I’ve always had a keen interest in government, and trying to
get as much information as possible before casting my vote during elections. 
It’s almost impossible, however, to keep track of everything that my Member of
Parliament has been up to – even if somebody really wanted
to.  Not anymore!

How They Vote is a
non-partisan site that takes the transcripts from Canadian parliamentary debates
(known as a Hansard) which are posted on the Parliament web site, and extracts
information on bills, members of Parliament, votes, and speeches.  I can look up exactly what my MP
has voted on, how they voted, if they abstained, and even if they broke party
ranks with their vote. 

The site setup is extremely well
organized, so if you ever want more detail on a specific bill that your MP has
voted on, it provides very handy links to the detailed bill information
contained on the Canadian government web site.  They also have the latest quotes
that your MP has spoken during debating periods, legislation that they have
proposed – even how many words they’ve spoken!   Unfortunately the data is only
as recent as November 2005 (they’re working on an update), but it’s still
fascinating.

Cool stuff I’ve learned about my MP
(who happens to be a good friend of mine from my high school
days):

• He’s one of only 7 MPs out of 307 to
  never miss a vote (the leader has 134 absences –
  134!)
• Has broken ranks when voting only
  once (consecutive sentence for use of firearm in commission of offense).  He
  voted Yes, and the bill passed – by one vote.
• Introduced legislation to lower the
  Federal voting age to 16 (which was defeated)

It looks like the whole site is run
by two volunteers, which makes it even more
impressive.

In the majority of web advertising
business, it seems the main route to delivering what we
might consider an Exceptional Experience has been to “entice the eyes”; to dazzle us
with amazing animation and stunning imagery. This site won’t blow you away
visually, or take your breath away with a fancy piece of Flash, or amaze you
with some other sort of amazing eye candy.  What it DOES do, however, is that
which I think the web advertising biz forgets about sometimes: deliver
information.  And it delivers it in a clean, highly-organized, easy-to-access
fashion – something which many sites strive for, but very few seem to
achieve.

For me, that’s truly an Exceptional
Experience.

Daryl Brewer