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Events from the year 1979 in Canada.
Incumbents
Main article: 1979 Canadian incumbentsCrown
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
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
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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