In 1984, he lost a nomination bid for Liberal candidacy in the old riding of York—Scarborough. In 1988, he was first elected to the House of Commons in Scarborough—Rouge River and was re-elected in every election until he retired in 2011. In the run up to the 1993 Federal election he was in danger of losing a nomination battle to challenger Gobinder Randhawa. However Liberal leader Jean Chrétien intervened and designated Lee as the candidate. From 1999 to 2001 he was the parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the House of Commons.