This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: – ···scholar·JSTOR(January 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
January 1 – Toronto and six other communities are merged to form a new megacity.[19]Mel Lastman was sworn in as its first mayor.[20] Three other Ontario cities were similarly merged on the same date in 2001.[21][22]
January 2 – Three separate avalanches in British Columbia kill a total of nine people.
January 5 – The Ice Storm of 1998, caused by El Niño, strikes southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting in widespread power failures, severe damage to forests, and a number of deaths.
January 6 – Alan Eagleson pleads guilty to fraud.
January 7 – The federal government formally apologizes for the past mistreatment of First Nations.
January 23 – The Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal announce plans to merge, which are later scuttled by the federal government.
February 6 – The Hudson's Bay Company takes over K-Mart Canada, folding it into its Zellers chain.
February 10 – Canadian National Railway merges with the Illinois Central.
February 13 – Three girls, all under 18 years of age, are found guilty in Victoria, British Columbia, of killing 14-year-old Reena Virk. Three others plead guilty of assault.
February 16 – The Supreme Court is asked to rule on the legality of Quebec separatism.
February 18 – Controversial plans to include a Holocaust memorial in the Canadian War Museum are scrapped.
February 24 – In the Finance Minister Paul Martin delivers a balanced budget.
March 2 – Daniel Johnson, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, announces his resignation.
March 6 – The Dionne Quintuplets are given money and an apology by the Ontario government.
March 6 – British Columbia doctors begin the first of a series of protests against funding shortages.
March 12 – Quebec and Newfoundland resolve the long-running Churchill Falls dispute.
March 12 – acquires MetLife to become Canada's second-largest insurance company.
March 23 – Senator Andy Thompson is forced to resign his Senate seat after not attending for two years.
March 27 – Jean Charest announces that he will seek the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party.
March 27 – The federal government agrees to compensate hepatitis C victims of tainted blood.
April to June[]
April 1 – Floods in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec force 2000 from their homes.
April 2 – In the final appeal of the Delwin Vriend case, the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down an Alberta Court of Appeal ruling that barred LGBT persons from protection under the province's human rights code.
April 3 – Members of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary are permitted side arms for the first time.
April 17 – Dafydd Rhys Williams flies aboard the Space ShuttleColumbia, becoming the first non-American to serve as medical officer.
April 17 – The Toronto Dominion Bank and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce announce plans to merge; however, the merger is later blocked by the government.
April 25 – The United States announces large tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.
April 26–28 – Prime Minister Chrétien pays an official visit to Cuba.
May 1 – Separatist David Levine is named head of the newly amalgamated Ottawa hospital sparking great controversy.
Early May – Wildfires burning in Alberta force the evacuation of a number of communities.
May 14 – Camille Thériault becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Raymond Frenette.
May 21 – The shuts down the B.C. coho fishery.
May 29 – The Supreme Court strikes down a ban on pre-election opinion polls.
June 9 – Three are killed in a gas explosion in Montreal, Quebec.
June 10 – One person is killed by an explosion at an Irving Oil refinery.
June 11 – Eleven are killed in a plane crash at Mirabel Airport.
June 24 – says that it will end clear cutting of old growth forests.
July 15 – The B.C. government and the Nisga'a First Nation sign a historic, and controversial, land claims agreement.
July to September[]
Canadian Coast Guard Ship Henry Hudson searches for Swissair Flight 111 debris following a crash off the coast of Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia.
July 20 – The Southam chain buys the Financial Post from Sun Media.
August – The Canadian dollar plunges all month.
August 11 – 8,000 people are evacuated as forest fires threaten Salmon Arm, British Columbia.
August 20 – The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec can not legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
August 28 – The dollar reaches 64.02 US cents.
September 2 – Pilots for Air Canada launch the first strike in company's history.
September 2 – Crash of Swissair Flight 111 off Peggys Cove in Nova Scotia.
September 3 – A three-week lockout begins in Ontario's Catholic school system.
September 22 – 20,000 protest Canada's new gun registry on Parliament Hill.
October to December[]
October 8 – Canada is elected to a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
October 14 – Canada's first diamond mine opens in the Northwest Territories.
October 27 – Conrad Black's National Post publishes its first issue.
November 14 – Former Prime Minister Joe Clark is selected as the new leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
Pat Lowther Award: Barbara Nickel, The Gladys Elegies
Stephen Leacock Award: Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version
Trillium Book Award English: André Alexis, Childhood and Alice Munro, The Love of a Good Woman
Trillium Book Award French: Daniel Poliquin, L'homme de paille and Stefan Psenak, Du chaos et de l'ordre des choses
Vicky Metcalf Award: Kit Pearson
Music[]
Shania Twain's Come on Over is one of the year's top selling albums in North America
Les Chansons en or by Céline Dion is released
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie by Alanis Morissette
Film[]
Titanic, directed by Canadian James Cameron, wins 11 Oscars.
Television[]
Canada's Sesame Street switches to showing exclusively Canadian content, renaming itself Sesame Park, as it no longer uses any American made segments from Sesame Street
Canadian children's television show Rolie Polie Olie debuts.
Dance[]
The French government names Karen Kain as an
Sport[]
February 7 – February 22 – Nagano Olympics Canada wins the fourth-most medals, but is embarrassed when their star-filled hockey team fails to win a medal.
February 12 – The Toronto Maple Leafs buy the Toronto Raptors
May 17 – Portland Winter Hawks won their Second Memorial Cup by defeating the Guelph Storm 4 to 3.
June 16 – Cranbrook, British Columbia's Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
November 22 – Calgary Stampeders won their Fifth Grey Cup by the defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 26 to 24 in the 86th Grey Cup played at Winnipeg Stadium. Vancouver's Vince Danielsen was awarded the game's Most Valuable Canadian
November 28 – Saskatchewan Huskies won their Third Vanier Cup by defeating the Concordia Stingers 24 to 17 in the 34th Vanier Cup played at Skydome in Toronto
Births[]
January 9 – Sean Day, Belgium-born ice hockey player
January 13 – Gabrielle Daleman, figure skater
February 3 – Michael McLeod, Canadian ice hockey player