Skip to main content

Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 29, 2026

PolicyShift.ca Inc. (the "Company") is the organization responsible for the management of any information collected through this Service. We operate in compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and all applicable Alberta privacy regulations. Our mission is transparency in Canadian politics, and that extends to how we protect your data. Our platform is designed to be privacy-first: we track how politicians move, not how you move.

Information We Collect

PolicyShift is a public resource. We do not offer user accounts, logins, or newsletters. We do not collect your name, email address, or phone number.

How We Measure Activity

We measure website activity to understand which policy topics and politicians Canadians care about most. We use two distinct systems:

A. The PolicyShift Anonymous Counter (In-House)

We built a custom system to count activity without using cookies. We record when someone:

  • Runs a search
  • Views a politician's profile or policy timeline
  • Clicks a link to a news source
  • Filters by a specific region (e.g., Ontario)
  • Clicks "alternative opinions" after a search

B. Google Analytics

Like most websites, we use Google Analytics to understand general traffic trends (e.g., how many visitors we have and what cities they are from). Unlike our in-house system, Google Analytics uses cookies. You can disable these via your browser settings.

How We Handle Your IP Address

We do not store your IP address. When you visit, your IP is immediately run through a one-way scrambler (SHA-256 hash) mixed with a "salt" (a secret code).

  • This salt changes every 24 hours.
  • Because the code changes daily, the same visitor looks like a different person to our system from one day to the next.
  • Once the daily salt is deleted (after 90 days), it becomes mathematically impossible to link past activity back to a specific internet connection.

Data Retention

We believe in "data hygiene." We don't keep info longer than we need it:

  • Search Queries: The actual words you type into our search bar are permanently erased after 30 days.
  • Scrambling Codes (Salts): Deleted after 90 days.
  • Internal Activity Logs: Held in our reporting sheets for 365 days to track year-over-year trends.
  • Google Analytics Data: Detailed event data is kept for 14 months (the standard minimum).

Cross-Border Data Transfer

PolicyShift uses Google's infrastructure (Google Sheets and Looker Studio) to organize our internal reports. This means your anonymous usage data is processed by Google and stored on servers located in the United States. By using our site, you acknowledge this cross-border transfer of anonymous data.

Sharing Data With Sponsors

We provide our sponsors with quarterly impact reports. These reports contain only summary data (e.g., "The Top 5 most-searched MPs this month"). We never share individual visit logs or specific search histories with sponsors or outside parties.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this policy or our approach to privacy, please contact:

PolicyShift.ca Inc.
Attn: Jason Silvert, Director
[email protected]
Edmonton, Alberta