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 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)
• 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