1978 in Canada
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| Years in Canada: | 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s |
| Years: | 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 |
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Canada |
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Events from the year 1978 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
Federal government
- Governor general – Jules Léger
- Prime minister – Pierre Trudeau
- Chief Justice – Bora Laskin (Ontario)
- Parliament – 30th
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
- Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Ralph Steinhauer
- Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Walter Stewart Owen (until May 18) then Henry Pybus Bell-Irving
- Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Francis Lawrence Jobin
- Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Hédard Robichaud
- Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Gordon Arnaud Winter
- Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Clarence Gosse (until December 23) then John Elvin Shaffner
- Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Pauline Mills McGibbon
- Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gordon Lockhart Bennett
- Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe (until April 27) then Jean-Pierre Côté
- Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – George Porteous (until February 6) then Irwin McIntosh (from February 22)
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
- Premier of Nova Scotia – Gerald Regan (until October 5) then John Buchanan
- Premier of Ontario – Bill Davis
- Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell (until September 18) then Bennett Campbell
- Premier of Quebec – René Lévesque
- Premier of Saskatchewan – Allan Blakeney
Territorial governments
Commissioners
- Commissioner of Yukon – Arthur MacDonald Pearson (until November 1) then Frank Fingland (interim)
- Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson
Premiers
- Premier of Yukon – Chris Pearson (from November 20)
Events
- January 24 – Cosmos 954, a Soviet satellite, breaks up over northern Canada.
- June 26 – An Air Canada DC-9 overruns a runway in Toronto. Two people die.
- August 4 – 41 are killed when a bus plunges into a lake near Eastman, Quebec.
- September 15 – The Sudbury Strike of 1978 begins.
- September 18 – Bennett Campbell becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Alexander B. Campbell
- October 5 – John MacLennan Buchanan becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Gerald Regan
- October 16 – At midnight after a year and a half of conciliation the Canadian Union of Postal Workers goes on strike.
- October 16 – Fifteen federal by-elections are held across the country. The governing Liberals lose five seats, which leads to a general election the following May.
- October 17 – Parliament votes to force the postal workers back to work.
- October 18 – Saskatchewan election: Allan Blakeney's NDP win a third consecutive majority
Full date unknown
- Supreme Court of Canada declares unilingual legislatures and courts unconstitutional
- Chris Pearson becomes government leader of Yukon as responsible government is instituted
- Under the new immigration act homosexuals are no longer an inadmissible class
- Via Rail is established
- Despite accusations of marital infidelity, Colin Thatcher, who would later be involved in the murder of his ex-wife, is re-elected to the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly.
Arts and literature
New works
- Margaret Atwood: Up in the Tree
- Mordecai Richler: The Great Comic Book Heroes and Other Essays
- John Newlove: The Fat Man: Selected Poems (1962–1972)
- John Gray and Eric Peterson: Billy Bishop Goes to War
- Henry Beissel: Goya
Awards
- Alice Munro's Who Do You Think You Are? is nominated for the Booker Prize
- See 1979 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
- Stephen Leacock Award: Ernest Buckler, Whirligig
- Vicky Metcalf Award: Lyn Cook
Sport
- March 19 – Alberta Golden Bears win their fourth University Cup by defeating the Toronto Varsity Blues 6–5. The final game was played at Moncton Coliseum
- May 13 – New Westminster Bruins win the second (consecutive) Memorial Cup by defeating the Peterborough Petes 7–4. The final game was played at Sudbury Community Arena
- May 22 – Winnipeg Jets win their second Avco Cup by defeating the New England Whalers 4 games to 0.
- May 25 – Montreal Canadiens win their 21st (third consecutive) Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins 4 games to 2. Winchester, Ontario's Larry Robinson was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
- July 15 – Commonwealth Stadium opens in Edmonton
- August 3 to 12 – The Commonwealth Games are held in Edmonton
- October 10 – Wayne Gretzky plays his first professional game for the Indianapolis Racers and would be traded to the Edmonton Oilers after 25 games
- November 18 – Queen's Golden Gaels win their second Vanier Cup by defeating the UBC Thunderbirds 16–3 in the 14th Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
- November 26 – Edmonton Eskimos win their fifth Grey Cup by defeating the Montreal Alouettes 20–13 in the 66th Grey Cup played at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Hamilton, Ontario's Angelo Santucci was named the game's Most Valuable Canadian
Births
January to March
- January 1 - Jean-Pierre Dumont, ice hockey player
- January 3 - Daryn Jones, comedian and television and radio personality
- January 6 - Nikki Einfeld, operatic soprano and actress
- January 27 - Pete Laforest, Canadian-American baseball player and manager
- February 20 - Andrea Moody, swimmer
- February 26 - Kyle Hamilton, rower, Olympic gold medallist and World Champion
- March 9 - Chris Phillips, ice hockey player
April to June
- April 6 - Thomas Herschmiller, rower, Olympic silver medallist and World Champion
- April 18 - Alexis Mazurin, comedian and radio personality (d.2005)
- April 26 - Tyler Labine, actor
- May 3 - Autumn Kelly the wife of Peter Phillips
- May 12 - Amy Sloan, actress
- May 15 - Dwayne De Rosario, soccer player
- May 15 - Caroline Dhavernas, actress
- June 2 - Shane Niemi, sprint athlete
- June 13 - Matt Bradley, ice hockey player
- June 14 - Steve Bégin, ice hockey player
- June 28 - Simon Larose, tennis player
July to December
- July 4 - Marie Luc Arpin, water polo player
- July 11 - Kathleen Edwards, singer-songwriter
- July 15 - Kim Buker, field hockey player
- July 22 - A. J. Cook, actress
- August 4 - Karine Legault, swimmer
- September 1 - Joe Stankevicius, rower and World Champion
- September 5 - Laura Bertram, actress
- September 6 - Amy Agulay, field hockey player
- September 7 - Matt Cooke, ice hockey player
- September 7 - Devon Sawa, actor
- September 17 - Shawn Horcoff, ice hockey player
- September 20 - Jason Bay, baseball player
- September 21 - Paulo Costanzo, actor
- September 22 - Steve Moore, ice hockey player
- October 17 - Erin Karpluk, actress
- November 2 - Nelly Furtado, singer-songwriter, record producer and actress
- November 16 - Steve Omischl, freestyle skier
- November 17 - Rachel McAdams, actress
- December 23 - Esthero, singer-songwriter
Deaths
- March 25 - Charles Alexander Best, politician (b.1931)
- March 31 - Charles Best, medical scientist, co-discoverer of insulin (b.1899)
- April 13 - Jack Chambers, artist and filmmaker (b.1931)
- July 18 - Claude P. Dettloff, photographer (b. 1899)
- September 9 - Jack L. Warner, studio mogul (b.1892)
- September 28 - Thane Campbell, jurist, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1895)
- October 23 - Joe Greene, politician (b.1920)
