Measuring Parliament's attitude towards Canada-US cooperation : Measuring Parliament's attitude towards Canada-United States cooperation

The positive score is the largest of the three in the years 2002/03–2005 while the negative score is on top in 2006 and 2007. [...] Trying to pinpoint this phenomenon, we ran a count of “hot button” topics and found that “softwood lumber” and the “border” were the most frequently mentioned issues in four out of the six years of study and the runner-up in the fifth year. [...] There is no change in the scores of the NDP and the BQ as a result of either a change in government or change in the issues. [...] The development of the categories was informed by the history and experience of the Canadian-American relationship and reflects the depth and width of issues the two countries manage. [...] The judges were given the scoring criteria and instructed to apply these to the passages with the objective of evaluating whether members of the House of Commons were expressing support for or opposition to cooperation or good relations with the United States.