Top trending Canadian political figure in 2017

OTTAWA -- “Hi, I’m Andrew,” the leader of the Conservative Party’s most recent campaign ad begins. It’s an introduction of Andrew Scheer to the Canadian public after taking the helm of the Official Opposition in May. Scheer has been viewed as a relatively unknown political figure, despite having been the Speaker of the House of Commons during the last government, and a federal MP for 13 years.It was this year that Canadians wanted to get to know him, or started to wonder who he was, according to Google’s Year in Search results for 2017. The results were informed by Google Trends and analysis of Canadian online searches through 2017. Andrew Scheer was the top trending political figure in Canada. The top trending category looks at the searches that had the highest spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2017 as compared to the year before. The results of searches up to Dec. 4 show that in both political categories, Canadians showed curiosity about new faces on the political scene, and had questions about what was happening with our American neighbours. The top 5 trending Canadian political figures: 1. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer: Scheer and the election of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh were both “seismic moments in federal politics,” said Google Canada’s Year in Search spokesperson Alexandra Hunnings Klein. Since becoming the Official Opposition leader, Scheer has faced off against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons on a number of issues, and personally called for Finance Minister Bill Morneau to resign. Among the Scheer searches? Questions about how many kids he has. 2. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh: Singh came on to the federal scene after winning the NDP leadership race in October. He was the second top trending political figure searched in Canada in 2017. Prior to his win, he was an Ontario MPP. Singh started 2017 with a feature in QP magazine that called him “the Incredibly well-dressed rising star in Canadian politics,” and he ended the year on a cross-Canada tour hoping to build NDP support in his new role. 3. Governor General Julie Payette: Payette started trending in Canada after Trudeau announced he was appointing the former astronaut to the role in July. Google saw a 100-per-cent spike in searches for Julie Payette, spiking between July 9 and July 15. As well, she had smaller spikes between Oct. 1 and Oct. 7 when she was sworn-in. 4. Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante: Plante was elected mayor of Montreal in a huge upset, ousting Denis Coderre. Her November victory was historic, making her the first woman to hold the job. By the morning after her stunning win, Canadians across the country were talking about her ascension. 5. Former B.C. Premier Christy Clark: On the opposite side of the electoral spectrum, Clark was the fifth top trending political figure in Canada in 2017. She resigned as leader of the British Columbia Liberals a month after her government lost a confidence vote after a disappointing showing in the provincial election and an attempt to hold on to power. Missing from the list for the first time since coming to power? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He made the list in both 2015 and 2016. “We’re now seeing the new flock,” Hunnings Klein said.

The top 10 trending political figures in Canada

1. Donald Trump 2. Andrew Scheer 3. Jagmeet Singh 4. Roy Moore 5. Emmanuel Macron 6. John McCain 7. Julie Payette 8. Betsy DeVos 9. Valérie Plante 10. Christy Clark