You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news. As a Canadian, I couldn’t resist making today’s edition one that focused on several numbers about the Canadian election.
157 seats
The Liberal Party of Canada won 157 out of 338 seats in Monday’s federal election, giving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a minority government and requiring he work with other parties to obtain the 170 seats needed to pass legislation. [The Globe and Mail]
65.95 percent
Overall voter turnout fell to 66.0 percent, down from 68.5 percent during 2015’s federal election, when Trudeau won a Liberal majority. Longer hours and more advance polling stations helped the number of advance voters rise to 4.7 million, an increase of 29 percent and a new record. [Vice]
25 years old
As Canadian election results continued to trickle in on Tuesday morning, 25-year-old Mumilaaq Qaqqaq became one of the youngest people elected, representing the territory of Nunavut for the New Democrat Party (NDP). The political newcomer won by a wide margin, and aims to be a voice of the Inuit when she serves as a Member of Parliament, including advocating for solutions to the housing crisis in her territory. [CBC News]
1 Independent MP
Jody Wilson-Raybould, who served as the first Indigenous attorney general and justice minister before her dismissal from the Liberal caucus, defied the odds and was re-elected as an independent. Earlier this year, the former Liberal Member of Parliament testified that she experienced “inappropriate pressure” from the Prime Minister and several senior officials who pushed her to offer a major engineering firm a deferred prosecution agreement that would help the company avoid criminal charges for fraud and bribery. [Global News]
$1.7 billion parachute
The Wall Street Journal reports that WeWork CEO Adam Neumann might receive up to an eye-watering $1.7 billion to give SoftBank his voting rights to the commercial real estate and co-working company. The deal from the Japanese firm includes up to $970 million for Neumann’s shares, a $185 million consulting fee, and $500 million in credit for loan repayment. The deal would also give SoftBank control of the company, and WeWork a valuation of approximately $8 billion, a fraction of its perceived value at the beginning of this year. [Wall Street Journal]
5 top starting pitchers
This year’s World Series matchup between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros is notable for a lot of reasons, including five starting pitchers with a historic amount of talent. Sportswriter Travis Sawchik writes that both teams feature at least two “starting pitchers who produced 5 or more wins above replacement for the Series opponents during the regular season.” The last time the World Series had two teams with pitching at this level of talent was in 2001, when Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks faced off against Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina of the New York Yankees. [FiveThirtyEight]