Mario Lefebvre

Chief Economist, Canada at CoStar Group

Speaker

Mario started his career as an economist at the Bank of Canada in 1991, where he worked in both the Research Department and the International Department. He then joined The Conference Board of Canada in 1998, where he first worked in the International Studies Department. He was particularly involved in mandates with the Ministries of Finance of Tunisia, Morrocco, and Ukraine. From 2001 to 2013, Mario was the Director of the Centre for Municipal Studies of the Conference Board, leading a Team of economists in the conduct of economic forecast for each of Canada’s Census Metropolitan Areas. He also developed a deep understanding of Municipal public finance during that time.

Mario took a turn in 2014 and joined the commercial real estate industry. He was first the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Quebec Urban Development Institute, before joining Ivanhoe Cambridge in 2016 as Vice-President, Research. In this latter position, Mario led a Team of analysts that looked at economic and real estate fundamentals in markets from across the Globe.

From June 2020 to December 2024, Mario Lefebvre returned to the Bank of Canada, as Director of the Bank’s Quebec Regional Office. In that role, Mario met with a large number of business leaders from across the province and shared the Bank’s view regarding the Canadian economic situation and monetary policy.