Methodology & Data Sources

The Integrity Score is a 0 to 100 score, graded A+ to F, that summarises a Canadian elected official's public record: financial disclosures and conflict flags, participation in recorded votes and committees, and lobbying, contracts and spending. It uses only what official registries publish, and it is not a judgement of character.

The Integrity Rank

The Integrity Rank (A+ to F) is a 0 to 100 score built from up to twelve weighted factors in three areas. Only the factors published for a member's legislature count: missing data is left out of the calculation rather than scored as zero, the weights of the factors that remain are rescaled to add up to one, and members with fewer than three data streams are shown as Unscored instead of receiving a grade. Where we track recorded votes (the House of Commons, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba), a member is also left Unscored until their chamber has held at least 20 recorded divisions since they took their seat, so a new member is not graded on a handful of votes. A profile's rank reads "#N of M", where M is the number of seats in the member's chamber (for example "#5 of 56 MLAs").

Disclosure & conflicts

The largest single factor. Filed financial disclosures, conflict flags from cross-checking holdings against the sectors a member's committees oversee, and entries missing a source.

Participation & legislative work

Share of recorded divisions the member took part in, measured against the divisions held while they held the seat (paired divisions, and divisions they chaired as Speaker, count on neither side), plus committee roles and bills sponsored. Bills count in every legislature whose bill sponsors we track (federal, Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Quebec), federal MPs included; a member with no sponsored bills gets that factor's floor, not a zero.

Money & influence

Lobbying contacts, government contracts, trades, political contributions, office expenditures and delegation travel, wherever each is published.

* Grades: A+ 90 and above, A 85, B+ 80, B 75, C 65, D 55, F below 55. The full factor list and weights are explained in our article How the Integrity Score Works. The model is reviewed periodically; changes are documented on this page.

Data Sources

  • House of Commons (Federal)

    Voting records and bill data are sourced directly from the House of Commons Open Data portal and LEGISinfo.

  • Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner

    Financial disclosures and travel registries are scraped from the CIEC Public Registry.

  • OpenNorth (Represent API)

    Provincial representatives and boundary data are enhanced using the Represent API by OpenNorth.

  • Market Data

    Stock ticker symbols and sector classifications are cross-referenced with public market data providers (e.g., Finnhub) to identify potential conflicts.

Data Coverage by Jurisdiction

Financial disclosure and integrity data are not equally complete across all jurisdictions.

  • Federal (CIEC): Live data from the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner public registry.
  • Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island: member rosters and bills only. Disclosure filings are not yet ingested, so members are shown as Unscored.
  • Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick: disclosures from each provincial integrity commissioner, plus recorded votes where the legislature publishes them. We never show estimated or synthetic disclosure data.

We are a small team (including student developers) and prioritize federal coverage first. Provincial coverage will expand as resources allow.

View full Data Coverage summary →

Common questions

What does the Integrity Score measure?
How complete and clean a member's public record is, across up to twelve weighted factors in three areas: disclosure and conflicts, participation and legislative work, and money and influence. Only the factors published for a member's legislature count.
Why do some members have no score?
A member needs at least three data streams to be scored. With fewer, they are shown as Unscored rather than given a grade, because missing data is left out of the calculation instead of being counted as zero. Where we track recorded votes, a member also stays Unscored until their chamber has held at least 20 recorded divisions since they took their seat; a record that short says too little to grade.
Does a low score mean a politician did something wrong?
No. The score summarises what the public record shows, including gaps and flags worth a closer look. A conflict flag is a prompt to read the underlying filing, not a finding of misconduct.
Where does the data come from?
Official sources only: the House of Commons and provincial legislatures for votes and bills, the federal Ethics Commissioner and provincial integrity commissioners for disclosures, and lobbying registries for lobbying contacts. Every row on a profile links to the record it came from.

Disclaimer

This project is an independent civic tech initiative and is not affiliated with the Government of Canada or any political party. While we strive for accuracy, automated data collection can sometimes result in errors. Please verify all information against official government sources linked on each profile.

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