With Canada in the middle of a recession and issues like climate change set have a profound effect on the country over the next several years, the 2015 Federal Election, now little more than a month away, is front of mind for a lot of the population.
Despite the fact this is set to be one of the longest election campaigns in Canada’s history, it’s easy to become apathetic with the dearth of substance in the rhetoric of those running for a seat in Parliament.
Enter Pollenize, an app that attempts to lay out each party’s policy stances in a clear and thoughtful manner. Once you launch the app, you can tap on a caricature of one of the party leaders to find out where they stand on issues like climate change, immigration and healthcare. With each issue it’s possible to read a more detailed explanation of a party’s policy stance, and you even find out the sources Pollenize consulted to write their summaries. Best of all, the app can switch between English and French, making it accessible to most Canadians.
The app comes courtesy of a team of domestic and expatriated Canadian developers. (If the app looks familiar, it’s because the same team made a similar app for the Toronto mayoral election in 2014.)
The current release could use a bit more polish: on the iPhone, the toggle that switches between English and French isn’t as responsive as it should be, and using the hamburger menu to switch between candidates doesn’t remember the policy section you were looking at before switching.
Still, the app does an excellent job of explaining where each party stands on a given issue.
The Pollenize app is available on the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store. Alternatively, the full functionality of the app can be accessed through the duo’s website.
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