1979 in Canada
Today, 1979 in Canada is a topic of great relevance and interest for society. Since its origins, 1979 in Canada has captured the attention of millions of people around the world, generating debates, discussions and reflections on its importance and impact on our lives. Whether due to its impact on culture, technology, politics or any other field, 1979 in Canada has managed to place itself at the center of media and social attention, becoming a fundamental piece in the construction of our present and future. In this article, we will explore different perspectives and approaches on 1979 in Canada, analyzing its evolution, its implications and its meaning today.
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Events from the year 1979 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
Federal government
- Governor General – Jules Léger (until January 22) then Edward Schreyer[2]
- 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
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[3]
- 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[4]
- 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
References
- ^ "Queen Elizabeth II | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- ^ Lentz, Harris M. (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-1-134-26490-2.
- ^ "Evangeline Lilly". BFI. Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
- ^ "Results". m2002.thecgf.com. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
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