2. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government and the Governor General's decision to prorogue Parliament - Harper won a slightly improved minority government in October, was challenged by a potential Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition in December after issuing a poorly received economic update and then managed to get Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to prorogue Parliament until January.

3. Canada's ongoing mission in Afghanistan - In December, Canada's troop death toll in the war-torn country reached 103, after two IED explosions killed a total of six soldiers mere days apart.

4. New Brunswick crash kills seven teenaged basketball players - A coroner's inquest is scheduled to investigate why a van carrying a high school basketball team crossed the centre line on an icy highway and collided with an oncoming transport truck, killing seven players and the wife of the team's coach.

5. The nationwide Listeria outbreak - Twenty Canadians died and countless others were sickened after eating meat from Maple Leaf Foods that was tainted with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

6. The Julie Couillard affair - Scandal swirled around Couillard for much of the summer after she wore a low-cut dress to the swearing in of her boyfriend, ex-foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier, and then it was revealed she had once been married to a Quebec biker-gang member. She also revealed Bernier once left sensitive documents at her home.

7. Brenda Martin's Mexican legal woes - Canadian Brenda Martin was returned to Canada in May after spending two years in a Mexican prison on charges that she was involved in a former employer's Internet fraud scheme.

8. The deaths of four sealers near Cape Breton Island - Four sealers from Quebec's Iles de la Madeleine died when their vessel overturned while being towed by the coast guard through icy waters.

9. The beheading of a passenger on a Greyhound bus - Vince Li, the man accused of beheading fellow Greyhound bus passenger Tim McLean in July, is charged with second-degree murder and is set to stand trial in March 2009.

10. CTV News-led investigations into the potential heath effects of the chemical bisphenol A - In October, the Canadian government was the first in the world to ban the use of the controversial chemical, which has been linked to a variety of health problems from cancer to infertility, in products such as baby bottles.

Stephen Harper named The Canadian Press Newsmaker of 2008

By dint of sheer news volume, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was a heavyweight in 2008 - from a historic apology for the Canadian government's role in residential schools to an equally unprecedented constitutional end-run around a House of Commons bent on his political demise.

But Harper delivered the lion's share of the drama as well, making him the runaway choice as Newsmaker of the Year in the annual survey of news organizations by The Canadian Press.

"Love him or hate him, there is no doubt Stephen Harper generated his own headlines - and maybe his own demise when Parliament resumes," said Chris Green of CFCB Radio in Corner Brook, N.L.

The prime minister was picked by nearly half of the newspaper editors and broadcast news directors in this year's poll, taking 64 of 133 votes. The only other Canadian newsmaker to garner more than 10 votes was Harper's main political foe of 2008: now-former Liberal leader Stephane Dion, who was chosen by 35 editors.

Vote totals of newspaper editors and broadcast news directors that determined The Canadian Press Newsmaker of the Year for 2008: