Paul Thomas

Adjunct Research Professor and Director of the Parliamentary Internship Programme

Dr. Paul Thomas is the Director of the Parliamentary Internship Programme (PIP), a work-study initiative jointly operated by the Canadian House of Commons and the Canadian Political Science Association that each year gives 12 recent university graduates the opportunity to work for both government and opposition MPs. He is also an Adjunct Research Professor with Department of Political Science and the Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management at Carleton University.

Paul has spent nearly two decades working in and researching British and Canadian politics. After completing the Parliamentary Internship Programme and serving as a researcher for Senator Yoine Goldstein, Paul spent a year in the United Kingdom working in government relations for Cancer Research UK. He then completed a PhD in Political Science at the University of Toronto and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Carleton University. Prior to becoming PIP Director, Paul served as a Senior Research Associate at the Samara Centre for Democracy, an organization dedicated to strengthening Canadian Democracy through research and public engagement. He also served as an advisor to the Speaker’s Forum on the Role of Members at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

Paul has published several articles and book chapters on legislative politics in Canada and the UK, and co-authored the book Religion and Canadian Party Politics.

Selected publications:

• Thomas, Paul EJ. 2020. Parliament Under Pressure: Evaluating Parliament’s performance in Response to COVID-19. Toronto: Samara Centre for Democracy.
• Thomas, Paul EJ, Adelina Petit-Vouriot, and Michael Morden. 2020. “Assessing the Reform Act as a tool of Parliamentary Reform: one step forward, one step back.” Canadian Parliamentary Review 43(2): 10-16.
• McAndrews, John R, Feodor Snagovsky, and Paul E J Thomas. 2020. “How Citizens Judge Extreme Legislative Dissent: Experimental Evidence from Canada on Party Switching.” Parliamentary Affairs 73(2): 323–341.
• Thomas, Paul EJ, Adelina Petit-Vouriot, and Michael Morden. 2020. House Inspection: A Retrospective of the 42nd Parliament. Toronto: Samara Centre for Democracy.
• Thomas, Paul E. J., and Jerald Sabin. 2019. “Candidate Messaging on Religious Issues in the 2016–17 Conservative Party of Canada Leadership Race.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 52(4): 801–23.
• Thomas, Paul EJ, and Michael Morden. 2019. Party Favours: How Federal Election Candidates Are Chosen. Toronto: Samara Centre for Democracy.
• Thomas, Paul EJ and JP Lewis. 2019. “Executive Creep in Canadian Provincial Legislatures.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 52(2): 363-383.
• Thomas, Paul EJ and Stacey Frier. 2018. “Campaigning to change the law.” In Exploring Parliament, eds Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Louise Thompson. Oxford University Press.
• Rayside, David, Jerald Sabin and Paul Thomas. 2017. Religion and Canadian Party Politics. Vancouver: UBC Press.
• Thomas, Paul EJ. 2017. “Democratizing the Legislative Branch of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.” In The Democracy Cookbook: Recipes to Renew Governance in Newfoundland and Labrador, eds. Alex Marland and Lisa Moore. St. John’s: ISER Books and The Telegram.
• Thomas, Paul EJ and Graham White. 2015. “Evaluating Provincial and Territorial Legislatures.” In Provinces: Canadian Provincial Politics, 3rd Edition, ed. Christopher J. C. Dunn. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Thomas, Paul EJ, Peter Loewen and Michael MacKenzie. 2013. “Fair isn’t Always Equal: Constituency Population and the Quality of Representation in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 46(2): 273-293.

Last Revision: July 2024