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Events from the year 1996 in Canada.

[edit] Incumbents

• Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor General: Roméo LeBlanc
• Prime Minister: Jean Chrétien
• Premier of Alberta: Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia: Mike Harcourt then Glen Clark
• Premier of Manitoba: Gary Filmon
• Premier of New Brunswick: Frank McKenna then Raymond Frenette
• Premier of Newfoundland: Clyde Wells then Brian Tobin
• Premier of Nova Scotia: John Savage then Russell MacLellan
• Premier of Ontario: Mike Harris
• Premier of Prince Edward Island: Catherine Callbeck then Keith Milligan then Pat Binns
• Premier of Quebec: Jacques Parizeau then Lucien Bouchard
• Premier of Saskatchewan: Roy Romanow

See also: 1996 Canadian incumbents

[edit] Events

[edit] January to March

• January 14 - A free trade agreement with Israel is announced
• January 15 - The Corel Centre opens in Ottawa
• January 25 - Jean Chrétien launches a major cabinet shuffle. Pierre Pettigrew and Stéphane Dion are brought in, despite not having seats in Parliament.
• January 26 - Brian Tobin becomes premier of Newfoundland, replacing Clyde Wells
• January 29 - Lucien Bouchard becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Jacques Parizeau
• February 7 - Bob Rae, former premier of Ontario leaves politics
• February 14 - Mr. Dressup does his last show
• February 15 - Chrétien throttles a protester in Ottawa, launching a small controversy over the "Shawinigan Handshake"
• February 17 - Michel Gauthier is elected new leader of the Bloc Québécois
• February 22 - Glen Clark becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Michael Harcourt
• February 22 - Brian Tobin leads the Newfoundland Liberal Party to victory in the 1996 Newfoundland election

[edit] March to June

• March 6 - The federal budget continues the assault on the deficit
• March 26- The Anik E-1 satellite malfunctions
• March 27 - The Quebec budget proposes sweeping cuts to government funding
• April 3 - All members of the Canadian Forces are ordered to spend the entire day searching for documents that may aid the Somalia inquiry
• April 5 - Gunman Mark Chahal kills nine relatives in Vernon, British Columbia before killing himself
• April 11 - The Ontario government announce a 15 per cent reduction in the civil service
• April 22 - John Nunziata is expelled from the Liberal caucus for voting against the budget
• April 23 - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland agree to replace their provincial sales taxes and the Goods and Services Tax with a Harmonized Sales Tax.
• May 7 - The Ontario government cuts provincial income taxes by 30 per cent
• May 10 - Member of Parliament Jan Brown resigns from the Reform Party of Canada
• May 19 - Marc Garneau flies on a second space mission
• May 24 - Conrad Black's Hollinger takes over the Southam newspaper chain
• May 28 - The British Columbia New Democratic Party wins a surprise re-election
• June 10 - The Quebec government reintroduces the "Language police"
• June 17 - Sheila Copps, who had resigned over the GST, wins back her Hamilton–Wentworth seat in a by-election
• June 20 - Robert Thirsk flies aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia
• June 24 - A riot in Quebec City causes a million dollars in damage

[edit] July to September

• July 7-July 11 - A major AIDS conference is held in Vancouver
• July 20-July 21 - Floods in Quebec kill ten
• July 25 - Coach House Press closes
• August 8 - Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell is named consul general to Los Angeles
• August 8 - Jean-Louis Roux appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec
• August 29 - Former B.C. Premier W.R. Bennett is found guilty of insider trading

[edit] October to December

• October 4 - Defence Minister David Collenette resigns
• October 10 - Keith Milligan becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Catherine Callbeck
• October 19 - Piers McDonald becomes government leader of Yukon, replacing John Ostashek
• November - SaskTel becomes the first Canadian Internet Service Provider to roll out ADSL
• November 5 - Jean-Louis Roux forced to resign as Lieutenant Governor of Quebec when pictures of him at Nazi rallies in the 1930s are published
• November 27 - Pat Binns becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Keith Milligan
• December 16 - Chrétien formally apologizes for lying about the GST

