Jack Lucas | University of Calgary

• Email: jack.lucas@ucalgary.ca
• Dataverse

Thanks for visiting this site. I am a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary. My research and teaching are in the area of Canadian politics, with a particular focus on municipal elections and representation, ideology and political representation in municipal politics, and urban-rural political divides. I am also interested in “implicit” or “lay” theories of politics, especially among political elites.

I am currently involved in several projects on these themes. I am principal investigator for the Canadian Municipal Barometer, an annual survey of mayors and councillors in Canada, and co-PI, with Peter Loewen, of the Canadian chapter of POLPOP, a comparative survey of political elites led by Stefaan Walgrave. I am co-PI, with Zack Taylor, of Cities in Canadian Political Development, a study of the urban-rural divide and urban representation in Canadian politics from 1867-present, along with a related effort to consolidate Canadian Gallup surveys from 1945-2000. I am also pleased to be a member of the research teams for the Canadian Municipal Election Study and the Multilevel Democracy Project, both of which are focused on municipal elections and voting in Canada.

Project Links

• Canadian Municipal Barometer
• Canadian Municipal Election Study
• Toronto Political Development Workshop
• Political Development: Comparative Perspectives

Refereed Publications

Forthcoming

• Anderson, Cameron, Jack Lucas, and R. Michael McGregor. Forthcoming. “Urban home values and multi-level political accountability: Evidence from Calgary, Canada” Journal of Urban Affairs.
• Anderson, Cameron, Tyler Romualdi, Jack Lucas, and R. Michael McGregor. Forthcoming. “Economic Anxiety and Incumbent Support in Ontario” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties.
• Artiles, Alexandra, Sandra Breux, Meagan Cloutier, Susan Franceschet, and Jack Lucas. Forthcoming. “Women’s Representation in Canadian Municipalities.” Urban Affairs Review.
• Armstrong, David A. II, and Jack Lucas. Forthcoming. “The Structure of Municipal Voting in Vancouver.” Journal of Urban Affairs
• Borwein, Sophie, Jack Lucas, and Cameron Anderson. Forthcoming. “Lay Theories of Place Effects.” Political Psychology
• Franceschet, Susan, Jack Lucas, and Erica Rayment. Forthcoming. “Representing Women’s Policy Preferences: Evidence from Canada.” Politics & Gender.
• Hiller, Harry, Jack Lucas and R. Michael McGregor. Forthcoming. “Why Do Local Residents Oppose Olympic Bids? An Electoral Perspective from Calgary 2026.” Event Management.
• Lucas, Jack, Peter Loewen, and Lior Sheffer. Forthcoming. “Are Politicians Democratic Realists? European Journal of Political Research. // Supplementary Material | Data and Replication Files
• Lucas, Jack and Lior Sheffer. Forthcoming. “What Explains Elite Affective Polarization? Evidence from Canadian Politicians.” Political Psychology
• McGregor, R. Michael, Jack Lucas, Chris Erl, and Cameron Anderson. Forthcoming. “Understanding Support for Municipal Political Parties: Evidence from Canada.” Urban Affairs Review
• Sheffer, Lior, Jack Lucas, and Peter Loewen. Forthcoming. “Long-Term Policymaking and Politicians’ Beliefs about Voters: Evidence from a Three-Year Panel Survey of Politicians.” Governance. || Supplementary Material | Data and replication files
• Taylor, Zack, Jack Lucas, David A. Armstrong II, and Ryan Bakker. Forthcoming. “The Development of the Urban-Rural Cleavage in Anglo-American Democracies.” Comparative Political Studies. | Supplementary Material | Data and Replication Files

2024

• Lucas, Jack. 2024 Ideology in Canadian Municipal Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

2023

• Borwein, Sophie and Jack Lucas. 2023. “Municipal Identity and City Interests.” Political Behavior. 45(3): 831-853. // Supplementary Material | Data and Replication Files
• Borwein, Sophie and Jack Lucas. 2023. “Asymmetries in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Place-Based Resentment.” Political Geography (105): 1-10.
• Breton, Charles, Jack Lucas, and Zack Taylor. 2023. “Local Autonomy: Unconditional Elites and Conditional Publics.” Local Government Studies 49 (6): 1263-1284.
• Conrad, Laura and Jack Lucas. 2023. “Women’s Inclusion and Participation in Municipal Elections: Historical Evidence from Eligible Voter Lists.” Urban History Review. 51 (1): 145-153.
• Eidelman, Gabriel and Jack Lucas. 2023. “How Do Municipal Mayors and Councillors Communicate with other Levels of Government? Evidence from a Multi-level Survey of Canadian Elected Officials” Canadian Public Administration 66(1): 78-95
• Erl, Chris, R. Michael McGregor, Jack Lucas, and Cameron Anderson. 2023. “Resentment and admiration: Public opinion towards teachers and public sector employees in Ontario.” Canadian Journal of Education. 46 (3): 597-627.
• Lucas, Jack, R. Michael McGregor, and Aengus Bridgman. 2023. “Spatial Voting in Non-Partisan Cities: A Case Study” Electoral Studies 82 (102599): 1-12.
• Lucas, Jack. 2023. “The Ideological Structure of Municipal Non-Ideology.” Urban Affairs Review 59 (1): 275-293.
• Taylor, Zack, Jack Lucas, J.P. Kirby, and Christopher Hewitt. 2023. “Canada’s Federal Electoral Districts, 1867-2021: New Digital Boundary Files and a Comparative Investigation of District Compactness.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 56(2): 451-467. | Data and Replication Files

