1979 in Canada
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| Years in Canada: | 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s |
| Years: | 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 |
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Canada |
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Events from the year 1979 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
Federal government
- Governor general – Jules Léger (until January 22) then Edward Schreyer
- Prime minister – Pierre Trudeau (until June 4) then Joe Clark
- Chief Justice – Bora Laskin (Ontario)
- Parliament – 30th (until 26 March) then 31st (11 June-14 December)
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
- Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Ralph Steinhauer (until October 18) then Francis Charles Lynch-Staunton
- Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – 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 – John Elvin Shaffner
- Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Pauline Mills McGibbon
- Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gordon Lockhart Bennett
- Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Jean-Pierre Côté
- Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Irwin McIntosh
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
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 located 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
- 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 - Alberta Golden Bears won their Fifth (second consecutive) University Cup by defeating the Dalhousie Tigers 5-1 in Montreal
- May 13 - Peterborough Petes won 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 - Montreal Canadiens won their Twenty Second(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
- 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 won the First World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Champion
- September 8 - Vancouver Whitecaps won 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 - Acadia Axemen won 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 - Edmonton Eskimos won 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
Births
January to June
- 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 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 - Jeremy Wilcox, volleyball player
- March 15 - Azelia Liu, field hockey player
- April 4 - Roberto Luongo, ice hockey player
- April 17 - Eric Brewer, ice hockey player
- May 9 - Pierre Bouvier, singer
- May 10 - Dion Lavhey, Montreal Canadiens player
- May 11 - Erin Lang, singer-songwriter and guitarist
- June 1 - Craig Olejnik, actor
- June 3 - Pierre Poilievre, politician
- June 5 - Pete Wentz, musician
- June 24 - Fanny Létourneau, synchronized swimmer
- June 27 - Rebecca Jane Middleton, murder victim (d. 1996)
July to December
- July 2 - Joe Thornton, ice hockey player
- July 16 - Nathan Rogers, singer-songwriter
- August 3 - Evangeline Lilly, actress
- August 9 - Erin Chan, synchronized swimmer
- August 22 - Jennifer Finnigan, actress
- August 31 - Mark Johnston, swimmer
- September 15 - Patrick Marleau, ice hockey player
- September 15 - Brett Youngberg, volleyball player
- September 21 - Nathaniel Miller, water polo player
- October 7 - Aaron Ashmore, actor
- October 7 - Shawn Ashmore, actor
- October 13 - Ryan Malcolm, singer (Low Level Flight) and winner of Canadian Idol (season 1)
- November 14 - Randee Hermus, soccer player
- November 21 - Alex Tanguay, ice hockey player
- December 6 - Maxime Collin, child actor
- December 10 - Andrea Rushton, field hockey player
- December 27 - Pascale Dorcelus, weightlifter[1]
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 the Supreme Court of Canada (b.1895)
- December 19 - Donald Creighton, historian (b.1902)
