2008 in Canada
| Years in Canada: | 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 |
| Centuries: | 20th century · 21st century · 22nd century |
| Decades: | 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s |
| Years: | 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 |
Incumbents
Events
January
- January 3: In Montreal, a false bomb threat forces the closing of Victoria Bridge for four and a half hours.
- January 12: A road accident near Bathurst, New Brunswick leaves eight people dead, including seven teenagers and one woman. They were all members of the Bathurst High School basketball team.
- January 15: Europol Operation Koala arrests 9 Canadians in connection to an international paedophile ring.
- January 28: CTV's Canada AM adds a second hosting team in western Canada, expanding the program to six hours and becoming the first morning television program in North America to air live in all time zones.
February
- February 11: The first of three treatment facilities open in Halifax Regional Municipality a $400 million project to clean up the Halifax Harbour
- February 13: An explosion occurs at a Taco del Mar on Broadway Street in Vancouver.
- February 20: A large fire in Toronto, ON destroyed several buildings on the south side of Queen Street West, between Bathurst and Portland Streets. [1]
- February: Chief of the Defence Staff (Canada) General Rick Hillier's term is set to end.
March
- March: The Apple iPhone is expected to be released on Rogers Wireless service provider.
- March 3: 28th Genie Awards
- March 3: Alberta general election, 2008
- March 17: Federal by-elections in Toronto Centre, Willowdale, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River and Vancouver Quadra.
- March 28: The start of the 2008 Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt
April
- April 5: The Quebec City Armoury burns down.
- April 6: The Juno Awards of 2008 was held.
- April 26: The Toronto Transit Commission's union, the ATU Local 113 voted against a contract causing mayhem throughout the city as they gave only an hour's notice to Torontonians. Strike ended the day after when they were forced back to work through legislation. It also revived the debate as to whether the TTC is an essential service or not.
May
June
jenny morris bday
July
August
September
October
December
Arts and literature
Books
Literary awards
- Paul Quarrington's 1987 novel King Leary wins the 2008 edition of Canada Reads.
Albums
- The Awkward Stage, Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights
- Cadence Weapon, Afterparty Babies
- Jason Collett, Here's to Being Here
- Constantines, Kensington Heights
- Destroyer, Trouble in Dreams
- Luke Doucet, Blood's Too Rich
- Great Big Sea, Fortune's Favour
- Hayden, In Field & Town
- Hello, Blue Roses, The Portrait is Finished and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty...
- Alanis Morrisette, Flavors of Entanglement
- Tokyo Police Club, Elephant Shell
- Wolf Parade, At Mount Zoomer
- Hawksley Workman, Between the Beautifuls
Sports
- January 16-20: 2008 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
- Men's medalists: Patrick Chan, Gold; Jeffrey Buttle, Silver; Shawn Sawyer, Bronze.
- Women's medalists: Joannie Rochette, Gold; Mira Leung, Silver; Cynthia Phaneuf, Bronze.
- Pairs' medalists: Anabelle Langlois / Cody Hay, Gold; Jessica Dubé / Bryce Davison, Silver; Meagan Duhamel / Craig Buntin, Bronze.
- Dance medalists: Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir, Gold; Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje, Silver; Allie Hann-McCurdy / Michael Coreno, Bronze.
- February 11–17: 2008 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
- Jeffrey Buttle won the silver medal in the men's singles division.
- Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold metal in Ice Dance.
- Joannie Rochette won the silver medal in the woman's singles division.
- March 17-23: 2008 World Figure Skating Championships
- 19 March: Jessica Dube/Bryce Davison won the bronze medal in pairs.
- 21 March: Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir won the silver medal in Ice Dancing.
- 22 March: Jeffrey Buttle won the gold medal and became World Champion in Men's singles.
- 22 March to 30 March: The 2008 World Women's Curling Championship was held at the Wesbild Centre in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Jennifer Jones' rink from Canada won the gold medal and became World Champions.
- 4 April to 14 April: The 2008 World Men's Curling Championship was held at at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota in the USA. Kevin Martin's rink from Canada won the gold medal and became World Champions.
- 30 April: 2008 CFL Draft: Moose Jaw native and Saskatchewan Huskies Canadian football player Dylan Barker is chosen first-overall by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
- July 19 - August 3 - 2008 Rogers Cup Canada Masters Tennis Tournament : Men event held in Toronto, women event held in Montréal.
Births
Deaths
January
- January 3 - Milt Dunnell, sportswriter
- January 4 - Mort Garson, composer
- January 10 - Allan McEachern, lawyer, judge and university chancellor
- January 19 - Don Wittman, CBC sportscaster [2]
- January 21 - Pam Barrett, former Alberta MLA and former leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party
February
- February 2 - Barry Morse, actor
- February 15 - Willie P. Bennett, folk singer-songwriter
- February 16 - Harry Flemming, journalist
- February 17 - Bill Juzda, hockey player
- February 17 - Val Ross, writer and journalist
- February 18 - Mickey Renaud, junior ice hockey captain
- February 23 - Denis Lazure, former Quebec MNA
- February 28 - Milt Harradence, lawyer, judge, former leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives
March
- March 2 - Jeff Healey, rock and blues guitarist
- March 9 - Simon Reisman, civil servant and chief negotiator of the original Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement