Research
The Canadian Municipal Barometer conducts a politician survey and a citizen survey annually, which together form the foundation of our data collection and research agenda.
The politician survey measures the opinions of mayors and councillors in municipalities with populations larger than 3,000 – a study population of nearly 8,000 elected representatives from more than 1,000 municipalities.
The citizen survey is fielded Canada-wide. With sample sizes between 6,000 and 7,000, it is among the largest and one of the most geographically representative public opinion surveys in Canada.
We also conduct province-by-province municipal election studies across Canada.
Themes
CMB research is organized into four thematic pillars:
Public Policy
Lead: Martin Horak
(Western University)
Focus: Citizens’ and representatives’ attitudes on municipal policy issues, and the quality of representation on those issues
Multilevel Governance
Lead: Kristin Good
(Dalhousie University)
Focus: democratically responsive intergovernmental collaboration and multilevel governance
Diverse Representation
Lead: Erin Tolley
(Carleton University)
Focus: underrepresentation of women, racialized Canadians, and Indigenous peoples on municipal councils
Elections & Voting
Lead: Michael McGregor
(TMU)
Focus: political engagement, voting behaviour, and mechanisms to improve municipal interest and engagement
Publications
Our research team has published dozens of refereed publications and reports using CMB data and survey results.
Datasets and Codebooks
Curious what questions we ask in our surveys? Codebooks are listed below.
To request CMB data for research purposes, contact us.
Politician Survey
Citizen Survey
Archives
Research summaries, presentations, policy briefs, blog posts, explainers, and backgrounders on CMB research are available below.
Audrey Brennan, INRS-UCS
Audrey Brennan, INRS-UCS
Nicole McMahon, Université de Calgary
Audrey Brennan, INRS-UCS
Nicole McMahon, University of Calgary