Instructors

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).

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.