– 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 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.

Hennessy's Index

Hennessy's Index

Trish Hennessy, author of the monthly Hennessy’s Index, is director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario office. Read back issues of Hennessy’s Index at CCPA: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/index...