Getting started¶
Canadian Political Data has three tiers of access:
| Feature | Anonymous | Signed in (free) | With credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search Hansard | |||
| Browse politicians + ridings | |||
| View the map | |||
| Submit a correction | |||
| Save searches | — | ||
| Email alerts on saved searches | — | ||
| AI-assisted full reports | — | — | |
| Earn credits via accepted corrections | — |
You only need to sign in if you want to save a search, receive alerts, submit corrections under your name, or generate a report. Everything else works without an account.
Three things to try first¶
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Run a search. Go to the Hansard search page and type a topic in plain language — try
clean drinking water in Indigenous communitiesorcarbon pricing rebate. The results are speeches semantically similar to your query, not just exact-keyword matches. See How search works. -
Look up a politician. From the politicians directory search by name, riding, or party. Each profile collects their term history, recent speeches, social presence, and (where available) constituency offices.
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Check the map. The map shows ridings across Canada, with the current representative for each. Click a riding to drill into its profile.
Then, if you want more¶
- Create an account — passwordless, takes about 30 seconds.
- Save a search and turn on alerts.
- Buy a credit pack and request a report.
Glossary¶
Hansard- The official transcript of debates in a Canadian legislature. Each legislature publishes its own — federal Hansard for the House of Commons, plus provincial / territorial equivalents.
Speech- A single contribution by one speaker in Hansard. Speeches in this system are split into smaller "chunks" for semantic search, but you'll always land on the full speech in context when you click through.
Riding (electoral district)- A geographic area that elects one representative to a legislature. Federal ridings elect MPs; provincial ridings elect MLAs / MNAs / MPPs depending on the province.
Term- A continuous period of holding a particular role (e.g. "MP for Halifax, 2015–2019, Liberal"). One politician has many terms over their career.