GHG emissions and create jobs

Jan 24, 2022
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British Columbia is ahead of most North American jurisdictions in implementing composting and recycling programs. Yet, we are systemically burdened by endless amounts of packaging, especially the mass proliferation of plastic, which is an environmental tragedy of our times. BC shares the core problem with other jurisdictions: a culture of consumption and an extraction-oriented economic… View Article

Photo of well sites in the Montney region of BC. Photo copyright Garth Lenz.

Key recommendations to the BC oil and gas royalty review

Dec 3, 2021
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The oil and gas industry is a marginal player in BC’s overall economy, yet has far-reaching environmental impacts, is inconsistent with global climate action and undermines First Nations’ rights and title. And yet, since BC started to implement climate action targets and policies in 2007, gas production has doubled. In our submission to BC’s oil… View Article

Next steps for federal housing policy: A look at 2021 election promises

Nov 18, 2021
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Affordable housing was an important theme in the 2021 federal election, with all major parties tabling a range of policy actions. These include some high-profile promises with real potential to rein in financialization and speculation, along with a number of new incentives for first-time buyers, which are mostly gimmicks. Below I mostly consider the proposals… View Article