1888 in Canada

Years in Canada:	1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891
Centuries:	18th century · 19th century · 20th century
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
Years:	1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891

Events from the year 1888 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Head of state (monarch) – Queen Victoria (consort – Vacant)

Federal government

• Governor general – Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice (until June 11) then Frederick Stanley (viceregal consort – Maud Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne then Lady Constance Villiers)
• Prime minister – John A. Macdonald

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Hugh Nelson
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Cox Aikins (until July 1) then John Christian Schultz
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Samuel Leonard Tilley
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Matthew Henry Richey (until July 8) then Archibald McLelan
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Alexander Campbell
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Andrew Archibald Macdonald
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Auguste-Réal Angers

Premiers

• Premier of British Columbia – Alexander Edmund Batson Davie
• Premier of Manitoba – David Howard Harrison (until January 19) then Thomas Greenway
• Premier of New Brunswick – Andrew George Blair
• Premier of Nova Scotia – William Stevens Fielding
• Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – William Wilfred Sullivan
• Premier of Quebec – Honoré Mercier

Territorial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – James Cox Aikins (until July 1) then John Christian Schultz
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Edgar Dewdney (until July 1) then Joseph Royal

Premiers

• Chairman of the Lieutenant-Governor's Advisory Council of the North-West Territories – Robert Brett (from June 30)

Events

• January 19 - Thomas Greenway becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing David H. Harrison.
• June 20 - The Northwest Territories holds its first general election; 22 members of the Legislative Assembly are elected. All are independents; there are no party politics in the territories
• July 11 - Manitoba election

Full date unknown

• Boundary survey started by Dr. William H. Dall of the United States and Dr. George M. Dawson of Canada.

Arts and literature

New books

• Among the Millet: Archibald Lampman

Births

January to June

• January 18 - Charles Gavan Power, politician, Minister and Senator (d.1968)
• January 20 - Ethel Wilson, novelist and short story writer (d.1980)
• February 28 - George Pearkes, politician, soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross (d.1984)
• March 24 - Samuel Rosborough Balcom, politician (d.1981)
• April 6 - Leonard Brockington, lawyer, civil servant and first head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) (d.1966)
• April 8 - Dora Mavor Moore, actor, teacher and director (d.1979)
• April 23
  • Joseph Georges Bouchard, politician (d.1956)
  • Georges Vanier, soldier, diplomat and Governor General of Canada (d.1967)
• April 28 - Harry Crerar, General (d.1965)
• May 3 - Johan Helders, photographer

July to December

• July 11 - John Keiller MacKay, soldier, jurist and 19th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d.1970)
• August 3 - Margaret Murray, journalist
• September 2 - Dorothy Stevens, artist
• September 7 - William Bryce, politician
• September 15 - Filip Konowal, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient in 1917 (d.1959)
• September 18
  • Grey Owl, writer and conservationist (d.1938)
  • William Duncan Herridge, politician and diplomat (d.1961)
• October 23 - Onésime Gagnon, politician and the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d.1961)
• November 3 - Joseph Oscar Lefebre Boulanger, politician and lawyer (d.1958)
• November 11 - S. E. Rogers, politician (d.1965)
• November 25 - Joseph W. Noseworthy, politician (d.1956)
• December 2 - Major James Coldwell, politician (d.1974)

Deaths

• January 17 - Big Bear, Cree leader (b. c1825)
• February 4 - Sévère Rivard, lawyer, politician and 17th Mayor of Montreal (b.1834)
• March 2 - William Elliott, farmer, merchant and politician (b.1834)
• April 21 - Thomas White, journalist and politician (b.1830)
• May 3 - William Alexander Henry, politician (b.1816)
• May 12 - Élie Saint-Hilaire, educator, farmer and politician (b.1839)
• May 30 - James Ferrier, merchant, politician and 4th Mayor of Montreal (b.1800)
• August 4 - Charles-Joseph Coursol, lawyer, politician and 13th Mayor of Montreal (b.1819)
• August 24 - John Rose, politician (b.1820)
• October 1 - James Gibb Ross, merchant and politician (b.1819)