Transparency & Source Documentation
Every affiliate tracked on this site is documented with publicly available sources. This page shows exactly where our information comes from, ensuring complete transparency and accountability.
About how this site was built
WhoGoverns was built by a human developer using AI coding tools (Claude by Anthropic). AI wrote code, the data parsers, database queries, and UI components. AI did not generate any of the political data, write any analysis, or invent any connections.
Every number on this site is a row in a government database. Every connection, "this person donated to this MP then won this contract", is a SQL join across Elections Canada, Treasury Board, and the Lobbying Registry. You can verify any claim in about 30 seconds by clicking the source links below.
Where Our Database Comes From
Every number on this site is sourced from official Canadian government open data portals. Nothing is estimated or modelled, if it's here, it was filed publicly by a government body or required registrant. Click any source link to verify directly.
Political Contributions
~6 million donation recordsElections Canada, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada
Every political contribution made to federal candidates, MPs, parties, and riding associations in Canada. Required by law to be disclosed under the Canada Elections Act.
Update frequency
Annual returns filed by June 30 each year; by-election returns within 4 months of the election.
What this data shows
- ✓Who donated to which MP or party
- ✓Dollar amount and date of each contribution
- ✓Donor name, city, and province
- ✓Employer/business affiliation (where disclosed)
How to verify yourself
Go to elections.ca → Political Financing → Search contributions. Search any donor name or recipient to see the same raw data.
Known limitations
Only includes contributions above reporting thresholds. Data is as accurate as what candidates file, Elections Canada audits but cannot catch everything.
Government Contracts
500,000+ procurement contractsGovernment of Canada Proactive Disclosure, Contracts
All federal government contracts over $10,000 must be proactively disclosed. This database covers billions in annual federal spending across every department.
Update frequency
Departments report quarterly. There can be a 3–6 month lag.
What this data shows
- ✓Supplier name and contract value
- ✓Contracting department/agency
- ✓Contract dates and description of work
- ✓Whether it was sole-sourced or competitively tendered
How to verify yourself
Go to search.open.canada.ca/contracts/ and search any company name. Or download bulk data from the Open Government Portal.
Known limitations
Contracts under $10,000 are not required to be disclosed. Sole-source contracts are listed but the justification is often vague.
Lobbying Registrations & Meetings
20,000+ organizations, 200,000+ communicationsOffice of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada (OCL)
Anyone who is paid to lobby the federal government must register publicly. This includes the organizations they represent, the issues they're lobbying on, and logs of every meeting with a senior official.
Update frequency
Registration updates must be filed monthly. Communication reports filed within 15 days of a meeting.
What this data shows
- ✓Which companies hired which lobbyists
- ✓What policy issues they lobbied on
- ✓Every registered meeting with MPs, Ministers, or senior officials
- ✓Former government positions held by the lobbyist
How to verify yourself
Go to lobbycanada.gc.ca → Search the Registry. Look up any lobbyist or organization by name.
Known limitations
Only covers federal lobbying. Lobbyists self-report their former government positions. The OCL investigates violations but many go unpunished.
Parliamentary Votes
Every MP vote on every motionOpenParliament.ca (sources from Parliament of Canada)
How every MP voted on every bill, motion, and amendment in the House of Commons. OpenParliament.ca aggregates the official Hansard and vote records from Parliament of Canada.
Update frequency
Updated continuously during Parliamentary sessions.
What this data shows
- ✓Each MP's vote (Yes / No / Paired / Absent) on every recorded division
- ✓Bill descriptions and context
- ✓Which party the MP was in at the time of the vote
How to verify yourself
Visit openparliament.ca and search any MP. For primary source, go to parl.ca → House of Commons → Votes.
Known limitations
Only recorded votes (divisions) are captured, many decisions are made by voice vote without a recorded division.
Government Wrongdoings (PSDPA)
68 confirmed misconduct findingsPublic Servants Disclosure Protection Act, Wrongdoing Disclosures
Formally investigated and confirmed cases of federal government misconduct under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. These are cases where an official investigation found wrongdoing occurred.
Update frequency
Updated as new cases are confirmed and published by the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.
What this data shows
- ✓The nature of the confirmed wrongdoing
- ✓Which department or agency was involved
- ✓Corrective action taken (if any)
- ✓Links to the responsible Minister
How to verify yourself
Go to canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/values-ethics/disclosure-wrongdoing/founded-cases-wrongdoing.html for the full official list.
Known limitations
Only covers wrongdoings investigated under PSDPA. Ethics Commissioner violations, RCMP investigations, and other misconduct are tracked separately.
Revolving Door / Cooling-Off Violations
Derived from lobbying registry dataComputed analysis of OCL lobbying registration data
This dataset is computed, not sourced directly. We take the lobbying registry's self-reported "former government position" data and compare departure dates to registration dates to identify apparent cooling-off violations.
Update frequency
Recalculated whenever the lobbying registry data is refreshed.
What this data shows
- ✓Former officials who became lobbyists
- ✓How long after leaving government they registered
- ✓Apparent violations of the 5-year cooling-off rule for DPOHs
- ✓Which corporations they lobbied for after leaving
How to verify yourself
For each person, look up their registration on lobbycanada.gc.ca. The departure date and registration date are both disclosed there. The 5-year rule applies to DPOHs under s.10.11 of the Lobbying Act.
Known limitations
Departure dates are self-reported by the lobbyist. "Apparent violations" are flagged for investigation, the OCL must make a formal determination. Some edge cases may not constitute legal violations.
Cross-referencing methodology
The most powerful findings on this site, like "this donor lobbied this MP and then won a contract", come from joining multiple datasets by name and date. These cross-references are computed from the raw source data above. All source data is imported into a local SQLite database from the government open data portals, then analyzed to find connections across datasets. The raw import scripts are open source.
Affiliate Tracking Sources
In addition to the government databases above, this site manually tracks individuals affiliated with specific lobby organizations. Each person below is sourced from the organization's own public materials, lobbying registrations, or verified news reporting.
Pro-Israel Lobby Affiliates
Oil & Gas Industry Affiliates
Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Official Website2 tracked affiliates from this organization
Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers / Pacific Canbriam Energy
Official Website1 tracked affiliate from this organization
How Affiliate Sources Are Verified
All affiliate data is publicly available. Each individual is tracked based on:
- Official Lobbyist Registrations: Self-disclosed registrations from lobbycanada.gc.ca, which are legally required to be accurate
- Organization Leadership Listings: Board members and executives listed on the organization's own official website
- News Reports: Verified journalism from reputable Canadian media outlets (CBC, Globe and Mail, National Post, etc.)
- Company Filings: Public corporate documents, annual reports, and government filings
If you believe a listing is incorrect or outdated, the data can be cross-checked against the primary sources linked above each entry. This site does not make legal determinations, it presents what is publicly disclosed.