Methodology

An automated political signal engine monitoring Canadian parliamentary proceedings, votes, and institutional friction.

What We Monitor

CANOPTICON continuously ingests institutional output from Parliament:

  • House of Commons Hansard transcripts
  • Parliamentary votes and voting records
  • Committee proceedings and reports
  • Procedural motions and points of order
  • Public statements and institutional communications

Raw intake is immutable. Every source is timestamped, linked, and preserved as an historical record.

How Signals Are Generated

Signals are created automatically using deterministic detection rules. These rules identify patterns that indicate meaningful shifts:

1. Cross-Speaker Phrase Repetition

When the same 5+ word phrase is used by 3+ different speakers in one day, it indicates coordinated messaging.

2. Topic Spike vs Baseline

Topic keyword counts that exceed the rolling 14-day baseline by 2 standard deviations signal emerging focus areas.

3. Procedural Friction Burst

High density of procedural terms (point of order, Speaker, adjournment) indicates institutional stress or conflict.

4. Speech vs Vote Contradiction

When an MP's stated stance conflicts with their same-day vote record, it reveals strategic positioning.

5. Delay Signal

Topics that appear repeatedly across days with no corresponding vote outcome suggest deferred action or deadlock.

Each detected signal is assigned a confidence level (low, medium, high) and routed to either automated publishing or manual review.

What Silence Means

The absence of signals is also information. When expected topics or procedures don't generate signals within normal timeframes, it may indicate strategic delay, behind-the-scenes negotiation, or institutional gridlock. CANOPTICON tracks both presence and absence.

Publishing & Syndication

Every published signal has a permanent URL and includes source links, speaker attribution, and contextual metadata. Published signals are automatically distributed to social platforms (X, TikTok) with links back to the canonical source.