Peter MacLeod

Peter MacLeod is one of Canada’s leading experts in democratic innovation and public deliberation. For over two decades, he has advanced participatory democracy, designing initiatives that invite citizens to shape public policy. As the founder and principal of MASS LBP, he has pioneered Citizens’ Assemblies and Civic Lotteries, facilitating over 50 major deliberative processes and engaging thousands of Canadians. His firm has worked with more than 200 public sector clients across Canada and the US, directing over $14 million toward democratic innovation.

Internationally recognized as a driving force in democratic reform, MacLeod has helped support the growth of networks like Democracy R&D and FIDE North America while propelling what the OECD calls the deliberative wave—a movement expanding citizen participation in governance.

MacLeod’s career spans academia, media, and public affairs. He spent many formative years working at leading organizations like the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, Manifest Communications, EYE Social Innovation Lab, Fast Company magazine, Denmark’s Kaospilots, the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the UK think tank Demos. His doctoral research at the London School of Economics led to him creating the Constituency Project, during which he visited almost 100 federal constituency offices. His research opened a window onto a previously ignored facet of Canada’s parliamentary infrastructure, earning national coverage, a commission from the Privy Council Office, and an article followed by a ten-year retrospective published in the Canadian Parliamentary Review. Soon after completing his research, he left his doctorate to join the team delivering the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly, leading him to found MASS LBP as a platform for applied democratic research and innovation.

A well-regarded public voice, MacLeod is a frequent contributor to national and regional media. His work explores three themes: the citizen’s experience of the state, the vitality of public imagination, and the future of responsible government. A frequent speaker at leading forums, he is sought after for insights on democracy’s future. In 2024, he delivered the Meisel Lecture in Political Controversies at Queen’s University, titled Maximum Democracy or Learning to Love the Public. This fall, his book Democracy’s Second Act, co-authored with his colleague Richard Johnson, will be published by the University of Toronto’s Aevo Press.

Beyond his work at MASS LBP, MacLeod has played a leadership role in several organizations. He is the past chair of the Wellesley Institute and a former board member of Tides Canada, now Makeway. He currently sits on the boards of the Environics Institute and the YMCA of Greater Toronto. He has also contributed to the development of the next generation of democratic practitioners, employing more than 100 staff and interns at MASS LBP and teaching courses on public governance and democratic innovation at Toronto Metropolitan University and McMaster University, in addition to delivering dozens of guest lectures across North America and Europe.

Through his work, MacLeod continues to push the boundaries of democratic practice, advocating for new models of public engagement that strengthen civic trust and ensure governments are more responsive, inclusive, and effective in meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century.