Since the debate, we've kept an eye on searches for the five party leaders, using the Google Trends tool that famously notices 'flu outbreaks before the Centres for Disease control. (Previous examples here and here.) Extreme caution is required, but look what happened to Jack Layton yesterday. On its face, this means a lot of interest in Jack. I assume that's mainly a result of the found-in story, but a friend argues otherwise: [I]ndications from previous elections (check 2008) seem to suggest [it reflects] popularity as well, though I don't know why. It's quite a spike, though. It is quite a spike, and...

01 May, 2011

A Nova Scotian who spent close to half his life in Quebec writes: Harper's undoing is Jean Charest. Quebecers know they are going to throw out the scandal-plagued Charest as soon as they can, but they can't do this with a strong BQ in Ottawa because it throws the federalist-nationalist balance out of whack. Quebecers like to balance a strong federalist parliament in Ottawa with a nationalist Assembly in QC, and vice versa. They can't vote Liberal on Monday because, well, Liberals are screwing up in QC. They also know that Harper can't be seen to kowtow to Quebec, so they'd rather...

30 April, 2011

Google's Trend feature lets users track and compare the frequency of searches for particular words or phrases in any country, or worldwide. This chart compares searches within Canada for the full names (first and last) of the five leaders contesting the May 2 Federal Election. I used Gilles Duceppe as the standard, so you could say Stephen Harper scored 12.6 duceppes; Jack Layton 7.8 duceppes; Michael Ignatieff 7.2 duceppes; and Elizabeth May 4.0 duseppes. (Sorry about the confusing colour assignments. Google picked 'em.)...

21 April, 2011