FedMCP - Federal Parliamentary Information

# Historical MP Expense Data Sources (Pre-2020) ## Executive Summary **YES, historical MP expense data before 2020 EXISTS**, but it's in different formats requiring manual access. Here's where to find Pierre Poilievre's complete 21-year expense history (2004-2025). --- ## Data Availability Timeline | Period | Format | Source | FedMCP Support | Notes | |--------|--------|--------|----------------|-------| | 2001-2009 | PDF | House of Commons / CBC | ❌ No | Annual reports only | | 2009-2020 | Various | Parliament site | ❌ No | Different system | | Jul 2020+ | CSV | Proactive Disclosure | ✅ **YES** | Current system | --- ## 1. FedMCP (Automated) - 2020 to Present **Period Covered:** July 2020 (FY 2020-2021 Q2) to present **Format:** Machine-readable CSV via web scraping **Update Frequency:** Quarterly (within 30 days of quarter end) **Access:** ```python from fedmcp import MPExpenditureClient client = MPExpenditureClient() expenses = client.get_quarterly_summary(fiscal_year=2024, quarter=1) ``` **Pros:** - ✅ Fully automated via FedMCP - ✅ Machine-readable format - ✅ Quarterly granularity - ✅ Detailed breakdown by category **Cons:** - ❌ Only covers last 4.5 years (since July 2020) - ❌ Missing April-June 2020 (transition period) --- ## 2. CBC News Database - 2001 to 2010 **URL:** https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/database-mp-expenses/ **Period Covered:** Fiscal years 2001-2002 through 2009-2010 **Format:** Online database (Caspio application) **What's Available:** - Annual expense summaries dating back to 2001-2002 - 2008-2009 data converted to spreadsheet format by CBC - Searchable by MP name (includes Pierre Poilievre from 2004) **Access Method:** 1. Visit CBC database 2. Use dropdown menu to select "Pierre Poilievre" 3. View/export data for available fiscal years **Pros:** - ✅ Covers Poilievre's first 6 years as MP (2004-2010) - ✅ Free public access - ✅ Some data in spreadsheet format (2008-2009) **Cons:** - ❌ Manual access only (no API) - ❌ Most data still in PDF format - ❌ Annual summaries only (not quarterly) - ❌ Limited to 2001-2010 range **Historical Value:** - Covers 6 of Poilievre's 21 years as MP - Period includes his rise from backbencher to parliamentary roles - Pre-financial crisis through to majority government era --- ## 3. House of Commons Board of Internal Economy - 2000 to ~2019 **Base URL:** https://www.ourcommons.ca/content/boie/pdf/ **Period Covered:** Fiscal years 2000-2001 to approximately 2018-2019 **Format:** Annual PDF reports **File Naming Pattern:** ``` MembersExpenses-{YEAR}-{YEAR+1}-e.pdf Examples: - MembersExpenses-2004-2005-e.pdf (Poilievre's first year) - MembersExpenses-2010-2011-e.pdf - MembersExpenses-2015-2016-e.pdf ``` **Known Available Reports:** - 2000-2001 ✅ - 2003-2004 ✅ - 2004-2005 ✅ (Poilievre's first full year) - 2008-2009 ✅ - ... (likely many others) **Access Method:** 1. Construct PDF URL using pattern above 2. Download PDF 3. Extract data manually or via PDF parsing tools **Pros:** - ✅ Official government source - ✅ Comprehensive annual reports - ✅ Available for 18+ years of history **Cons:** - ❌ PDF format (not machine-readable) - ❌ Annual summaries only - ❌ Requires manual download per year - ❌ Some URLs may be broken (404 errors) **Historical Value:** - Covers 16 of Poilievre's 21 years as MP (2004-2020) - Includes key career milestones: - Backbencher (2004-2006) - Harper government minister (2013-2015) - Opposition critic roles (2015-2022) - Conservative leadership race (2022) --- ## 4. ParlInfo Library System **URL:** https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/SiteInformation/atoz **Period Covered:** Historical records dating back decades **Format:** Reference links to reports **What's Available:** - Lists of Individual Members' Expenditures reports under "Annual Reports - House of Commons" - Index of archived expense reports - May include links to PDF reports from #3 above **Access Method:** 1. Visit ParlInfo A-Z index 2. Navigate to "Annual Reports - House of Commons" 3. Look for "Individual Members' Expenditures" 4. Follow links