1968 in Canada

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Years in Canada: 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
Years: 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971

Events from the year 1968 in Canada.

Incumbents[]

Crown[]

  • MonarchElizabeth II

Federal government[]

  • Governor GeneralRoland Michener[1]
  • Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson (until April 20) then Pierre Trudeau
  • Chief JusticeJohn Robert Cartwright (Ontario)
  • Parliament27th (until April 23) then 28th (from September 12)

Provincial governments[]

Lieutenant governors[]

  • Lieutenant Governor of AlbertaGrant MacEwan
  • Lieutenant Governor of British ColumbiaGeorge Pearkes (until July 2) then John Robert Nicholson
  • Lieutenant Governor of ManitobaRichard Spink Bowles
  • Lieutenant Governor of New BrunswickJohn B. McNair (until January 31) then Wallace Samuel Bird
  • Lieutenant Governor of NewfoundlandFabian O'Dea
  • Lieutenant Governor of Nova ScotiaHenry Poole MacKeen (until July 22) then Victor de Bedia Oland
  • Lieutenant Governor of OntarioWilliam Earl Rowe (until July 4) then William Ross Macdonald
  • Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward IslandWillibald Joseph MacDonald
  • Lieutenant Governor of QuebecHugues Lapointe
  • Lieutenant Governor of SaskatchewanRobert Hanbidge

Premiers[]

  • Premier of AlbertaErnest Manning (until December 12) and then Harry Strom
  • Premier of British ColumbiaW.A.C. Bennett
  • Premier of ManitobaWalter Weir
  • Premier of New BrunswickLouis Robichaud
  • Premier of NewfoundlandJoey Smallwood
  • Premier of Nova ScotiaG.I. Smith
  • Premier of OntarioJohn Robarts
  • Premier of Prince Edward IslandAlexander B. Campbell
  • Premier of QuebecDaniel Johnson, Sr. (until September 26) and then Jean-Jacques Bertrand (from October 2)
  • Premier of SaskatchewanRoss Thatcher

Territorial governments[]

Commissioners[]

  • Commissioner of YukonJames Smith
  • Commissioner of Northwest TerritoriesStuart Milton Hodgson

Events[]

January to June[]

  • February 1 – The three branches of the Canadian Forces are merged into one, adopting a common green uniform and Army-derived ranks
  • February 20 – Prime Minister Pearson gives the first ever televised address to the nation as he tells Canadians that he will table a confidence motion the next day to prove his party still has control. After a week of filibustering by the Opposition, the motion passes.[2]
  • April 1 – The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is formed
  • April 6 – Pierre Trudeau wins 1968 Liberal Party leadership election[3]
  • May 14 – The grand opening of the Toronto-Dominion Centre is held
  • June 1 – The flag of Alberta is authorized
  • June 24 – Separatists riot in Montreal on St-Jean-Baptiste Day
  • June 25 – Federal election: Pierre Trudeau's Liberals win a majority

July to December[]

  • July 1 – The laws creating Canada's Medicare system come into effect
  • July 18–August 9 – Canada Post workers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers go on strike
  • August 20 – Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization. Thousands of refugees flee to Canada.
  • September 26 – Daniel Johnson, Sr, Premier of Quebec, dies in office
  • October 2 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand becomes premier of Quebec
  • October 15 – The Mouvement Souveraineté-Association merges with the Ralliement National to create the Parti Québécois, René Lévesque is selected as the party's first leader
  • December 12 – Harry Strom becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Ernest Manning
  • December 31 – Quebec's Legislative Assembly is renamed the National Assembly

Full date unknown[]

  • IMAX technique invented
  • Canada's new Divorce Act introduces no fault divorce
  • The Rochdale College experiment begins in Toronto

Arts and literature[]

New works[]

  • Alice MunroDance of the Happy Shades
  • Mordecai RichlerHunting Tigers Under Glass
  • Robert FulfordThis Was Expo
  • John NewloveBlack Night Window
  • Kildare DobbsReading the Time
  • Mordecai RichlerCocksure
  • Robert KroetschAlberta
  • Marian EngelNo Clouds of Glory
  • Gordon R. DicksonSoldier, Ask Not
  • Farley MowatThis Rock Within the Sea: A Heritage Lost

Poetry[]

  • Margaret AtwoodThe Animals in That Country
  • Mary Alice Downie and Barbara Robertson, editors, The Wind Has Wings, anthology of 77 Canadian poems for children (anthology)
  • Dennis Lee, editor, T. O. Now, anthology of 13 "apprentice poets living in Toronto" (anthology)
  • Joe Rosenblatt, Winter of the Luna Moon
  • Irving Layton, The Shattered Plinths, 60 new poems
  • Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems, 1956-1968
  • Al Purdy, Wild Grape Wine
  • Dorothy Livesay, The Documentaries, poems from the 1930s and 1940s, and including "Roots", a long poem

Awards[]

  • David Suzuki wins UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science writing
  • See 1968 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
  • Stephen Leacock Award: Max Ferguson, And Now...Here's Max
  • Vicky Metcalf Award:

Theatre[]

  • August 28 – Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-Sœurs premiers in Montreal.

