Royal Wedding Trumps Arab Spring

The hearts and minds of Canadians determined the top news stories of 2011.

So we know that Jack Layton was voted Newsmaker of the Year by Canadians in the Canadian Press annual survey. But which events had people talking in 2011? News editors picked the strong, stable, Conservative majority as the top story nationally, with the NDP surge coming in a close second followed by the Stanley Cup riots, Slave Lake fires and the Occupy movement. Internationally, the number one news event on the minds of average Canadians was the death of Osama bin Laden back in May, which ended a ten-year-hunt for perhaps the most notorious villain in the world. Six other major events were ranked in order of importance to Canadians, including Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster (quite significant), the European Debt Crisis (roughly on par with Prince William’s wedding), the Arab Spring and Occupy protests (tied for triviality) and the News of the World scandal (not at all significant.)

Image courtesy of Reuters.