A number is never just a number -- Election jawdroppers

- 5

Number of questions Prime Minister Stephen Harper permits reporters on the campaign trail. (Source)

- $38.7 million

What the Conservative government has spent on media monitoring since 2008. (Source) 

- $46.5 million

How much more the federal government spent on advertising than corporate giant Bell Canada in 2009-10. Total 2009-10 federal advertising budget: $136 million. (Source) 

- 16 

Number of Liberal and coalition attack ads posted on the Conservative Party of Canada's campaign website (multimedia section). (Source) 

- 54

Percentage of Canadians who prefer a Liberal-NDP coalition government over a Conservative majority government: April 1, 2011 Ipsos Reid poll. (Source) 

- $29 billion

Estimated cost of the Harper government's proposed F-35 fighter jets. (Source)

- 0

Number of engines that actually come with the fighter jets. (They're extra). (Source) 

- $2,829.38

Estimated personal cost to Canadians who earn $50,000, to pay for Harper's F-35 fighter jets, new prisons, and oil company subsidies. Calculate your personal cost at contactyourmp.ca/harpercost. (Source) 

- $50 million

Total reported amount of federal funding to spruce up Parry Sound-Muskoka for the G-8 summit. Includes $14,000 for glow sticks and $100,000 for a gazebo an hour's drive away from the G8 site. (Sources http://lawyers-law.com/conservatives-lie-to-parliament-on-cost-of-g8-g20... " target="_blank">here, here and here) 

- 62

Percentage of Canadians who describe Canada's democracy as being in a state of crisis. (Source) 

- 2,056,001

Number of Canadians who voted in advance polls, April 2011. A 34 per cent increase compared to the 2008 federal election. (Source) 

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative's Trish Hennessy has long been a fan of Harper Magazine's one-page list of eye-popping statistics, Harper's Index. Instead of wishing for a Canadian version to magically appear, she's created her own index -- a monthly listing of numbers about Canada and its place in the world. Hennessy's Index -- A number is never just a number -- comes out on the first of each month in rabble.ca.