Candidates are knocking on doors and barking promises in two provincial election campaigns, one in Prince Edward Island, the other in Ontario.

A single Ontario MPP can represent the equivalent of the Island's entire population.

It gave us pause to think about comparing the county's largest province, with its smallest.

Here’s a snapshot.

Legislature at time election call	PC 56, Liberal 36, NDP 9, Independent 1, Vacant 1	Conservative 26, Liberal 1
Number of eligible voters during last election	7,598,407	97,180
Average number of voters per riding/district	73,771	3,485
Number of students in the capital's public school board	300,000	14,955
Hours to drive across the province west to east, at 100 km/h.	21 hours, 15 minutes	2 hours, 45 minutes (if you don’t get caught)
Polling stations	22,972	296
Unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted for July 2003, as a per cent	7.1	10.4
Number of voters to number of Tim Hortons, expressed as a ratio	6,035:1	5,534:1
Potato production for 2002, in tonnes	315,900	1,310,500
Number of nurses parties promise to hire	8,000 (Liberal and PC)	200 Liberals 80 Conservatives
Number of registered nurses working in the province	83,123 (in 2002)	1,450 (in 2003)
Number of homicides in 2001	170	2
Years of Conservative government to years of Liberal government during the last 100 years, expressed as a ratio.	5 : 1	1 : 1.86
Number of Conservative premiers to number of Liberal premiers during the last 100 years.	12 : 5	9 : 15
Total number of candidates	522	78
Independent & fringe party candidates	213	0
Length of campaign	30 days	26 days
Age of youngest key leader running	48	29
Number of campaign buses used by the leaders	3 (although the Liberals added another for the homestretch, bringing the total to 4)	0
Number of campaign bikes used by the leaders	1 (Green)	0
Preferred airplane of leaders	Dash 7	Dodge minivan
Number of attack ads	2 (both PC ads)	0
Harshest description of opposition	"evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet" (Tories to Liberal leader)	"misguided"
Voter turnout in last election	58.3%	84.86%
Salary for legislative member	$85,240	$35,967 taxable, $11,250 non taxable expenses
Cabinet minister salary	Basic plus $32,997	Basic plus $41,585
Premier's salary	Basic plus $61,860	Basic plus $58,875