The U.S. election and Hurricane Sandy are No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in a CBCNews.ca poll of readers who were asked to choose the top stories of 2012.

As of 10 a.m. ET, there were more than 9,400 votes of which, approximately:

  • 29 per cent had chosen the U.S. election.
  • 23 per cent selected Sandy.
  • 13 per cent picked the Quebec corruption scandal.

The survey was created prior to the horrific massacre on Dec. 14 in Newton, Conn., where 20 children and six school employees were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, attacked students and staff at the school, and then killed himself. Police don't know what set off the rampage.

In an often polarizing campaign, the U.S. election on Nov. 6 put Barack Obama back in office, with the incumbent president garnering 51 per cent of the vote and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, getting 48 per cent.

Hurricane Sandy slammed into the U.S. east coast, costing billions of dollars in damage. The storm left at least 121 people dead in the U.S., with 43 of those deaths in New York City. Another 67 were killed in the Caribbean and two people died in Canada.

U.S. President Barack Obama celebrates his re-election on Nov. 6.U.S. President Barack Obama celebrates his re-election on Nov. 6. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Insurers predict it could be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. New York State officials said in November they would need about $40 billion US for reconstruction.

Quebec’s anti-corruption squad uncovered widespread corruption in the province’s construction industry.

An inquiry, the Charbonneau Commission, heard weeks of bombshell-laden testimony in the fall. Construction bosses described a cartel-like structure and the threats against those who defied it; crooked City of Montreal employees; and a former political staffer whose testimony ended the Montreal mayor's career.

Longtime mayors Gerald Tremblay in Montreal and Gilles Vaillancourt in Laval called it quits.

Rounding out the top five in the survey were the suicide of bullied teen Amanda Todd and the manhunt for alleged killer Luka Magnotta. The Toronto-born man is charged with first-degree murder in the killing and dismemberment of a Concordia University student in a case that drew international attention. Magnotta has pleaded not guilty.

An international manhunt for Magnotta last spring ended with his apprehension at an internet café in Berlin on June 4.