Christopher Ragan is the inaugural Director of McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy and is an Associate Professor in McGill’s Department of Economics. He is the Chair of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, which launched in November 2014 with a 5-year horizon to identify policy options to improve environmental and economic performance in Canada. He is also a member of the federal finance minister’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth, which began in early 2016.

Chris Ragan is a Research Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute, from 2010-13 he held the Institute’s David Dodge Chair in Monetary Policy, and for many years was a member of its Monetary Policy Council. In 2009-10, he was the Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at Finance Canada; in 2004-05 he served as Special Advisor to the Governor of theDr Bank of Canada. In 2010-12 he was the President of the Ottawa Economics Association.

Ragan’s published research focuses mostly on the conduct of macroeconomic policy. His 2004 book, co-edited with William Watson, is called Is the Debt War Over? In 2007 he published A Canadian Priorities Agenda, co-edited with Jeremy Leonard and France St-Hilaire from the Institute for Research on Public Policy. The Ecofiscal Commission’s The Way Forward (2015) was awarded the prestigious Doug Purvis Memorial Prize for the best work in Canadian economic policy.

Chris Ragan is an enthusiastic teacher and public communicator. In 2007 Ragan was awarded the Noel Fieldhouse teaching prize at McGill. He is the author of Economics (formerly co-authored with Richard Lipsey), which after fifteen editions is still the most widely used introductory economics textbook in Canada. Ragan also writes frequent columns for newspapers, most often in The Globe and Mail. He teaches in several MBA and Executive MBA programs, including at McGill, EDHEC in France, and in special courses offered by McKinsey & Company. He gives dozens of public speeches every year.

Ragan received his B.A. (Honours) in economics in 1984 from the University of Victoria and his M.A. in economics from Queen’s University in 1985. He then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he completed his Ph.D. in economics at M.I.T. in 1989. See his personal McGill website for downloads of his published research as well as his newspaper columns: https://mcgill.ca/economics/christopher-t-s-ragan

Elizabeth Beale is an economist. She recently retired as President and CEO of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (APEC), a position she held from 1996 to 2015. She currently serves as a director of Wawanesa Insurance, Invest Nova Scotia, DHX Media, and Compute Canada. She remains active in Canadian public policy as a commissioner of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, advisory board member for Smart Prosperity, member of the National Statistics Council and member of the Board of Economic Advisors for the government of Prince Edward Island. In 2015, she was appointed as a lifetime member of the Atlantic Canada Economics Association and Fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Science.

Ms. Beale has served as an advisor to government and industry on economic strategies for Atlantic Canada throughout her career, authoring numerous studies on regional development, labour market, and trade topics. She has combined her commitment to progressive policy research with civil society engagement, serving as governor of Dalhousie University from 2000 to 2010, director of the University of Prince Edward Island’s research commercialization initiative (Three Oaks Innovation) from 2006 to 2010 and advisory board member of the Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development at Memorial University from 2005 to 2014.

Ms. Beale is a graduate of the universities of Toronto (B.A.) and Dalhousie (M.A. Economics). She resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Paul Boothe is the Managing Director for the Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing. He recently retired as Professor and Director of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management at the Ivey Business School, Western University. His career has included university research and teaching, acting as an independent consultant to Canadian and international organizations, and serving at the deputy minister level in provincial and federal governments.

Dr. Boothe’s public sector career includes serving as the Deputy Minister of Finance and Secretary to Treasury Board for Saskatchewan (1999-2001), Associate Deputy Minister of Finance and G7 Deputy for Canada (2004-2005), Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Industry (2007-2010) and Deputy Minister of the Environment (2010-2012).

He was appointed to the faculty of the University of Alberta from 1984 to 2007.  He has authored more than 70 publications in the areas of macroeconomics, international finance, debt management and public finance. An internationally recognized scholar, he was promoted to full professor in 1991.  He founded the Institute for Public Economics in 1997.  As an independent consultant, he has worked with Canadian and international clients in the areas of monetary and fiscal policy, and public sector management.

Dr. Boothe was trained in economics at Western (Hons BA) and UBC (PhD).

Mel Cappe is Professor in the School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto. From 2006- 2011 he was President of the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Prior to that for four years he was High Commissioner (Ambassador) for Canada to the United Kingdom. Before that he served as Clerk of the Privy Council, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Public Service.

Earlier in his career he held senior economic and policy positions in the Departments of Finance and Industry. He was Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Board, Deputy Minister of the Environment, Deputy Minister of Human Resources Development, Deputy Minister of Labour and Chairman of the Employment Insurance Commission.

