1986 in Canada

Events from the year 1986 in Canada.

Incumbents

• Monarch - Elizabeth II
• Governor General - Jeanne Sauvé
• Prime Minister - Brian Mulroney
• Premier of Alberta - Don Getty
• Premier of British Columbia - Bill Bennett then Bill Vander Zalm
• Premier of Manitoba - Howard Pawley
• Premier of New Brunswick - Richard Hatfield
• Premier of Newfoundland - Brian Peckford
• Premier of Nova Scotia - John Buchanan
• Premier of Ontario - David Peterson
• Premier of Prince Edward Island - James Lee then Joe Ghiz
• Premier of Quebec - Robert Bourassa
• Premier of Saskatchewan - Grant Devine

See 1986 Canadian incumbents for more

Events

January to June

• January 22 - An investigation determines that a bomb caused the crash of Air India flight 182
• January 31 - The Canadian dollar hits an all time low of 70.2 U.S. cents on international money markets
• February 8 - Hinton train collision: 23 people are killed when a Via Rail train collides with a Canadian National Railway train near Hinton, Alberta
• May 1 - Shirley Carr becomes the first female head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees
• May 2
  • Joe Ghiz becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Lee
  • The 1986 World Exposition (Expo 86) in Vancouver opens.
• May 8 - Alberta election: Don Getty's PCs win a fifth consecutive majority, but a smaller majority than before
• May 9 - Roger Coles resigns as leader of Yukon Liberal Party and MLA for Tatchun after being arrested and charged with selling cocaine to an undercover police officer.
• May 25 - In Vancouver an attempt is made to assassinate Malkiat Singh Sidhu, a cabinet minister in the Indian state of Punjab
• June 14 - An accident involving the "Mindbender" roller coaster at West Edmonton Mall kills three people and seriously injures a fourth
• June 19 - The new Competition Act comes into force
• June 20 - Jean Drapeau resigns as mayor of Montreal

July to December

• August 5 - Canada adopts sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies
• August 6 - Bill Vander Zalm becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Bill Bennett
• August 11 - Tamil refugees are found drifting off the coast of Newfoundland
• September 16 - Elizabeth II augments the Coat of Arms of Saskatchewan with a crest and supporters
• September 30 - MPs elect the Speaker by secret ballot for the first time.
• October 6 - Canada receives a United Nations award for sheltering refugees
• October 20 - Saskatchewan election: Grant Devine's PCs win a second consecutive majority
• November 13 - The announcement that the film producer Claude Jutra was reported missing for over one week. He had started to suffer the first symptoms of the Alzheimer's disease.
• December 8 - The University of Toronto's John C. Polanyi shares the Nobel Prize for chemistry for the development of the chemical laser.

Full date unknown

• Negotiators begin work on what would eventually be the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement
• The birds series of Canadian banknotes is released
• Supreme Court rules on the RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd. case
• Conrad Black buys The Daily Telegraph
• Dinosaur fossils are found near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia

Arts and literature

New works

• Margaret Atwood - Freeforall
• W.P. Kinsella - The Fence Post Chronicles
• Robert Munsch - Love You Forever
• Alice Munro - The Progress of Love
• Antonine Maillet - Garrochés en paradis
• Hugh Hood - The Motor Boys in Ottawa
• William Gibson - Count Zero

Awards

• See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Wayne Johnson, The Story of Bobby O'Mally
• Gerald Lampert Award: Joan Fern Shaw, Raspberry Vinegar
• Marian Engel Award: Alice Munro
• Pat Lowther Award: Erin Mouré, Domestic Fuel
• Stephen Leacock Award: Joey Slinger, No Axe too Small to Grind
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Dennis Lee

New music

• Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan
• Neil Young - Landing on Water

New movies

• James Cameron's Aliens is released
• David Cronenberg's The Fly
• Denys Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire

Sport

• March 15 - In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium (England) Canada beats England 3 – 1.
• May 24 - In Calgary, the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup against the Calgary Flames.
• The Canadian Amateur Football Association is renamed Football Canada.

Births

• January 2 - Corrine Gustavson, rape and murder victim (d.1992)
• January 8 - Jaclyn Linetsky, actress (d.2003)
• January 20 - Krystina Alogbo, water polo player
• February 13 - Matthew Hawes, swimmer
• February 19 - Jayde Nicole, model
• April 4 - Cam Barker, ice hockey defenceman
• April 8 - Jevohn Shepherd, basketball player
• April 21 - Kevin Graham, water polo player
• April 28 - Brandon Jung, water polo player
• August 19 - Marie-Christine Schmidt, canoeist
• September 19 - Carrie Finlay, voice actor
• December 12 - Marie-Pier Beaudet, archer
• December 16 - Scott Tupper, field hockey player

Deaths

January to June

Dr. W.R. Franks

• January 4 - Wilbur R. Franks, scientist and inventor (b.1901)
• January 26 - Norman MacKenzie, author, lawyer, professor and Senator (b.1894)
• February 23 - Louis-Philippe Pigeon, judge of the Supreme Court of Canada (b.1905)
• February 24 - Tommy Douglas, politician and Premier of Saskatchewan (b.1904)
• February 27 - Jacques Plante, ice hockey player (b.1929)
• March 4 - Richard Manuel, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist (b.1943)
• March 4 - Elizabeth Smart, poet and novelist (b.1913)

July to December

• July 25 - Alison Parrott, murder victim (b.1974)
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, poet, writer and playwright (b.1923)
• November 5 - Claude Jutra, actor, film director and writer (b.1930)
• November 10 - King Clancy, ice hockey player (b.1903)
• November 19 - Don Jamieson, politician, diplomat and broadcaster (b.1921)
• December 31 - Donald Fleming, politician, International Monetary Fund official and lawyer (b.1905)