2022

• Lucas, Jack. 2022 “Do ‘Non-Partisan’ Politicians Match the Partisanship of their Constituents?” Urban Affairs Review 58 (1): 103-128.
• Armstrong, David, Jack Lucas, and Zack Taylor. 2022. “The Urban-Rural Divide in Canadian Federal Elections, 1896–2019.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 55 (1): 84-106. // Preprint Version | Supplementary Material | Short Summary
• Blidook, Kelly, Royce Koop, and Jack Lucas. 2022 “Municipal Representation Style and Focus: Evidence from Canadian Mayors and Councillors.” Representation 58 (4): 603-622.
• Lucas, Jack, R. Michael McGregor, and Kim-Lee Tuxhorn. 2022 “Closest to the People? Incumbency Advantage and the Personal Vote in Non-Partisan Elections” Political Research Quarterly 75 (1): 188-202. // Supplementary Material | Data and replication files
• Franceschet, Antonio, Jack Lucas, Brenda O’Neill, Elizabeth Pando, and Melanee Thomas. 2022. “Editor Fatigue: Can Political Science Journals Increase Review Acceptance Rates?” PS: Political Science and Politics. 55 (1): 117:122. // Data and replication files

2021

• Lucas, Jack and R. Michael McGregor, Eds. 2021. Big City Elections in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Lucas, Jack and David A. Armstrong II. 2021. “Policy Ideology and Local Ideological Representation in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 54(4): 959-976. // Data and Replication Files | Policy Ideology Estimates for Municipalities and Federal Electoral Districts
• Lucas, Jack, Reed Merrill, Kelly Blidook, Sandra Breux, Laura Conrad, Gabriel Eidelman, Royce Koop, Daniella Marciano, Zack Taylor, Salomé Vallette. 2021. “Women’s Municipal Electoral Performance: An Introduction to the Canadian Municipal Elections Database.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 54(1): 125-133. // Data and replication files | Supplementary Material
• McGregor, R. Michael, Cameron Anderson, Éric Bélanger, Sandra Breux, Jack Lucas, Scott Matthews, Anne Mévellec, Aaron Moore, Scott Pruysers, Laura Stephenson, and Erin Tolley. 2021. “The Canadian Municipal Election Study.’’ Frontiers in Political Science.
• Lucas, Jack. 2021 “The Size and Sources of Municipal Incumbency Advantage in Canada.” Urban Affairs Review. 57(2): 373-401. // Data and replication files

2020

• Lucas, Jack and R. Michael McGregor. 2020. “Are City Elections Unique? Perceptions of Electoral Cleavages and Social Sorting Across Levels of Government.” Electoral Studies 66: 1-8.
• Lucas, Jack. 2020. “Reaction or Reform? Subnational Evidence on P.R. Adoption from Canadian Cities.” Representation 56(1): 89-109. // Supplementary material
• Lucas, Jack and Alison Smith. 2020 “Performance, Effectiveness, and Legitimacy in Canadian Municipal IGR.” In Canadian Federalism: Performance, Effectiveness, and Efficiency (4th Ed.), edited by Herman Bakvis and Grace Skogstad. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Armstrong, David, Matthew Lebo, and Jack Lucas. 2020 “Do COVID-19 Policies Affect Mobility Behaviour? Evidence from 75 Canadian and American Cities.” Canadian Public Policy 46(2): 127-144.
• Armstrong, David, and Jack Lucas. 2020. “Measuring and Comparing Municipal Policy Responses to COVID-19.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 53(2): 227-238. // Online Appendix | Data and replication files
• Davidson, Adrienne, Jack Lucas, and R. Michael McGregor. 2020. “Politics and Religion: Identifying the Correlates of Support for Merging the Public and Separate School Systems in Ontario.” Canadian Journal of Education 43(1): 229-257.