He has graduate degrees in Economics from the Universities of Western Ontario and Toronto and honourary doctorates from both. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals.

Bev Dahlby is a Distinguished Fellow and Research Director in the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.

He has published extensively on tax policy and fiscal federalism. In May 2010, Bev was awarded the Doug Purvis Memorial Prize by the Canadian Economics Association for a work of excellence relating to Canadian economic policy.

Bev has served as a policy advisor to the federal and provincial governments in Canada on the reform of business taxation, the fiscal equalization program, tax credits for television and film industry, taxation of inbound foreign direct investment, saving non-renewable resource revenues, and programs in support of research and development and innovation.

His international experience includes advisory work on tax reform in Malawi for the IMF, in Thailand for the Thailand Development Research Institute in Bangkok, and in Brazil and Mexico for the World Bank.

Bev served on Statistics Canada’s advisory council from 2005 to 2012. In 2010-11, he was a member of the Expert Panel on Federal Support to Research and Development (Jenkins Panel).

In July 2016, he was appointed Chair of the British Columbia Commission on Tax Competitiveness by the BC Minister of Finance. The Commission’s report, Improving British Columbia’s Business Tax Competitiveness, was released on November 23, 2016

Bev has a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics.

Don Drummond is the Stauffer-Dunning Fellow in Global Public Policy and Adjunct Professor at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University. In 2011-12, he served as Chair for the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services. Its final report, released in February 2012, contained nearly four hundred recommendations to provide Ontarians with excellent and affordable public services.

Mr. Drummond previously held a series of progressively more senior positions in the areas of economic analysis and forecasting, fiscal policy and tax policy during almost 23 years with Finance Canada. His last three positions were respectively Assistant Deputy Minister of Fiscal Policy and Economic Analysis, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Tax Policy & Legislation and most recently, Associate Deputy Minister. In the latter position he was responsible for economic analysis, fiscal policy, tax policy, social policy and federal-provincial relations and coordinated the planning of the annual federal budgets.

He subsequently was Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for the TD Bank (2000-2010), where he took the lead with TD Economics’ work in analyzing and forecasting economic performance in Canada and abroad. For Canada, this work was conducted at the city, provincial, industrial and national levels. TD Economics also analyzes the key policies which influence economic performance, including monetary and fiscal policies. He is a graduate of the University of Victoria and holds an M.A. (Economics) from Queen’s University. He has honorary doctorates from Queen’s and the University of Victoria and is a member of the Order of Ontario.

Stewart Elgie is a professor of law and economics at the University of Ottawa, and director of the University’s interdisciplinary Environment Institute. He received his Masters of Law from Harvard, and his doctorate (J.S.D.) from Yale. He is also the founder and chair of Sustainable Prosperity, Canada’s major green economy think tank and policy-research network. His research involves environmental and economic sustainability, with a particular focus in recent years on market-based approaches.

Elgie started his career as an environmental lawyer in Alaska, litigating over the Valdez oil spill. He returned to Canada and founded Ecojustice, now Canada’s largest non-profit environmental law organization; he was counsel on many precedent setting cases, including four wins in Supreme Court of Canada on constitution and environment issues. He was later hired by Pew Trusts as founding executive director of the multi-stakeholder Canadian Boreal Initiative. Prior to his faculty position at University of Ottawa (2004), Elgie held appointments at several Canadian universities (U.B.C., Alberta, York). He has served on or chaired many advisory bodies in the environment/sustainability area. In 2001, Elgie was awarded the Law Society of Upper Canada medal for exceptional lifetime contributions to law – the youngest man ever to receive the profession’s highest honour.

Glen Hodgson has 37 years of experience in global and Canadian macro-economics, international trade analysis and finance, fiscal and tax policy, and other “big picture” topics.

Glen’s career has spanned the Conference Board of Canada, where he was Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist for twelve years; the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C.; Export Development Canada (EDC); and the Canadian Department of Finance. His affiliations include: Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute; Chief Economist with International Financial Consulting Ltd (IFCL); member of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission; Fellow with the Public Policy Forum; and represented by Speakers Spotlight.

Glen has travelled the world and Canada as an economic policy analyst, financial negotiator, public speaker, and advisor to governments, businesses and international organizations.

Topics of expertise and interest include: Canadian, U.S. and global economic performance; globalization and trade; international finance; disruption and technology; managing catastrophic risk; the emerging low-carbon economy; fiscal and tax policy; and the business economics of sports. Recent major assignments include the legislative review of EDC by IFCL, a CD Howe Institute study on the competitive challenges facing a new federal government, and a briefing series on green finance.

