PATRON
The Political Accountability, Transparency, and Representation Oversight Network
The project supports an interdisciplinary research program to expose distortions in Canadian governance through civic non-profits, and training students via an experiential learning pipeline. The research agenda is organized around three thematic streams:
Accountability & Representation
Analyzing how political institutions, electoral systems, lobbying practices, and governance shape who is (or is not) represented in Canadian politics and how voices of certain groups may be marginalized.
Political Finance & Transparency
Investigating the flows of money in politics (e.g., donations, third-party advertising, corporate influence), government procurement, and evaluating how financial transparency or reforms affect political behaviour and strategy.
Electoral Integrity & Political Behaviour
Examining factors that influence democratic participation (such as voting systems, incidences of misinformation, voter engagement or polarization), and the role of information in sustaining democratic participation.
Our Latest Projects
MaRiPoSa
Electoral redistricting in single-member plurality systems requires drawing boundaries that satisfy competing legal, geographic, and demographic constraints...
Electoral District Boundary Effects in Canada
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Redistricting
This paper extends the Markov Riding Position Sampler (MaRiPoSa) algorithm to analyze multiple Canadian federal elections (2011–2025)…
Boundary Responsiveness Across Five Federal Elections
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Deep Learning
Satellite Imagery, Deep Learning, and Canadian Environmental Governance
Large-scale development projects in Canada have transformed landscapes in ways that often escape public view—with many sites deliberately…
Hansard
Benevolent Dehumanization: Disability Discourse in Canadian Parliament
How do elected representatives talk about people with disabilities? Drawing on a census of Canadian Hansard speeches from 1982 through…
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Silicon Sampling
What Happens When AI
Simulates the Canadian Electorate?
Falling response rates in survey research have prompted a recent proposal that AI language models can stand in for human respondents…
Contact Us
Whether you have questions about our research, want to explore collaboration opportunities, or are interested in our work, the PATRON lab team is happy to hear from you.
Get in Touch
Reach out to our team for research inquiries, media requests, or general questions.
Open-Source Tools
Explore our code, datasets, and replication materials on GitHub.
Our Partners
Learn more about the institutions and research groups we collaborate with.
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