Stephen Lucas

Fellow

Stephen Lucas is an accomplished public servant who retired in 2014.

Stephen has extensive experience in economic, environment, social and health policy, as well as science and technology.

Stephen’s career spanned more than 35 years with the Public Service of Canada. His public policy leadership spans a range of areas, including health care and public health, health data and digital transformation, energy, environment, climate change, minerals and metals, research and innovation, regulatory policy and environmental assessment, as well as federal-provincial-territorial relations. He has broad experience in successfully building collaborative approaches, networks and coalitions to tackle significant challenges.

Stephen was deputy minister of Health Canada from 2019 to 2024. With the Public Health Agency of Canada, he led the federal government’s comprehensive health response to the COVID-19 pandemic — including the largest vaccination campaign in Canada’s history — in collaboration with federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners, scientific experts, local health and community organizations and the private sector.

Before that, Stephen was deputy minister of the environment and climate change, where he led work on the development and adoption of the 2016 Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, Canada’s first national climate plan with the provinces and territories.

Stephen has also held the positions of deputy secretary of plans, consultations and intergovernmental affairs and assistant secretary for economic and regional development policy at the Privy Council Office, among others. Stephen started his career as a research scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada.

Stephen has a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering from Queen’s University and a doctorate in structural geology and tectonics from Brown University.

Stephen joined PPF as a Fellow in 2024.

Connect with Stephen on LinkedIn.