1976 in Canada

Events from the year 1976 in Canada.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor General: Jules Léger
• Prime Minister: Pierre Trudeau
• Premier of Alberta: Peter Lougheed
• Premier of British Columbia: W.R. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba: Edward Schreyer
• Premier of New Brunswick: Richard Hatfield
• Premier of Newfoundland: Frank Moores
• Premier of Nova Scotia: Gerald Regan
• Premier of Ontario: Bill Davis
• Premier of Prince Edward Island: Alexander B. Campbell
• Premier of Quebec: Robert Bourassa then René Lévesque
• Premier of Saskatchewan: Allan Blakeney

Events

Toronto's CN Tower opens to the public

• January 14 - The Eaton's catalogue is discontinued.
• January 28 - The government of Saskatchewan takes over the province's potash industry.
• February 4 - The Supreme Court rules provinces cannot censor movies.
• February 7 - Joe Clark is elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada replacing Robert Stanfield.
• April 1 - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is given the power to regulate Canadian television and radio.
• April 15 - Dome Petroleum is given approval to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea.
• May 2 - Time's Canadian edition is discontinued.
• June 25 - The CN Tower opens to the public in Toronto.
• June 30 - Parliament votes to abolish the death penalty.
• October 14 - Over a million workers stage a one day strike to protest wage and price controls.
• November 15 - In the Quebec election, René Lévesque's Parti Québécois wins a majority, defeating Robert Bourassa's Parti libéral du Québec.
• November 25 - René Lévesque becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Robert Bourassa.

Full date unknown

• The Timbit is introduced.
• L'Express de Toronto is created

Arts and literature

New works

• Marian Engel: Bear
• Hugh Hood: Dark Glasses
• Joy Fielding: The Transformation
• Farley Mowat: Canada North Now: The Great Betrayal

Awards

• See 1976 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Harry J. Boyle, The Luck of the Irish
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Suzanne Martel

Film

• The Man Who Skied Down Everest becomes the first Canadian film to win an Academy Award

Television

• Second City Television premiers

Sport

• February 7 - Toronto Maple Leafs star Darryl Sittler scores ten points in one game.
• July 17 - The 1976 Summer Olympics open in Montreal.

Births

January to March

• January 7 - Éric Gagné, baseball player
• January 23 - Phillip Boudreault, boxer
• February 19 - Brian Price, coxswain, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion
• February 23 - Jeff O'Neill, ice hockey player
• March 9 - Ben Mulroney, television host
• March 23 - Nolan Baumgartner, ice hockey player

April to June

• April 3 - Daniel Lewis, volleyball player
• May 10 - Kristen French, murder victim (d.1992)
• May 13 - Jeff Powell, rower and World Champion
• May 13 - Bobbi Jo Steadward, field hockey player
• May 19 - Jason Botterill, ice hockey player and manager
• June 10 - James Moore, politician and Minister
• June 13 - Mark Versfeld, swimmer
• June 25 - Michelle Bowyer, field hockey player
• June 26 - Ed Jovanovski, ice hockey player

Juky to September

• July 3 - Wade Belak, ice hockey player
• July 5 - Leslie Mahaffy, murder victim (d.1991)
• July 12 - Dan Boyle, ice hockey player
• July 13 - Sheldon Souray, ice hockey player
• August 5 - Jeff Friesen, ice hockey player
• August 17 - Eric Boulton, ice hockey player
• August 27 - Sarah Chalke, actress
• September 13 - José Théodore, ice hockey player
• September 17 - Zac Bierk, ice hockey player
• September 26 - Jean-François Marceau, judoka

October to December

• October 1 - Denis Gauthier, ice hockey player
• October 10 - Shane Doan, ice hockey player
• November 6 - Catherine Clark, television broadcaster
• November 20 - Laura Harris, actress
• December 26 - Nadia Litz, actress
• December 26 - Jake Wetzel, rower, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion

Deaths

January to June

• February 9 - Percy Faith, band-leader, orchestrator and composer (b.1908)
• March 3 - Alexander Wallace Matheson, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1903)
• April 5 - Wilder Penfield, neurosurgeon (b.1891)
• April 11 - Art Alexandre, ice hockey player (b.1909)
• May 28 - William Ross Macdonald, politician, Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons and 21st Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b.1891)
• June 10 - William John Patterson, politician and 6th Premier of Saskatchewan (b.1886)

July to December

• August 4 - Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur (b.1894)
• August 28 - Lloyd Stinson, politician (b.1904)
• September 28 - Raymond Collishaw, World War I flying ace (b.1893)
• November 14 - Jean-Paul Beaulieu, politician and chartered accountant (b.1902)
• November 29 - Steve Peters, politician (b.1912)
• December 4 - Paul Gouin, politician (b.1898)
• December 16 - Réal Caouette, politician (b.1917)
• December 22 - Olive Diefenbaker, wife of John Diefenbaker, 13th Prime Minister of Canada (b.1902)