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1979 in Canada
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April 2026
May 2020
1979
Events from the year 1979 in Canada.
Incumbents
1979 Canadian incumbents
Crown
Monarch – Elizabeth IIQueen Elizabeth II The Canadian Encyclopedia https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/queen-elizabeth-ii www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca 4 December 2022
Federal government
Governor General – Jules Léger (until January 22) then Edward SchreyerLentz Harris M. Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 4 February 2014 Routledge 978-1-134-26490-2 143–144 https://books.google.com/books?id=D6HKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA143 en
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 teamsthe Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Hartford Whalerssurvive 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)
Bryan Lee O'Malley, comic book writer and artist
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, actressEvangeline Lilly https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bd0fbf6ac https://web.archive.org/web/20190107145106/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bd0fbf6ac dead January 7, 2019 BFI 8 January 2022 en
August 9 – Erin Chan, synchronized swimmer
August 11 – Drew Nelson, actor and voice actor
August 12 – Cindy Klassen, speed skater
August 15 - Denise Oliver, voice actress
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, weightlifterResults http://m2002.thecgf.com/results/default.asp?ath=8559 m2002.thecgf.com 1 June 2020 28 September 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060928041525/http://m2002.thecgf.com/results/default.asp?ath=8559 dead
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
1979 in
Category:Years of the 20th century in Canada
Canada
Category:1979 in North America