Glen has co-authored two books and written over 400 reports, briefings and articles, with regular commentary in the Globe and Mail. He has delivered many presentations to audiences of all types and sizes, and done numerous media interviews via print, TV, radio and social media.

He is a graduate of McGill University and the University of Manitoba; is married to economist Christina Caron, with two adult sons; and is an active volunteer in kids’ sports and other areas.

Justin Leroux is an Associate Professor at the Department of Applied Economics of HEC Montréal. He is also a member of the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO) and the Centre de Recherche en Éthique (CRÉ).

Prof. Leroux holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Economics from Rice University, as well as an M.A. in Mathematics applied to Economics from the Sorbonne University in Paris. He is also laureate of the Nationwide French competition for tenured professorship in Economics. Prof. Leroux also holds an engineering degree from the National Superior School for Advanced Technologies (ENSTA), Paris, France.

His research interests focus on fair division and cost sharing, specifically of public services and in environmental issues. Prof. Leroux is also involved in consulting for private firms and governments for which he made contributions regarding the optimal pricing of call center services, road networks and water services.

Prof. Leroux is also the recipient of several research grants from different organizations including Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Quebec Research Fund for Society and Culture (FQRSC) and the French National Research Agency (ANR).

Richard G. Lipsey, FRSC, OC, Fellow of the Econometric Society, and Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University, has held professorial posts at the London School of Economics and Essex University in England, and Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, as well as visiting professorships at Yale, the University of California at Berkeley, Manchester, and the University of British Columbia. He was Senior Economic Advisor, C.D. Howe Institute (1983-89) and Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (1989-2002).

His several textbooks have been translated into more than 15 foreign languages and he has written more than 180 articles and book chapters on theoretical and applied economics and policy. His book Economic Transformations: General Purpose Technologies and Long Term Economic Growth (Richard Lipsey, Kenneth Carlaw and Clifford Bekar) won the 2006 Schumpeter prize for distinguished writing on evolutionary economics. He was awarded the SSHRC gold medal for distinguished lifetime achievement in 2005 and in 2011 he received one of three inaugural fellowships awarded by the Canadian Economics Society.

He co-founded Simon Fraser’s ACT (Adaptation to Climate Change Team), the only university-based think tank initiative in North America dedicated to climate change adaptation.

He has a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.

Nancy Olewiler is an economist and Professor of Public Policy in the School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University. Prior to coming to the Economics department at SFU in 1990, she was a professor in the Economics department at Queen’s University.

Her PhD is in economics from the University of British Columbia. Nancy’s areas of research include natural resource and environmental economics and policy. She has published in academic journals, edited books, has written two widely used textbooks – The Economics of Natural Resource Use and Environmental Economics, and produced numerous reports for the Canadian federal and provincial governments on a wide range of environmental and natural resource issues, including studies on energy and climate policy, natural capital and ecosystem services, and federal tax policy. From 1990 to 1995 she was Managing Editor of Canadian Public Policy.

She is a research advisor and mentor for the Environment and Economy Program for Southeast Asia and the Latin America and Caribbean Environmental Economics Program where she helps supervise research undertaken by researchers in those regions on environmental economics and natural resource issues.  She has served on the Board of Directors for BC Hydro and TransLink.

France St-Hilaire is vice-president of research, having joined the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) as a research director in 1992. She currently oversees the Institute’s research agenda and coordinates ongoing projects in economic and social policy.

France is the author of a number of monographs and articles on public finance, social policy and fiscal federalism, as well as co-editor of several volumes published by the IRPP, including the most recent Art of the State volume Northern Exposure: Peoples, Powers and Prospects in Canada’s North (2009), A Canadian Priorities Agenda: Policy Choices to Improve Economic and Social Well-Being (2007) and Money, Politics and Health Care: Reconstructing the Federal-Provincial Partnership (2004).

She holds a graduate degree in economics from the Université de Montréal, and has worked as a researcher at the Institute for Policy Analysis at the University of Toronto and in the Department of Economics at the University of Western Ontario.

Dr. Lindsay Tedds is an Associate Professor of Economics and Scientific Director of Fiscal and Economic Policy in the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. Lindsay holds a BA in Political Science from Carleton University, a BA and MA in Economics from the University of Victoria, and a PhD in Economics from McMaster University. Before becoming an academic she held several posts with the Government of Canada in Ottawa as well as in municipal government in the areas of public economics and policy implementation.

Lindsay’s primary research and teaching area is applied economic research and policy analysis, with a particular focus on the design and implementation of tax policy. She has written a number of peer-reviewed journals articles, book chapters, and technical reports, as well as two books in this field.