to archived reports **Pros:** - ✅ Centralized index of all reports - ✅ Official parliamentary library resource - ✅ Comprehensive historical coverage **Cons:** - ❌ Index only (not direct data access) - ❌ Still links to PDFs - ❌ Navigation can be complex --- ## 5. Open Government Portal - Federal Institutions **URL:** https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/009f9a49-c2d9-4d29-a6d4-1a228da335ce **Period Covered:** Varies by department **Format:** CSV datasets **What's Available:** - Proactive disclosure of travel expenses from federal institutions - May include Parliamentary travel but focus is on public service - Machine-readable datasets **Access Method:** 1. Visit Open Government Portal 2. Search for travel expense datasets 3. Download CSV files **Pros:** - ✅ Machine-readable format - ✅ Structured data - ✅ Downloadable bulk datasets **Cons:** - ❌ Primarily covers public service, not MPs - ❌ Different reporting structure than MP expenses - ❌ May not include individual MP office budgets **Note:** This source is likely NOT useful for Poilievre MP expenses specifically, but included for completeness. --- ## Complete Data Access Strategy for Pierre Poilievre (2004-2025) ### To Get Full 21-Year History: **2004-2010 (6 years):** - Use **CBC Database** (#2) for searchable access - Download annual summaries manually **2010-2020 (10 years):** - Use **Board of Internal Economy PDFs** (#3) - Download files: `MembersExpenses-2010-2011-e.pdf` through `MembersExpenses-2019-2020-e.pdf` - Consider PDF parsing tools to extract data programmatically **July 2020-2025 (4.5 years):** - Use **FedMCP** (#1) - fully automated! ```python from fedmcp import MPExpenditureClient client = MPExpenditureClient() # Get all available quarters for fy in range(2021, 2027): # FY 2020-2021 through 2026-2027 for q in range(1, 5): try: expenses = client.search_by_name("Poilievre", fiscal_year=fy, quarter=q) if expenses: exp = expenses[0] print(f"FY {fy} Q{q}: Total ${exp.total:,.2f} (Travel: ${exp.travel:,.2f})") except: continue ``` --- ## Future FedMCP Enhancement Possibilities ### Potential Phase 9: Historical Data Integration **Option A: PDF Parsing** - Create client to download Board of Internal Economy PDFs - Parse annual reports using PDF extraction tools (e.g., pdfplumber, tabula-py) - Convert to structured data format - Extend expense data back to 2000 **Option B: CBC Database Integration** - Reverse-engineer CBC Caspio database API - Scrape or download historical summaries - Integrate 2001-2010 data into FedMCP **Option C: Hybrid Approach** - Use CBC for 2001-2010 - Parse PDFs for 2010-2020 - Current system for 2020+ - Present unified 25-year expense history **Challenges:** - PDF parsing reliability varies by report format - Annual vs. quarterly data reconciliation - Category definitions may have changed over time - Significant development effort required **Value:** - Complete 25-year expense history for all MPs - Historical trend analysis - Long-term accountability tracking - Comparative analysis across parliamentary sessions --- ## Summary Table: Coverage by Source | Fiscal Year | Pierre Poilievre Status | Available Sources | Format | |-------------|------------------------|-------------------|--------| | 2004-2005 | First year as MP | CBC + Board PDF | PDF | | 2005-2010 | Backbencher | CBC + Board PDF | PDF/Database | | 2010-2013 | Opposition | Board PDF | PDF | | 2013-2015 | Minister (Harper govt) | Board PDF | PDF | | 2015-2020 | Opposition critic | Board PDF | PDF | | 2020 Q2-Q4 | COVID Parliament | **FedMCP** | CSV (automated) | | 2021-2022 | Conservative leadership | **FedMCP** | CSV (automated) | | 2022-2025 | Leader of Opposition | **FedMCP** | CSV (automated) | | 2025 Aug+ | Battle River–Crowfoot | **FedMCP** | CSV (automated) | **Total Coverage:** - **Manual access required:** 16 years (2004-2020) - 76% of career - **FedMCP automated:** 4.5 years (July 2020-2025) - 21% of career - **Missing:** ~3% (April-June 2020 transition quarter) --- **Document Created:** November 2, 2025 **FedMCP Version:** 0.1.0 **Research Status:** Complete - All known sources documented