Harper, Trudeau 2012's most Googled federal politicians

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was Canada's "most searched" federal politician in 2012, according to Google Canadas annual year-end analysis of online search engine requests. But he had a little help from his friends.

Google'stop ranking for the holder of Canada's highest elected office was helped along by the prime minister'sencounters with other search engine heavyweights: U.S. President Barack Obama, who met with Harperin mid-May at theNATO and G8 summits in Chicago,and Justin Bieber, who receivedaDiamond Jubilee Medalfrom Harperin late November.

Justin Trudeau ranked second among federal politicians on the list, doubling his search volume from 2011. The Liberal leadership candidate saw two major spikes in search volume during the year: the first around hischarity boxing matchwith Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau in late March, and the second around thelaunch of his leadership bidearlier this fall.

Harper and Trudeauare "in a category by themselves," says Leslie Church, a spokeswoman for Google Canada.

Harper's search traffic is outpacing Trudeau's in absolute volume by about 50 per cent, she says, but in 2011 Harper was "out-searching" Trudeau by nearly 5 to 1, so this gapnarrowed in 2012.

The third-place showing of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is largely attributable to a fewintense weeks in mid-February, following the Harper government's introduction of C-30, itscontroversial online surveillance bill. Attacks on Toews by the anonymous@VikileaksTwitter account, sincerevealed as the work of a Liberal staffer,as well as the hashtag#TellVicEverythingcombined to raise Toews's profile in social media, as heated debate began on the legislation.

The only New Democrat on the list is new leader Tom Mulcair, in fourth spot. His search volume peakedaround hisselection as leaderin late March, as well as his controversialstatement in May that the resource sector could be responsible for "Dutch disease" in Canada and his well-publicized visit to Alberta'sCalgary Stampedein July.

Rounding out the top five is Defence Minister Peter MacKay, whose volume surged not with any particular politicalmovebut with news from his personal life: first hissurprise marriageto Nazanin Afshin-Jam in January and then the couple'spregnancy announcementlater in the year.

Only 1 woman on list

Fellow cabinet ministers Jason Kenney and John Baird also hadsearch traffic rating them a Top 10 showing. But Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, an otherwise high-profile and seasoned performer for the Harper government, did not rate as high as his colleagues when it comes to online search engine traffic, despite 2012's heated budget debates and dire economic headlines.

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae, who ranked sixth, saw his early-year traffic drop off following his June announcement that hewould not run for the permanent leadershipof his party.

Trudeau's fellow leadership candidate Marc Garneau also cracked the Top 10, ranking eighth among Canadian politicians. However, Trudeau's searches outpacedGarneau's by aboutabout 6 to 1, Google's analysis says. Otherleadership rivals,such as Martha Hall Findlay and Joyce Murray, trail even further behind Trudeau.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, her party's only elected MP,is the onlyfemale politicianon this list. Her search traffic was highest during herspirited battle against the government's first omnibus budget legislationlast June.

Apart from the federal politicians, Google also noted the traffic of some high-profile names from provincial and municipal politics across Canada.

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark saw her search engine traffic spike after British business and media mogul Richard Branson invited her to try naked kitesurfing.

But Quebec Premier Pauline Marois's traffic outpaced Clark's by a ratio of5 to 2, buoyed by the debate around Quebec's fall election and theParti Qubcoisminority government victoryover longtime Liberal Premier Jean Charest.

While Harper's overall volume topped the list for the year, late in 2012 Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was giving him a good run as his political troubles dominated not just local butnational news headlines.

Rankingreflects 2012's top news stories

2012 is the first time Google's Year-End Zeitgeist ("spirit of the times") analysis hasincluded a Top 10list of Canadian politicians. It's a new way of looking at how Canadians are engaging with politics, Church says.

Googlehandles some 4.8 billion search queriesa month. This ranking is based ondata fromCanadian IP addresses searching on both google.com and google.ca, up to Dec. 6, 2012.

"It points to moments that have cut through the noise and clutter,"Church explains, suggesting the list is best seen as a way of identifying newsstories that caught people's attention and sparked a national conversation.

For other politicians aspiring to make the list in the future, Church, a former Liberal communications adviser, notes that it's a "pretty savvy strategy" to associate with people like Bieber.

Politicians linked withhigh-interest figuressuch as Kate Middleton, for example, can see their search volumes spike.

But it's not always a positive thing to turn up ona list of most-searched individuals.

"It can be a blessing or a curse," Church says. "It's a sign of great communications but it's also symptomatic of gaffes and mishaps that politicians don't want attention for."