What does it mean for Justin Trudeau to “prorogue” Parliament?

On January 6, 2025, Governor General Mary Simon granted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request to prorogue ...

Engagement and Abuse on Toronto's Digital Campaign Trail: The 2023 Toronto ...

Exploring engagement, toxicity, and civic conversations across online and offline spaces in the Toronto by-...

Who Cares About Toronto’s By-Election?

How are our policies around elections limiting voter engagement - and what do we need from policymakers in ...

Online Abuse in Local Elections: The SAMbot Municipal Report

SAMbot tracked toxic tweets in eight municipal elections across Canada by monitoring candidate and political ...

Bring back the Bots: How Twitter’s latest change threatens our democracy

We explain how ending free Twitter API access is a huge blow to research efforts.

SAMbot 2021 Federal Election Report

SAMbot tracked toxic tweets in the 2022 Federal election by monitoring the Twitter accounts of incumbent ...

SAMbot 2022 Ontario Election Report

SAMbot tracked toxic tweets in the 2022 Ontario election by monitoring the public Twitter accounts candidates ...

Learning Loss as Civic Loss: Addressing the Generational Impact of the ...

Learn more about the state of youth civic learning and engagement in the context of the pandemic.

Locally Grown: A Survey of Municipal Politicians in Canada

We analyze survey data from municipal leaders across Canada to better understand how local politicians ...

Temperature Check: Canadian Democratic Attitudes in a Pandemic

How did Canadians’ attitudes toward their democracy change with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Representation in Isolation: Member of Parliament Survey 2020

Federal political representatives in Canada share the democratic pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital Contact Tracing: A problem for democratic governance

With other countries experiencing the negative consequences of digital contact tracing, we find that ...

Closer to the People? Adaptations to COVID-19 by Canada’s provincial and ...

As legislatures across Canada confront the crisis, we review the emergency responses taken in each province ...

Towards a Virtual Parliament: Design choices and democratic values

With governments struggling to adjust to the realities of physical distancing and restricted travel, we make ...

Westminster Parliaments Compared: Four approaches to emergency lawmaking ...

As the crisis marches on, we compare how the parliaments of Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Canada were ...

Parliament Under Pressure: Evaluating Parliament's performance in response ...

After Parliament’s initial rounds of emergency lawmaking, we provide an evaluation of what our national ...

Parliament Under Pressure: A Summary

After Parliament’s initial rounds of emergency lawmaking, we provide an evaluation of what our national ...

Real House Lives

House Inspection: A retrospective of the 42nd Parliament

After the experience of a bruising election campaign, a new Parliament is a chance for a fresh start. For new ...

Let's Talk Digital

“Let’s Talk Digital” is a non-partisan initiative aiming to engage youth (12-25 years old) in a series of ...

Field Guide to Online Political Conversations

For many Canadians, social media has become a popular space to talk about politics. By allowing users to ...

The Reform Act Revisited

Canada’s Members of Parliament (MPs) are elected to represent their constituents by debating and voting on ...

You Have Our Attention: Youth Political Engagement in Canada

The 2015 federal election saw a stunning surge in youth participation. Turnout increased from the previous ...

Party Favours: How Federal Election Candidates Are Chosen

Pries open the “black box” of nomination contests in Canada to examine how political parties select ...

Don't Blame "The People": The Rise of Elite-Led Populism in Canada

This report uses new data to help answer the question: is Canada having a populist moment? And if so, why is ...

2019 Democracy 360

This is the Samara Centre for Democracy’s third edition of the Democracy 360, a made-in-Canada report card on ...

Investing in Canadians' Civic Literacy

What civic literacy is, why it matters, and how we can foster a more civically literate public.

Elephant on the Hill

In the spring of 2018, 266 political staff of Members of Parliament, Cabinet Ministers, and Senators took ...

The Real House Lives: Strengthening the Role of MPs in an Age of ...

Peeking behind the curtain into the hidden world of leader-dominated, hyper-partisan party caucuses.

Beyond the Barbecue: Reimagining Constituency Work for Local Democratic ...

A new vision for constituency offices as civic hubs and outposts of Parliament, rather than service centres.

Flip the Script: Reclaiming the legislature to reinvigorate representative ...

Elected representatives are critical in returning our representative democracy to health. But in Canada, ...

The 2018 Member of Parliament Survey

In the spring of 2018, the Samara Centre for Democracy continued its annual tradition of surveying current ...

No One Is Listening: Incivility in the 42nd Parliament, and how to fix it

That's the gentle, colourless way that Hansard, Parliament's official written record, has often recorded ...

2017 Democracy 360

Our second comprehensive report card on the health of Canadian democracy, examining how Canadians communicate,...

Can You Hear Me Now? Young People and the 2015 Federal Election

The 2015 election reversed a 20-year decline in voter turnout, bringing overall voter turnout from 61% in ...

What We Talk About When We Talk About Electoral Reform

A national conversation about how we, as citizens, choose our representatives is an excellent opportunity to ...

Cheering or Jeering? Members of Parliament Open Up About Civility in the ...

In the spring of 2015, the Samara Centre surveyed Members of the 41st Parliament on their experiences with ...

What is a Speech from the Throne?

Every new session of Parliament begins with a Speech from the Throne. What is it and why do we need it?

Message Not Delivered: The Myth of Apathetic Youth and the Importance of ...

Over the last 30 years, Canadians have watched with concern as voting rates among younger people have ...

2015 Democracy 360

Samara's Democracy 360, a report card on the state of Canada's democracy, focuses on the complex relationship ...

The Reform Act

In 2014, Parliament passed The Reform Act with overwhelming cross-party support. The hope was to ...

Tragedy in the Commons: Former Members of Parliament Speak Out about ...

Tragedy in the Commons is a 2014 book written by the co-founders of The Samara Centre for Democracy, Alison ...

By Invitation Only: Canadians' perceptions of political parties

An exploration of Canadians’ perceptions of political parties from a new angle—what Canadians think parties ...

Lightweights? Political Participation Beyond the Ballot Box

Volunteering and donating to charitable causes are considered important parts of being Canadian, rightfully ...

Lost in Translation or Just Lost? Canadians' priorities in the House of ...

Examining the extent to which Canadians' priorities are reflected in the House of Commons, comparing data on ...

Who's the Boss? Canadians' Views on Their Democracy

How Canadians evaluate the performance of their elected representatives—based on our 2014 Citizen Survey.

Occupiers and Legislators: A Snapshot of Political Media Coverage

An analysis of national media coverage of grassroots politics versus institutional politics.

The Real Outsiders: Politically Disengaged Views on Politics and Democracy

Turned off? Tuned out? Dropped out? Evidence indicates that many Canadians are not interested in politics.

The Outsiders' Manifesto: Surviving and Thriving as a Member of Parliament

Lessons from former MPs for a healthier political life and better representation.

It's My Party: Parliamentary Dysfunction Reconsidered

Stories of party dominance and micromanagement, which get in the way of effective democratic representation.

Welcome to Parliament: A Job With No Description

The chaotic, unsupported process of becoming a parliamentarian, and the confusion it creates.

The Accidental Citizen?

Former MPs describe their unexpected paths into public life.