Do politicians keep their promises? That is what the Polimeter seeks to determine by measuring if elected officials keep their promises during their mandate. The mission of the Polimeter is to offer objective, transparent and reliable political information to citizens, media, and researchers regarding the actions of the government.
Data
The data of the Polimeters is available here.
Methodology
The Centre for the Analysis of Public Policy (CAPP) at the Université Laval has developed the Polimeter’s methodology to extract promises from election platforms, conduct research to document government action related to promises, assess the level of promise fulfillment, update reliable verdicts in real time, and render them available online directly.
Our analysis of the different levels of pledge fulfillment and our rules for classifying promises by level of fulfillment is based on the method elaborated by the Comparative Party Pledge Group (CPPG), a consortium of international researchers who are interested in the comparative study of election promises fulfillment and who have published numerous scientific articles and books on this subject.
Background
In 2013, the researchers of CAPP created a tool to measure the fulfillment of electoral promises inspired by similar tools found in the United States (Obamameter) and in France (Lui Président). In the search for a name that is both versatile and bilingual, they chose the name “Polimeter” – “poli” for “politics” or “public policies” and “meter”’ for “neutral and independent analysis.”
The Polimeter team has since analysed the achievements of the Government of Canada (Harper Polimeter, Trudeau Polimeter), and in Quebec (Marois Polimeter, Couillard Polimeter and Legault Polimeter). In 2019, the Higgs Polimeter of New Brunswick was developed thanks to a partnership between the Donald J. Savoie Institute (DJSI) and the CAPP.
The DJSI was tasked to develop a Polimeter for each Atlantic Province. With the calling of the next elections in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, the Donald J. Savoie Institute team will follow the fulfilment of the promises for the next governments of these provinces.
Funding
Since its creation, the operations and development of the Polimeter has been funded directly by the CAPP, thanks to a grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec et Culture and by the support of its members. Recently, the Polimeter received a one time support from the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship (McGill), and from the Political Science department of the Université Laval. The Higgs Polimeter project I was financially supported by the Secrétariat du Québec aux relations canadiennes and by the DJSI. The DJSI is presently the only funding partner for the Polimeters of the Atlantic provinces, including the Higgs Polimeter II.
Scientific Communications and Articles
2019 – The Higgs Polimetre - Arsenault, Gabriel, Lisa Birch, Stéphanie Collin, Yannick Dufresne – Atlantic Provinces Political Science Association 2019 Annual Conference (communication)
Contact Us
gabriel.arsenault@umoncton.ca
The CAPP holds the intellectual property rights and the trademark of the Polimeter.