Art[]

  • December 18 – Henry Moore donates hundreds of works to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Sport[]

  • March 10 - Alberta Golden Bears won their Second Memorial Cup be defeating the Loyola Warriors 5 to 4. The Final game was played at the Montreal Forum
  • May 11 - Montreal Canadiens won their Fifteenth Stanley Cup by defeating the St. Louis Blues 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at the Montreal Forum. Jean Beliveau wins his Second Conn Smythe Trophy
  • May 27 – Montreal Expos are established as Major League Baseball's First Canadian team.
  • November 22 - Queen's Golden Gaels won their First Vanier Cup by defeating the Waterloo Lutheran Golden Hawks by a score of 42–14 in the 4th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
  • November 29 - Ottawa Rough Riders won their Sixth Grey Cup defeated the Calgary Stampeders 24 to 21 in the 56th Grey Cup played at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto

Births[]

Shawn Graham in 2007

January to March[]

  • January 5 – Joé Juneau, ice hockey player
  • January 7 – Tara Croxford, field hockey player
  • January 13 – Pat Onstad, international soccer player
  • January 14 – Michael Meldrum, swimmer
  • January 28 – Sarah McLachlan, musician, singer and songwriter
  • February 1 – Mark Recchi, ice hockey player
  • February 9 – Joel Brough, field hockey player
  • February 22 – Shawn Graham, politician and 31st Premier of New Brunswick
  • February 27 – Matt Stairs, baseball player
  • March 17 – Patty Sullivan, television personality
  • March 30 – Celine Dion, singer, songwriter and actress[4]

April to June[]

  • April 18 – David Hewlett, actor who was born in the United Kingdom before emigrating to Canada
  • April 20 – Evan Solomon, writer, magazine publisher and television host
  • May 8 – Louise Stratten, actress and younger sister of the murdered actress Dorothy Stratten
  • May 12 – Jane Kerr, swimmer
  • May 14 – Mary DePiero, diver[5]
  • May 20 – William Irwin, boxer
  • May 30 – Jason Kenney, politician and Minister
  • June 1 – Jeff Hackett, ice hockey player and coach
  • June 7 – Macha Grenon, actress
  • June 10 – Susan Haskell, actress
  • June 16 – Lyne Poirier, judoka
  • June 27 – Pascale Bussières, actress
  • June 29 – Theoren Fleury, ice hockey player

July to September[]

  • July 2 – Mark Tewksbury, swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
  • July 11 – Michael Cram, actor and singer-songwriter
  • July 22 – Harry Taylor, swimmer
  • August 20 – Jody Holden, beach volleyball player
  • September 9 – Lisa Lougheed, singer and actress
  • September 19 – Shawn Doyle, actor
  • September 20 – Leah Pinsent, actress
  • September 22 – Lisa Alexander, synchronised swimmer
  • September 23 – Donna McGinnis, swimmer

October to December[]

  • October 2 – Sandy Goss, swimmer
  • October 2 – Glen Wesley, ice hockey player
  • October 26 – Tom Cavanagh, actor
  • November 1 – Andrea Nugent, swimmer
  • November 14 – Serge Postigo, actor
  • November 19 – Gord Fraser, road racing cyclist
  • November 25 – Jill Hennessy, actress and musician, and Jacqueline Hennessy, actress and journalist
  • December 2 – Darren Ward, swimmer
  • December 3 – Brendan Fraser, actor
  • December 10 – Caroline Wittrin, hammer thrower
  • December 17 – Paul Tracy, racing car driver

Deaths[]

Ernest Charles Drury
  • January 31 – George Arthur Brethen, politician (b.1877)
  • February 5 – Frances Loring, sculptor (b.1887)
  • February 13 – Portia White, singer (b.1911)
  • February 16 – Healey Willan, organist and composer (b.1880)
  • February 17 – Ernest Charles Drury, politician, writer and 8th Premier of Ontario (b.1878)
  • March 10 - William John Rose, historian
  • March 22 - Margaret Duley, Newfoundland author
  • April 29 – Aubin-Edmond Arsenault, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1870)
  • May 30 – Charles Gavan Power, politician, Minister and Senator (b.1888)
  • June 14 – John B. McNair, lawyer, politician, judge and 22nd Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1889)
  • August 1 – Maurice Spector, Chairman of the Communist Party of Canada (b.1898)
  • August 14 - Olivier Maurault, French-Canadian historian
  • August 21 – Germaine Guèvremont, French-Canadian writer (b.1893)[6]
  • September 26 – Daniel Johnson, Sr., politician and 20th Premier of Quebec (b.1915)
  • December 15 – Antonio Barrette, politician and 18th Premier of Quebec (b.1899)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Lentz, Harris M. (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-134-26490-2.
  2. ^ Idiot box channeling the Prime Ministers[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Pierre Elliott Trudeau." Prime Minister of Canada. August 26, 2013. Accessed April 8, 2015.
  4. ^ "Celine Dion | Biography, Songs, Awards, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Mary DEPIERO - Olympic Diving | Canada". International Olympic Committee. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  6. ^ Kuiper, Kathleen (1995). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield: Merriam-Webster. p. 498. ISBN 978-0-87779-042-6.
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