1979 in Canada

Decades:	1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s;
See also:	History of Canada; Timeline of Canadian history; List of years in Canada;

Events from the year 1979 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

Monarch – Elizabeth II^[1]

Federal government

Governor General – Jules Léger (until January 22) then Edward Schreyer^[2]
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

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 teams – the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Hartford Whalers – survive 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^[3]
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^[4]
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)

References

^ "Queen Elizabeth II | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
^ Lentz, Harris M. (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-1-134-26490-2.
^ "Evangeline Lilly". BFI. Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
^ "Results". m2002.thecgf.com. Retrieved 1 June 2020.

[1] "Queen Elizabeth II | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.

[2] Lentz, Harris M. (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-1-134-26490-2.

[3] "Evangeline Lilly". BFI. Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2022.

[4] "Results". m2002.thecgf.com. Retrieved 1 June 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

1979 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

Federal government

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

Premiers

Territorial governments

Commissioners

Premiers

Events

January to June

July to December

Full date unknown

Arts and literature

New works

Awards

Television

Sport

Births

January to June

July to December

Deaths

See also

References