1958 in Canada

Events from the year 1958 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

• Governor General – Vincent Massey
• Prime Minister – John Diefenbaker
• Chief Justice – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
• Parliament – 23rd (until 1 February) then 24th (from 12 May)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John J. Bowlen
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Frank Mackenzie Ross
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – John Stewart McDiarmid
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren (until June 5) then Joseph Leonard O'Brien
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Campbell Leonard Macpherson
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Alistair Fraser (until January 15) then Edward Chester Plow
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Keiller MacKay
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Thomas William Lemuel Prowse (until March 31) then Frederick Walter Hyndman
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Gaspard Fauteux (until February 14) then Onésime Gagnon
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – William John Patterson (until February 3) then Frank Lindsay Bastedo

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell (until June 30) then Dufferin Roblin
• Premier of New Brunswick – Hugh John Flemming
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
• Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alex Matheson
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Howard Collins
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Robert Gordon Robertson

Events

• January 16 – Louis St. Laurent is replaced by Lester B. Pearson as leader of the Liberal Party
• February 19–20 – Rt Hon Ellen Fairclough first woman to assume the duties of Prime Minister for two days during John Diefenbaker's absence from the country.
• March 25 – The Avro Arrow flies for the first time
• March 31 – John Diefenbaker leads the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to a massive election victory.
• April 5 – The Seymour Narrows is made more easily passable after Ripple Rock was destroyed in one of the largest planned non-nuclear explosions
• May 12 – The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• June 17 – The Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver collapses killing 18.
• June 30 – Duff Roblin sworn in as premier of Manitoba
• July 1 – Canada-wide television broadcasting starts
• July 1 – The Lost Villages in Ontario are permanently flooded as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway construction project.
• October 22 – Canada appoints, Margaret Meagher, the country's first female ambassador, to Israel.
• October 23 – The third Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 74.

Full date unknown

• Ellen Fairclough becomes Canada's first federal female cabinet minister.
• Department of Physical Education started at the University of Saskatchewan

Arts and literature

• July 16 – The Manitoba Theatre Centre opens.

New works

• John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society
• Farley Mowat's Coppermine Journey: An Account of a Great Adventure
• Antonine Maillet's first novel Pointe-aux-Coques

Awards

• See 1958 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Eric Nicol, Girdle Me A Globe

Film

• Morley Callaghan's Now That April's Here is made into a feature film
• Allan Dwan directs his last film Enchanted Island

Music

• Paul Anka has four hit singles and becomes one of the most popular singers in the world.

Television

Sport

• January 17 - The Canadian Football League is established with 9 teams (Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Rough Riders, Toronto Argonauts, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Edmonton Eskimos, Montreal Alouettes, Calgary Stampeders, and BC Lions)
• April 20 – Montreal Canadiens won their Tenth (and Third consecutive) Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins 4 games to 2.
• May 6 - Ottawa-Hull Canadiens won their Second (and only in Ottawa) Memorial Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Regina Pats 4 games to 2. The deciding Game 6 was played at Ottawa Auditorium
• November 29 – Winnipeg Blue Bombers won their Fourth Grey Cup by defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 35–28 in the 46th Grey Cup played at Empire Stadium in Vancouver

Births

January to June

• January 10 – Terrence Scammell, voice director and voice actor
• January 29 – Glen Cochrane, ice hockey player and scout
• February 15 – Peter Butler, long-distance runner
• February - Grant Bristow a CSIS asset with links to the Heritage Front white supremacist group
• February 23
• Norm Spencer, actor (d. 2020)
• Bob Stephen, Canadian football player (d. 2009)

• March 8 – Raymond Simard, politician
• March 30 – Maurice LaMarche, voice actor
• April 7 – Ted Nolan, ice hockey player and coach
• April 15 – Keith Acton, ice hockey player and coach
• April 17 – Laslo Babits, javelin thrower
• May 10 – Gaétan Boucher, speed skater and double Olympic gold medallist
• May 13 – Claire Backhouse-Sharpe, badminton player
• May 18 – Bob Chaperon, snooker and billiards player
• June 24 – Jean Charest, lawyer and politician, 29th Premier of Quebec

July to September

• July 1 – Tom Magee, powerlifter and strongman competitor
• July 12 – Tonya Williams, actress
• July 28 – Terry Fox, humanitarian, athlete and cancer treatment activist (d. 1981)
• August 6 – Lorne Saxberg, television journalist and news anchor (d. 2006)
• August 15 – Craig MacTavish, ice hockey player and coach
• August 17 – Kirk Stevens, snooker player
• August 19 – Darryl Sutter, ice hockey player and coach
• August 22
• Lyle Bauer, Canadian football player and executive (d. 2024)
• Colm Feore, American-born stage, film and television actor
• August 29 – Linda Staudt, long-distance runner
• September 7 – Peter Mettler, filmmaker
• September 8 – Stevie Vallance, actress, voice actress, stage performer, singer, casting director and voice director
• September 11 – Jeffrey A. Hutchings, fisheries scientist (d. 2022)
• September 14 – Rob McCall, ice dancer (d. 1991)
• September 16
• Diane Deans, politician (d. 2024)
• Jennifer Tilly, actress and poker player
• September 17 – Monte Solberg, politician and businessman
• September 28 – Angella Taylor-Issajenko, sprinter

October to December

• October 8 – Neile Graham, poet and scholar
• November 3 – Kevin Sorenson, politician
• November 6 – Kevin Doherty, judoka
• November 19 – Joe Jordan, politician
• December 10 – David Paul Grove, actor and voice actor
• December 12 – Lucie Guay, canoe racer
• December 24 – Lyse Doucet, journalist and broadcaster
• December 25 – Alannah Myles, singer-songwriter

Full date unknown

• John Colapinto, journalist, author and novelist
• Gordon Stewart Anderson, writer (d. 1991)

Deaths

January to June

• January 7 – Margaret Anglin, actress, director and producer (b. 1876)
• January 8 – John Duff, race car driver (b. 1895)
• January 16 – Charles Bélec, politician (b. 1872)
• April 1 – J. Arthur Ross, politician (b. 1893)
• May 12 – Lewis Stubbs, judge and politician (b. 1878)
• June 26 – George Orton, middle-distance runner and Olympic gold medallist, first Canadian to win an Olympic medal (b. 1873)

July to December

• July 21 – Joseph Oscar Lefebre Boulanger, politician and lawyer (b. 1888)
• September 2 – George Stewart Henry, politician and 10th Premier of Ontario (b. 1871)
• September 11
• Camillien Houde, politician and four-time mayor of Montreal (b. 1889)
• Robert W. Service, poet and writer (b. 1874)
• October 2 – Charles Avery Dunning, politician, Minister and university chancellor (b. 1885)
• November 10 – Billy Boucher, ice hockey player (b. 1899)
• December 12 – Albert Walsh, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1900)

See also

• 1958 in Canadian television
• List of Canadian films

References