Politics

#macdebate by the numbers: ‘What’s your number, Justin?’

The Maclean’s debate, by the numbers

Canada's Liberal leader Justin Trudeau (2nd L), Green Party leader Elizabeth May, New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Thomas Mulcair (2nd R) and Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper (R) await moderator Paul Wells (L), political editor of Maclean's ahead of the Maclean's National Leaders debate in Toronto, August 6, 2015. Canadians go to the polls in a national election on October 19, 2015.  Mark Blinch/Reuters

(From left) Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper await questions from moderator Paul Wells, political editor of Maclean’s, during  the Maclean’s National Leaders Debate in Toronto on Aug. 6 (Mark Blinch/Reuters)

Justin Trudeau said it with such confidence. “I’ll give you a number. Nine. My number is nine. Nine Supreme Court justices said one vote is not enough to break up this country.”

At the Maclean’s National Leaders Debate, the four leaders were throwing around so many numbers and statistics, it was tough to keep track of them all. Now let’s be clear: The Prime Minister used the word “clear,” or “clearly,” 18 times. We counted them all. Here are some other fun numbers we broke down for you.


Number of times someone mentioned tuition, the Arctic, marijuana or Netflix: 0

Length of Trudeau’s pause right before his final line of the debate: 2.9 seconds

Total #elxn42 tweets sent on the #macdebate night: 220,000-plus

Number of times Mulcair referred to Trudeau as “Justin”: You did it twice, Tom.

Number of times Harper referred to Trudeau as “Justin”: 0

Date that Elizabeth May last participated in a national leaders debate: Oct. 2, 2008

Number of times Mulcair asked Trudeau, “What’s your number?” referring to the percentage of the vote in a referendum that could facilitate Quebec’s separation from Canada: 10

Length of time Mulcair and Trudeau debated separatism: 4 minutes, 25 seconds

Trudeau’s age: 43

Number of times Mulcair, Trudeau or May mentioned Stephen Harper: 98

Percentage of Canadians “not very familiar” or “not familiar at all” with the Clarity Act: 80% (62% in Quebec)

Age when Harper became PM: 46

Kilometres from Harper’s elementary school (Northlea Public School in Toronto) to Citytv debate studio: 6.54 km as the crow flies, 8.3 km by car

Number of times each leader’s name was said by one of the other leaders:

Harper: 96
Mulcair: 39
Trudeau: 27
May: 8

Number of times the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was mentioned: 1 (by May).

And murdered and missing Indigenous women: 0

Last year a campaign was longer than 78 days: 1872 (96 days)

Ratio of times Mulcair said “Unfair Elections Act” to Harper saying “Fair Elections Act”: 3:1

Before the debate, the last year Paul Wells got to ask the Prime Minister a question as a journalist: 2008

Number of times Trudeau said “middle class”: 9

Number of times Harper said “middle class”: 3

References to eight deficits in a row: 4 (3 by Mulcair, 1 by Trudeau)

How many times May, Trudeau or Mulcair said the word “recession” compared to Harper: 14:1

Number of sentences until Mulcair referenced his childhood: 2

Number of times key words were mentioned by the leaders:

Tax(es): 57
Economy: 51
Job: 52
Environment(al): 38
Senate: 33
Senator: 30
Energy: 27
Budget: 16
Recession: 15
Pipeline: 15
Deficit: 14
Carbon: 12
Separatist/ism: 6

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