Her objective as an academic is to make both an academic contribution and to have an impact on Canadian policy-making and policy-implementation with the hope of changing public policy for the better. She regularly stimulates and engages in broader conversations about public policy beyond the academic community through a variety of channels.

Dale is Ecofiscal’s lead policy wonk. He moves comfortably from big-picture strategy to quantitative analytics.  He has deep expertise and experience in environmental economics and policy, and in particular carbon pricing. He has consulted for governments and organizations across Canada and internationally. He also worked as a Policy Advisor with the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. Dale holds a masters degree in resource and environmental management from Simon Fraser University, with a specialization in energy-economy modelling. Read his blogs here.

Jonathan Arnold is a Research Associate with Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. Since joining the team in 2015, his research has focused on transportation, climate change, municipal water and wastewater, and solid waste policy. Jonathan previously worked as an economist with Environment Canada’s Regulatory Analysis and Valuation Division in Gatineau and holds a Master’s of Public Policy from Simon Fraser University. Jonathan was born and raised in Halifax, NS, and has lived in Stockholm, Ottawa, and now Vancouver. As an avid cyclist, Jonathan spends much of his free time in the mountains, but can also be found on the basketball court, travelling, or lounging with a good book.

Antonietta Ballerini is the Project Administrator for Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. Based at McGill University, she manages finances, logistics and operations for the commission. Antonietta oversees the funding and budgets for the administrative, communications & research teams and also provides executive assistance to the Chair. Before being appointed to the commission in mid-2015, Antonietta was Administrative Coordinator for the Departments of Economics, Political Science and Philosophy at McGill University. She has coordinated numerous special events and assisted with various organizational projects; from planning to implementation, handling process improvements, accounting, auditing and financial management. With an educational background in Accounting, Antonietta has worked for over 15 years in a broad range of finance and administrative roles, in both the academic and business worlds. Certified in Project Management and Comprehensive Business Analysis, Antonietta knows how to find the answers, create the solutions and make things happen in a way that allows operations to unfold quite seamlessly. Antonietta lives in Montreal Quebec with her 2 daugthers. She has a deep appreciation for nature and loves to travel.

Jason is Lead Researcher with Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. Before joining the Commission, he worked as a project manager and economist at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), where his work focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation, green public procurement, and sustainable infrastructure. Jason is the author of numerous publications, including environmental fiscal reform studies for the governments of Mauritius and Mozambique, funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Prior to IISD he worked as a consultant for EnviroEconomics and Global Advantage Consulting. Jason is a graduate of the MA Economics program at York University, and holds a certificate from Laval University’s Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) in development policy modelling. Outside of work he enjoys spending time with his wife Fiona and dog ‘Beans’, and bringing an economist’s obsession with efficiency to his small urban garden.

Annette’s career has been focused on advancing and disseminating cutting edge sustainability research and practice. At the Ecofiscal Commission, Annette oversees all communications and events. She is also a marketing and development consultant with Learning for a Sustainable Future, an organization focused on integrating sustainability concepts into the education system. Prior to joining the Commission, Annette served as coordinator at York University’s Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability for seven years. She also served as a board member for Centres d’Accueil Héritage for seven years, including acting as its chair for one year. Annette has a Master of Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business, where she specialized in sustainability, strategy and nonprofit management. She also holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Waterloo, specializing in environmental science and business, with minors in both economics and biology. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, rock climbing, cooking, and the contemplative practice of focusing.

Brendan is a Research Associate with Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. Before joining the Commission, he held positions with Natural Resources Canada and the University of Calgary, where his work and research focused on climate change and energy policy. Brendan also spent four years in various advisory and analytical roles in the energy sector, working on sustainability, reclamation, and environmental policy files. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Calgary. Brendan was born in Ottawa, raised in Calgary, and has also lived in the UK. Outside of work he enjoys playing and writing music, blogging, spending time outdoors, and nursing addictions to politics, news, and books.

Alexandra is the Outreach Manager for Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. Her portfolio includes public affairs and online communications. Before joining the Commission, Alexandra worked as the Manager of Corporate Development for the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. Prior to the Chamber, Alexandra was a public affairs consultant, project managing large government relations files. Alexandra has always had a passion for politics and was able to gain a solid understanding of government during her years working in Ontario politics in the Office of the Premier and the Minister of Economic Development and Innovation. Alexandra brings with her strategic communications and stakeholder relations experience; she has a keen understanding of how to identify and connect with an audience. Born and raised in Toronto, Alexandra is a graduate of the University of Toronto. Outside of work, when she is not immersed in the news or a book, Alexandra enjoys spending time outside with family and friends.