2019

• McGregor, R. Michael and Jack Lucas. 2019. “Who Has School Spirit? Explaining Voter Participation in Calgary School Board Elections.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. // Data and replication files
• Peterson, Jacqueline, Jack Lucas, and Andrew Klain. 2019. “Cities, Places, and Provincial Policy Agendas.” Canadian Public Administration 62 (2): 249-269. // Data.
  • Honourable mention, Hodgetts Award for best article in the 2019 volume of Canadian Public Administration.
• Lucas, Jack and Alison Smith. 2019. “Multilevel Governance from the Municipal Point of View.” Canadian Public Administration. 62(2): 270-293. // Data and replication files | Supplementary material.
  • Winner, Hodgetts Award for best article in the 2019 volume of Canadian Public Administration.
• Weijs, Cynthia, Sara Gobrail, Jack Lucas, Jennifer Zwicker, and Lindsay McLaren. 2019. “Identifying and critically examining government legislation relevant to children’s dental caries in Calgary, Alberta, Canada: a health inequities lens.” Journal of Public Health Dentistry 79(2): 137-146.
• Lucas, Jack and Alison Smith. 2019. “Which Policy Issues Matter in Canadian Municipalities? A Survey of Municipal Politicians” School of Public Policy Research Papers. 12: 1-26. (Refereed report).

2013-2018

• Lucas, Jack and Anthony Sayers. 2018. “Accountability, Responsiveness, and the Local Political Career in Calgary and Edmonton.” In Accountability and Responsiveness at the Municipal Level: Views from Canada, edited by Sandra Breux and Jerome Couture. Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
• Sayers, Anthony and Jack Lucas. 2017. “Policy Responsiveness and Political Accountability in City Politics.” School of Public Policy Research Papers 10(4): 1-23. (Refereed report).
• Lucas, Jack. 2018. “Toward Delegation: Social Policy Centralization in Toronto, 1870-1929.” Journal of Policy History 30(2): 272-300.
• Lucas, Jack. 2017. “Urban Governance and the American Political Development Approach.” Urban Affairs Review 53(2): 338-361.
• Lucas, Jack. 2017. “Patterns of Urban Governance: A Sequence Analysis of Long-Term Institutional Change in Six Canadian Cities.” Journal of Urban Affairs 39(1): 68-90. // Data and replication files
• Goodman, Nicole and Jack Lucas. 2016. “The Policy Priorities of Municipal Candidates in the 2014 Ontario Elections.” Canadian Journal of Urban Research 25(2): 35-47.
• Lucas, Jack and Robert Vipond. 2017. “Back to the Future: Historical Political Science and the Promise of Canadian Political Development.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50(1): 219-241.
• Lucas, Jack. 2016. Fields of Authority: Special Purpose Governance in Ontario, 1815-2015. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. // Data and replication files
• Lucas, Jack. 2015. “Local Governance and the Local Political Career: A Sample Dataset.” Canadian Public Administration 58(4): 605-617. // Data and replication files
• Lucas, Jack. 2015. “How Ontario Hydro Went Local: The Creation of Rural Power Districts and the Central Ontario System.” Scientia Canadensis 37(1-2): 59-76.
• Lucas, Jack. 2013. “Berlin, Ontario in the Age of the ABC.” Urban History Review 41(2): 19-42.
• Lucas, Jack. 2013. “A Century of Political Science in Canada.” Journal of Canadian Studies 47(2): 89-118. [paper]

Active Research Grants

• SSHRC Insight Development Grant. “Policy Attitudes of the Canadian Public, 1945-2023”. $74,000. Principal investigator: Jack Lucas. Co-applicants: David A. Armstrong II, Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant.
• SSHRC Insight Grant. “The Multilevel Democracy Project”. $220,000. Principal investigator: Cameron Anderson. Co-applicants: Jack Lucas, R. Michael McGregor. Collaborator: Laura Stephenson.
• SSHRC Partnership Development Grant. “The Canadian Municipal Barometer.” 2019-2022. $103,000 plus $87,000 from other sources. Principal investigator: Jack Lucas. Co-applicants: Sandra Breux, Kelly Blidook, Gabriel Eidelman, Royce Koop. Collaborators: Katherine Einstein, Thomas Ivacko, Andrew Sancton, Peter Loewen, Enid Slack, Jennifer Arntfield, Michael Morden. Partners: University of Calgary, University of Manitoba, University of Toronto, INRS Montreal, Memorial University, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Samara Canada.
• SSHRC Insight Grant. “Cities in Canadian Political Development.” 2019-2024. $95,727. Jack Lucas (PI), Zack Taylor (co-PI), David Armstrong (Collaborator).

CV

Please click here to access my CV.