About Project 5W1H

A neutral place to collect context, facts and sources on Canadian federal politics, and to look back on them later.

Why it exists

What's on X and what's in the mainstream news rarely match, and statements often leave out the context needed to understand them. Project 5W1H collects that context in one place. It is a small, independent project. There's no rage bait here, no gotchas and no catchy headlines, because everyone should be fully informed and everyone should vote.

The method: ask the six

When something makes us stop and ask "what is this?", we ask the six: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Then we check the source, what can be established, and what is still unknown. The surprise is the trigger, not the conclusion.

What we publish

Each piece has a short post on X from @5W1HProject ("Ask The Six") that says who decided and what the rule is, and a longer newspaper-style piece on this site. Every piece uses one of these formats:

• Follow the Number, for claims and numbers: what does the number actually measure, and who does it apply to?
• Full Context, for bills and policy: what does it actually say and do?
• Source Check, for clips taken out of context: what does the full original show?
• Question vs. Answer, for exchanges in Parliament: what was asked, what was answered, and does the framing hold up?

Scope for now is Canadian federal politics.

How it's made

Research and drafting are done with AI help. Every piece is checked and approved by a person before it's published. Each article says so in a note at the end.

Core rules

1. Always neutral, in framing, wording and sources.
2. The story is the event or the claim itself. It is never about political sides or who said it. No party framing. Quotes appear only as the claim being checked, never as the story.
3. Primary sources come first: laws, rulings, decisions and bills. After that, straight news, marked as secondary. Opinion columns are never a source for facts.
4. Everything is labelled as established, claimed or unknown. If something is unknown, it stays unknown.
5. Corrections stay visible and dated.
6. Opinion stays separate. The project says "here's what we can establish."
7. Be honest about AI. Research and drafting are done with AI help, and the site says so plainly. A person checks and approves every piece before it's published.
8. A quiet week is allowed. There is no schedule to feed, and nothing gets made up for the algorithm.

How to read the labels

• EstablishedConfirmed by a primary source or consistent straight-news reporting.
• ClaimedStated by someone, or a judgment, that we can't independently confirm.
• UnknownNot public, not yet reported, or not seen by us. It stays unknown until it isn't.

Corrections

Mistakes happen. When one does, the fix is made in the piece and a dated note goes in the Corrections box at the end, saying what changed. Corrections are never deleted. They're part of the process, not an embarrassment.