1968 in Canada

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Events from the year 1968 in Canada.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Roland Michener
• Prime Minister – Lester B. Pearson then Pierre Trudeau
• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning then Harry Strom
• Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Walter Weir
• Premier of New Brunswick – Louis Robichaud
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – George Smith
• Premier of Ontario – John Robarts
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell
• Premier of Quebec – Daniel Johnson, Sr. then Jean-Jacques Bertrand
• Premier of Saskatchewan – W. Ross Thatcher

Events

January to June

• February 1 – The three branches of the Canadian Forces are merged into one, adopting a common green uniform and Army-derived ranks
• February 20 – Prime Minister Pearson gives the first ever televised address to the nation as he tells Canadians that he will table a confidence motion the next day to prove his party still has control. After a week of filibustering by the Opposition, the motion passes.^[1]
• April 1 – The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is formed
• April 6 – Pierre Trudeau wins 1968 Liberal Party leadership election
• April 20 – Pierre Trudeau becomes prime minister, replacing Lester Pearson
• May 14 – The grand opening of the Toronto-Dominion Centre is held
• June 24 – Separatists riot in Montreal on St-Jean-Baptiste Day
• June 25 – Federal election: Pierre Trudeau's Liberals win a majority

July to December

• July 1 – The laws creating Canada's Medicare system come into effect
• July 18–August 9 – Canada Post workers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers go on strike
• August 20 – Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization. Thousands of refugees flee to Canada.
• September 26 – Daniel Johnson, Sr, Premier of Quebec, dies in office
• October 2 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand becomes premier of Quebec
• October 15 – The Mouvement Souveraineté-Association merges with the Ralliement National to create the Parti Québécois, René Lévesque is selected as the party's first leader
• December 12 – Harry Strom becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Ernest Manning
• December 31 – Quebec's Legislative Assembly is renamed the National Assembly

Full date unknown

• IMAX technique invented
• Canada's new Divorce Act introduces no fault divorce
• The Rochdale College experiment begins in Toronto

Arts and literature

New works

• Alice Munro – Dance of the Happy Shades
• Mordecai Richler – Hunting Tigers Under Glass
• Margaret Atwood – The Animals in That Country
• Robert Fulford – This Was Expo
• John Newlove – Black Night Window
• Kildare Dobbs – Reading the Time
• Mordecai Richler – Cocksure
• Robert Kroetsch – Alberta
• Marian Engel – No Clouds of Glory
• Gordon R. Dickson – Soldier, Ask Not
• Farley Mowat – This Rock Within the Sea: A Heritage Lost
• Harold Cardinal – The Unjust Society

Poetry

• Mary Alice Downie and Barbara Robertson, editors, The Wind Has Wings, anthology of 77 Canadian poems for children (anthology)
• Dennis Lee, editor, T. O. Now, anthology of 13 "apprentice poets living in Toronto" (anthology)
• Joe Rosenblatt, Winter of the Luna Moon
• Irving Layton, The Shattered Plinths, 60 new poems
• Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems, 1956-1968
• Alfred Purdy, Wild Grape Wine
• Dorothy Livesay, The Documentaries, poems from the 1930s and 1940s, and including "Roots", a long poem

Awards

• David Suzuki wins UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science writing
• See 1968 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Max Ferguson, And Now...Here's Max
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Lorraine McLaughlin

Theatre

• August 28 – Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-Sœurs premiers in Montreal.

Art

• December 18 – Henry Moore donates hundreds of works to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Sport

• May 27 – Montreal is awarded a Major League Baseball franchise that would eventually be the Montreal Expos.

Births

Shawn Graham in 2007

January to March

• January 5 – Joé Juneau, ice hockey player
• January 7 – Tara Croxford, field hockey player
• January 13 – Pat Onstad, international soccer player
• January 14 – Michael Meldrum, swimmer
• January 28 – Sarah McLachlan, musician, singer and songwriter
• February 1 – Mark Recchi, ice hockey player
• February 9 – Joel Brough, field hockey player
• February 22 – Shawn Graham, politician and 31st Premier of New Brunswick
• February 27 – Matt Stairs, baseball player
• March 17 – Patty Sullivan, television personality
• March 30 – Celine Dion, singer, songwriter and actress

April to June

• April 18 – David Hewlett, actor
• May 8 – Louise Stratten, actress and younger sister of the murdered actress Dorothy Stratten
• May 12 – Jane Kerr, swimmer
• May 20 – William Irwin, boxer
• May 30 – Jason Kenney, politician and Minister
• June 7 - Macha Grenon, actress
• June 10 – Susan Haskell, actress
• June 16 – Lyne Poirier, judoka
• June 27 – Pascale Bussières, actress
• June 29 – Theoren Fleury, ice hockey player

July to September

• July 2 – Mark Tewksbury, swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
• July 11 – Michael Cram, actor and singer-songwriter
• July 22 – Harry Taylor, swimmer
• August 20 – Jody Holden, beach volleyball player
• September 20 – Leah Pinsent, actress
• September 23 – Donna McGinnis, swimmer

October to December

• October 2 – Sandy Goss, swimmer
• October 2 – Glen Wesley, ice hockey player
• October 26 – Tom Cavanagh, actor
• November 1 – Andrea Nugent, swimmer
• November 19 – Gord Fraser, road racing cyclist
• November 25 – Jill Hennessy, actress and musician
• December 2 – Darren Ward, swimmer
• December 3 – Brendan Fraser, actor
• December 10 – Caroline Wittrin, hammer thrower
• December 17 – Paul Tracy, racing car driver

Full date unknown

• Evan Solomon, writer, magazine publisher and television host

Deaths

Ernest Charles Drury

• January 31 – George Arthur Brethen, politician (b.1877)
• February 5 – Frances Loring, sculptor (b.1887)
• February 13 – Portia White, singer (b.1911)
• February 16 – Healey Willan, organist and composer (b.1880)
• February 17 – Ernest Charles Drury, politician, writer and 8th Premier of Ontario (b.1878)
• April 29 – Aubin-Edmond Arsenault, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1870)
• May 30 – Charles Gavan Power, politician, Minister and Senator (b.1888)
• June 14 – John B. McNair, lawyer, politician, judge and 22nd Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1889)
• August 1 – Maurice Spector, Chairman of the Communist Party of Canada (b.1898)
• September 26 – Daniel Johnson, Sr., politician and 20th Premier of Quebec (b.1915)
• December 15 – Antonio Barrette, politician and 18th Premier of Quebec (b.1899)

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References

1. ^ Idiot box channeling the Prime Ministers