Peter MacLeod

On February 10, Democracy's Second Act: Why Politics needs the Public is being published. Order a copy today from your local bookseller, or internationally on Amazon. www.democracyssecondact.org

Here’s betting they will teach this episode alongside King-Byng someday soon.

I didn’t think I could like Marvin anymore than I already did. “The history of media is never more or less than the history of their uses, which always lead us away from them to the social practices & conflicts they illuminate.” (p 8, When Old Technologies Were New) monoskop.org/images/c/c7/...

Why vote in local elections, or even run for office yourself? France Bélisle, @petermacleod.bsky.social, and Lindsay Jones (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) join @jeyantvo.bsky.social on voter disengagement, political burnout and what it takes to strengthen local democracy.

“If you want the good people to step forward, we also need to give them a reason to stay.” — Former Gatineau mayor France Bélisle on public toxicity & why local politics is still worth it. With @petermacleod.bsky.social, Lindsay Jones (AMO) & @jeyantvo.bsky.social | Producer: Constantina Varlokostas

What if campaigns actually helped people? We tried it in IL-09. Then we put everything we learned into a free handbook:

The House of Commons is debating the price of food, which is a bit weird because eliminating the carbon tax was supposed to solve that problem.

If only there was some system that could prevent this from happening.

This is only a 'great night for Quebec sovereignty' because we choose to live with the dumbest electoral system.

Unbelievable

Really fun to spend an evening talking about Democracy's Second Act at the Picton Public Library. www.pictongazette.ca/post/democra...

"The evidence continues to grow. Social media, as it is currently constructed, redounds to the net benefit of illiberal regimes and their allies in democracies. The question is what to do about it." www.liberalcurrents.com/social-media...

What a terrific write up about citizens’ assemblies by Esther Dial. Of course, at their best they don’t replace politicians but they can certainly help with the hard stuff. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

It's just the best when you see former Citizens' Assembly members decide to seek public office. Congrats Alli and good luck! saanichnews.com/2026/09/17/h...

It was confirmed yesterday that the centre left coalition won the election in Sweden As predicted, with the far right performing poorly, coverage has almost entirely vanished from international media

MASS is very happy to partner with @north.america.fidemocracy.org to train and support the team leading the first civic assembly in Cambridge, MA www.cambridgema.gov/news/2026/09...

PM names participation in Erasmus + during his speech today in Strasbourg, This would be an absolute game changer for Canadian students, universities and colleges. 🇨🇦 🇪🇺

A seemingly small thing, but vitally important. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Canada’s global rankings have fallen across democracy, transparency, press freedom, and living standards. Writer and lawyer Matt Malone argues that reversing the decline requires rebuilding the institutions meant to hold government accountable. https://ow.ly/bAlL50ZMOIr

Great piece by @petermacleod.bsky.social in today’s @thestar.com about how Alberta separatism is a sign of a bigger problem in Canadian politics. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

My latest commentary for the Toronto Star www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

The sooner the better 🇨🇦 🇪🇺

www.mehr-demokratie.de/en/mehr-wiss...

Hero of democracy.

This is what Carney's new Digital Transformation Canada should be doing, not trying to find new ways to implement digital asbestos.

The amount of oil use avoided by EVs in China in the first half of 2026 is the same as the amount of oil USED BY THE ENTIRE UK www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chi...

LAKE ONTARIO FOREVER! 🇨🇦 Lovely foggy swim at Cherry Beach this aft. Thanks to the awesome @toronto.ca lifeguards for your great work this summer! 🤛

Took a long swim tonight in Lake Ontario, up here in Port Hope, the True North, Strong and Free 🇨🇦 💪

Citizens’ assemblies were long regarded as exceptional democratic one-off events. But a second generation of sortition-based democracy is emerging around the world. #CitizensAssembly

This stopped me in my tracks. An independent study by @qmul.bsky.social has found that after ULEZ was introduced, children’s lungs grew faster in Central London and have now caught up with children outside of the capital. Incredible.

In 2026, South Korea created something that had never before existed at national level: a permanent, legally established Climate Citizens’ Assembly. #CitizensAssembly

A German model shows how provinces and federal states can give municipalities the funding and expertise to make citizens’ assemblies a regular democratic tool. #CitizensAssembly

Establishing a Royal Commission on Securing Canada's Future would have been one way to do this, as many demanded back in early 2025. Instead, we got Forward Guidance. policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/03/roya...

The question is, Do you want more money or less? Carney repealing carbon pricing means you now have less.

In the very near future, no one will believe we had a policy this good. www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/pe...

Andrew Leach nailing PP's war on carbon pricing:

The conservative bias of both journalists and politicians is one of the major problems of liberal democracy today. After ignoring, and often even dismissing, far-right voters for decades in the late 20th century, they have declared them "the people" in the early 21st century.

When I was a kid, we worried about “acid rain.” Then a few adults in the room decided to address the problem. policyoptions.irpp.org/2012/04/acid...

Following a Citizens’ Assembly, the French National Assembly passed a law on 15 July 2026 legalising assisted dying and assisted suicide in France. #CitizensAssembly

Now we need a 'defence against help' strategy for smoke

How bad is the air quality? So bad that everybody’s automatic headlights are on while driving the 401 at 4 PM

I’m always reluctant to directly attribute any one weather event to climate change. But Canada’s current fossil-fuel boosterism does hit a bit harder while considering whether we have to keep our 6-year-old home from the baseball camp he’s been excited about, because of potential record heat.

We already knew that social media-fed disinformation and ragebait is terrible for liberal democracy. Powered by AI text generation it's of course worse.

Aka enough with Alabama

UBS 2026 Global Wealth Report confirms the typical (ie. median) Canadian is 2x wealthier than the median American. Cda ranks 7th on median wealth, US 28th. Galactic hoards of Musk, Bezos, et al inflate the US average but virtually none flows to most Americans. #canlab #cdnecon /2

NEW in @porchparty.bsky.social: The Civic Standard is a strange, compelling nonprofit in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom that combines food, theater, and "giving people a ride." Cofounder Rose Friedman talked to me about what she's learned about building community www.porchpartynews.com/p/civic-stan...

‘Polarization’ has become the master concept for diagnosing our current democratic crisis. But this is not polarization. It is the radicalization of the political right. By misdiagnosing it, we risk becoming complicit in the crisis. 🧵 Just out in Perspectives on Politics doi.org/10.1017/S153...