1979 in Canada


1979 in Canada


Events from the year 1979 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

  • Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

  • Governor General – Jules Léger (until January 22) then Edward Schreyer
  • Prime Minister – Pierre Trudeau (until June 4) then Joe Clark
  • Chief Justice of Canada – Bora Laskin (Ontario)
  • Parliament – 30th (until 26 March) then 31st (11 June–14 December)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

  • Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Ralph Steinhauer (until October 18) then Francis Charles Lynch-Staunton
  • Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Henry Pybus Bell-Irving
  • Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Francis Lawrence Jobin
  • Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Hédard Robichaud
  • Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Gordon Arnaud Winter
  • Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – John Elvin Shaffner
  • Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Pauline Mills McGibbon
  • Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gordon Lockhart Bennett
  • Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Jean-Pierre Côté
  • Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Irwin McIntosh

Premiers

  • Premier of Alberta – Peter Lougheed
  • Premier of British Columbia – Bill Bennett
  • Premier of Manitoba – Sterling Lyon
  • Premier of New Brunswick – Richard Hatfield
  • Premier of Newfoundland – Frank Moores (until March 26) then Brian Peckford
  • Premier of Nova Scotia – John Buchanan
  • Premier of Ontario – Bill Davis
  • Premier of Prince Edward Island – Bennett Campbell (until May 3) then Angus MacLean
  • Premier of Quebec – René Lévesque
  • Premier of Saskatchewan – Allan Blakeney

Territorial governments

Commissioners

  • Commissioner of Yukon – Frank Fingland (interim) (until January 20) then Ione Christensen (January 29 to October 6) then Douglas Bell
  • Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson (until April 15) then John Havelock Parker

Premiers

  • Premier of Yukon – Chris Pearson

Events

January to June

  • January 17 - Edward Richard Schreyer replaces Jules Léger as Governor General
  • February 1 - The first Winterlude is held in Ottawa
  • February 24 - An explosion rips through Number 26 Colliery in Glace Bay, Cape Breton, killing 12 men.
  • February 26 a total solar eclipse take place in the USA And Canada
  • March 14 - Alberta election: Peter Lougheed's PCs win a third consecutive majority
  • March 26 - Brian Peckford becomes premier of Newfoundland, replacing Frank Moores
  • May 3 - Angus MacLean becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Bennett Campbell
  • May 22 - Canadians go to the polls in the federal election. They defeat Pierre Trudeau's Liberals and elect Joe Clark's PCs, but only with a minority
  • June 4
    • Joe Clark becomes Canada's sixteenth, and youngest ever, prime minister.
    • Flora MacDonald becomes Canada's first female Secretary of State for External Affairs.
  • June 7 - The Sudbury Strike of 1978 ends after nine months.

July to December

  • September 5 – Canada's first gold bullion coin goes on sale
  • October 29 – Port-Harrison, Quebec, is renamed to Inukjuak
  • November 10 – The 1979 Mississauga train derailment causes the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people
  • December 13 – Supreme Court declares Quebec and Manitoba's provincial legislatures to be unconstitutional because of their use of only one language.
  • December 13 – The government is defeated on a non-confidence motion and Prime Minister Clark calls an election
  • December 31 – A fire at Le Club Opemiska in Chapais, Quebec, kills 48 at a New Year's Eve party.

Full date unknown

  • Chris Haney and Scott Abbott invent Trivial Pursuit
  • Petro-Canada buys U.S.-controlled Pacific Petroleums
  • The first women enroll in Canadian military colleges
  • Founding of Academy of Canadian Cinema

Arts and literature

New works

  • Irving Layton: The Tightrope Dancer
  • Margaret Atwood: Life Before Man
  • Steve McCaffery: Intimate Distortions
  • Roch Carrier: Les enfants du bonhomme dans la lune
  • Joy Fielding: Trance
  • Gabrielle Roy: Courte-Queue
  • Gordon R. Dickson: The Spirit of Dorsai
  • Farley Mowat: And No Birds Sang

Awards

  • Antonine Maillet wins the French Prix Goncourt for her novel Pélagie-la-Charette
  • See 1979 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
  • Stephen Leacock Award - Sondra Gotlieb, True Confessions
  • Vicky Metcalf Award - Cliff Faulknor

Television

  • Lorne Michaels starts Broadway Video, a company that would go on to produce shows like The Kids in the Hall and Saturday Night Live
  • You Can't Do That On Television premiers

Sport

  • March 18 – The Alberta Golden Bears win their fifth (second consecutive) University Cup by defeating the Dalhousie Tigers 5–1 in Montreal
  • May 13 – The Peterborough Petes win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Brandon Wheat Kings 2 to 1. The final game was played at Palais des Sports in Sherbrooke, Quebec
  • May 21 – The Montreal Canadiens win their 22nd (fourth consecutive) Stanley Cup by defeating the New York Rangers 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at the Montreal Forum. Peterborough, Ontario's Bob Gainey was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
  • June 22 – The World Hockey Association folds. Four teams – the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Hartford Whalers – survive and move to the NHL.
  • September 1 – Pat Patterson wins the first World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Champion
  • September 8 – The Vancouver Whitecaps win their only Soccer Bowl by defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2–1 at Soccer Bowl '79 played Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
  • November 17 – The Acadia Axemen win their first Vanier Cup by defeating the Western Ontario Mustangs 34–12 in the 15th Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
  • November 25 – The Edmonton Eskimos win their sixth (second consecutive) Grey Cup by defeating the Montreal Alouettes by the score 17 to 9 in the 67th Grey Cup played at Olympic Stadium at Montreal. Vancouver's Don Sweet is awarded his third Most Valuable Canadian award

