Accountability Tracker

Who gets the credit, and the blame? Every week we score how Canadian news coverage assigns responsibility for the economy, to Ottawa or to outside forces like tariffs and global markets, and track it against how many Canadians approve of the government.

How the tracker works

Is the federal government being held accountable, or is blame being deflected onto outside forces? Here's the current read on political accountability in Canada, tracked in real time through media coverage and government approval polling.

Each point plots a week: attribution framing across, government approval up. The quadrants below describe what each region means.

Rally Effect

External blame · High approval

A foreign threat is uniting voters behind the government.

The classic rally-around-the-flag pattern: crisis shifts blame outward and boosts incumbents.

Engaged Accountability

Ottawa-attributed coverage · High approval

Voters approve while the government remains in the attribution frame.

Scrutiny without electoral penalty: the public is tracking who's responsible and still extending support. The government owns both the problem and the solution.

Crisis with Cover

External blame · Low approval

Approval is low even though coverage offers an external villain.

The government has the cover to deflect blame, but voters aren't extending any polling benefit for it.

Government on the Hook

Govt. blamed · Low approval

Coverage and approval both moving against the government.

The most damaging zone: the government owns the problem and is losing public confidence.

Weekly data, methodology and sources

The weekly numbers behind the chart, how the index is measured, and every news outlet we score.

Accountability Tracker

How the tracker works

This week's readings