By The Numbers: two niqabs, 700,000 homeowners and nine minutes of marijuana

The longest campaign in Canadian history continues, with numbers sprinkled throughout the headlines.

They don't call it the green room for nothing.- Barbara Kay

This week on Because News columnist Barbara Kay, writer Tom Howell and comedian Ashley Botting pulled out the ol' pad and pencil to crunch figures and make sense of the numbers jumping out from the campaign headlines.

A promise to create 700,000 new homeowners

Stephen Harper announced he wants to create 700,000 new homeowners by 2020, as part of a promise to expand the home buyers plan.

"What could be the worst that could happen if a bunch of people bought houses that they couldn't afford," said Howell.

Two people didn't take the Canadian citizenship oath because of niqab ban

Out of the 686,195 people that received Canadian citizenship since 2011, only two women didn't take the oath because of a policy that banned them from wearing a niqab.

That policy was later struck down by a federal court judge.

"Yeah, just two people, but we're talking about it a lot," said Botting.

"Most Canadians do want to see it banned in the public sector," said Kay.

"It's hard for me to tell people what choices they should make if they have no effect on the way I live my life," said Botting.

"This is a wedge issue, which is referred to in political science circles as a wedgie. I don't know if anyone feels like they've been experiencing a wedgie this week," said Howell.

A marijuana incident reported every nine minutes

According to CBC analysis, police report a marijuana incident every nine minutes, but some cities see more pot than others.

Of the list of 34 cities, the average number of charges was 79 per 100,000 residents in 2014.

At the top of the list was Kelowna, B.C., with 251 charges per 100,000 residents.

"I actually do think it is time to not only decriminalize but to legalize," said Kay.

"You're high right now aren't you?" asked host Gavin Crawford.

"Let me tell you, they don't call it the green room for nothing," said Kay.