Births

January to June

  • January 2 - Jagmeet Singh, Canadian politician, leader of the New Democratic Party
  • January 8 - Sarah Polley, actress, singer, film director and screenwriter
  • January 9 - Jenny Johnson, field hockey player
  • January 14 - Nick Boynton, ice hockey player
  • January 24 - Tom Kostopoulos, ice hockey player
  • February 1 – Rachelle Lefevre, actress
  • February 8 - Adam Trupish, boxer
  • February 11 - Eric Cyr, baseball player
  • February 15 - Ohenewa Akuffo, freestyle wrestler
  • February 21 - Andre Noble, actor (d. 2004)
  • February 22
    • Patrick Merrill, lacrosse player
    • Jeremy Wilcox, volleyball player
  • February 23 – Maryke Hendrikse, voice actress
  • March 5 - Érik Bédard, pitcher
  • March 7 - Stephanie Anne Mills, voice actress
  • March 15 - Azelia Liu, field hockey player
  • April 2 - Lindy Booth, actress
  • April 4 - Roberto Luongo, ice hockey player
  • April 11 - Sebastien Grainger, ice hockey player
  • April 17 - Eric Brewer, ice hockey player
  • May 2 - Jason Chimera, ice hockey player
  • May 6 - Jon Montgomery, Canadian former skeleton racer and television personality; host of The Amazing Race Canada
  • May 9 - Pierre Bouvier, singer
  • May 10 - Dion Lavhey, Montreal Canadiens player
  • May 11 - Erin Lang, singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • May 12 - Adrian Serioux, soccer player
  • May 20 - Andrew Scheer, politician
  • June 1 - Craig Olejnik, actor
  • June 3 - Pierre Poilievre, politician
  • June 5 - Pete Wentz, musician
  • June 8 - Pete Orr, baseball player
  • June 18 - Chris Neil, ice hockey player
  • June 24 - Fanny Létourneau, synchronized swimmer
  • June 26 - Julia Benson, voice actress
  • June 27 - Rebecca Jane Middleton, murder victim (d. 1996)
  • June 30 - Christopher Jacot, film, television and voice actor

July to December

  • July 2 - Joe Thornton, ice hockey player
  • July 4 - Mark Twitchell, filmmaker and murderer
  • July 7 - Shane Yellowbird, musician (d. 2022)
  • July 13 - Holly Gauthier-Frankel, actress, voice director
  • July 16 - Nathan Rogers, singer-songwriter
  • August 3 - Evangeline Lilly, actress
  • August 9 - Erin Chan, synchronized swimmer
  • August 11 - Drew Nelson, actor and voice actor
  • August 12 - Cindy Klassen, speed skater
  • August 22 - Jennifer Finnigan, actress
  • August 31 - Mark Johnston, swimmer
  • September 5 - Stacey Dales, basketball player and sportscaster
  • September 15
    • Patrick Marleau, ice hockey player
    • Brett Youngberg, volleyball player
  • September 17 - Chuck Comeau, drummer
  • September 21 - Nathaniel Miller, water polo player
  • October 7
    • Aaron Ashmore, actor
    • Shawn Ashmore, actor
  • October 13 - Ryan Malcolm, singer (Low Level Flight) and winner of Canadian Idol
  • November 14 - Randee Hermus, soccer player
  • November 21 - Alex Tanguay, ice hockey player
  • November 28 - Jamie Korab, curler
  • November 30 - Diego Klattenhoff, Actor
  • December 3 - Rainbow Sun Francks, actor and singer
  • December 6 - Maxime Collin, child actor
  • December 7 - Eric Bauza, comedian and voice actor
  • December 10 - Andrea Rushton, field hockey player
  • December 15 - Eric Young, professional wrestler
  • December 27 - Pascale Dorcelus, weightlifter
  • December 28 - Bree Williamson, actress

Deaths

  • February 23 - W. A. C. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia (b. 1900)
  • March 26 - Lionel Bertrand, politician, journalist and newspaper editor (b. 1906)
  • May 9 - Cyrus S. Eaton, investment banker, businessman and philanthropist (b. 1883)
  • May 15 - Dora Mavor Moore, actor, teacher and director (b. 1888)
  • May 29 - Mary Pickford, actress and studio co-founder (b. 1892)
  • July 11 - Claude Wagner, judge and politician (b. 1925)
  • August 16 - John Diefenbaker, politician and 13th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1895)
  • September 28 - John Herbert Chapman, scientist and space researcher (b. 1921)
  • November 24 - John Robert Cartwright, jurist and Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1895)
  • December 19 - Donald Creighton, historian (b. 1902)

See also

  • 1979 in Canadian television
  • List of Canadian films of 1979

References


Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: 1979 in Canada by Wikipedia (Historical)



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