[edit] Full date unknown

• Karen Kain becomes the first Canadian to win the Cartier Lifetime Achievement Award
• General Jean Boyle resigns over Somalia Affair controversy
• Dalton McGuinty is elected leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
• Canada sends over a thousand troops to take part in IFOR

[edit] Arts and literature

[edit] New books

• John Ralston Saul: The Unconscious Civilization
• Nancy Huston: Slow Emergencies of my dick
• Pierre Berton: Farewell to the Twentieth Century
• Elisabeth Harvor: Let Me Be the One
• Yann Martel: Self
• Timothy Findley: You Went Away
• Di Brandt: Dancing Naked: Narrative Strategies for Writing Across Centuries
• Douglas Coupland: Polaroids from the Dead
• Guy Vanderhaeghe: The Englishman's Boy

[edit] Awards

• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace
• See 1996 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Keath Fraser, Popular Anatomy
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Marianne Brandis, Rebellion: A Novel of Upper Canada
• Gerald Lampert Award: Maureen Hynes, Rough Skin
• Marian Engel Award: Barbara Gowdy
• Pat Lowther Award: Lorna Crozier, Everything Arrives at the Light
• Stephen Leacock Award: Marsha Boulton, Letters from the Country
• Trillium Book Award English: Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
• Trillium Book Award French: Nancy Vickers, Le Pied de Sappho and Alain Bernard Marchand, Tintin au pays de la ferveur
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Margaret Buffie

[edit] New music

• Barenaked Ladies: Born on a Pirate Ship
• Bruce Cockburn: The Charity of Night
• The Tragically Hip: Trouble at the Henhouse
• Various artists: 20 Years of Stony Plain

[edit] Sport

• February 27 - The Los Angeles Kings trade Wayne Gretzky to the St. Louis Blues.
• March 16- The Montreal Canadiens play their first game at the Molson Centre against the New York Rangers.
• July 1 - The Winnipeg Jets leave Canada and become the Phoenix Coyotes.
• July 19 - The Atlanta Olympics open, Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey wins the 100-metre dash.
• July 26 - Gretzky signs with the New York Rangers.

[edit] Births

[edit] Deaths

[edit] January to March

• January 26 - Sally Gribble, founder of MADD Canada
• January 26 - Yvonne Housser, painter
• January 27 - Brian Kelleher, journalist
• January 31 - Beth Amos, actress
• February 2 - Phyliss Marshall, actor
• February 7 - Lucien Maynard, leader of Alberta francophones
• February 19 - Ernest Manning, politician and Premier of Alberta (b.1908)
• February 29 - Robert O'Driscoll, scholar
• February 29 - Sinclair Ross, banker and author (b.1908)
• March 28 - Edith Fowke, folk song collector, author and radio presenter (b.1913)

[edit] April to June

• April 13 - Stewart McLean, politician (b.1913)
• April 23 - Jean Victor Allard, general and first French-Canadian to become Chief of the Defence Staff (b.1913)
• May 5 - Salli Terri, singer, arranger, recording artist and songwriter (b.1922)
• May 11 - Hilda Grant, author
• May 22 - Robert Christie, actor and director (b.1913)
• June 11 - George Hees, politician and Minister (b.1910)

[edit] July to September

• July 1 - Harold Greenberg, film producer (b.1930)
• July 5 - Fred Davis, broadcaster and moderator of Front Page Challenge (b.1921)
• July 5 - Bob Southam, newspaper publisher
• July 18 - Robert Needham, journalist
• July 20 - Ronald Buick, scientist
• July 22 - Carl Goldenberg, lawyer, arbitrator, mediator and Senator (b.1907)
• August 10 - Walter MacNutt, organist
• August 21 - Mary Earley, Aboriginal rights campaigner
• September 22 - Ludmilla Chiriaeff, ballet dancer, choreographer and director (b.1924)
• September 23 - Joe Borowski, politician and activist (b.1933)

[edit] October to December

• October 2 - Robert Bourassa, politician and 22nd Premier of Quebec (b.1933)
• October 9 - Colleen Peterson, singer (b.1950)
• October 11 - Joe Morris, trade unionist and president of the Canadian Labour Congress (b.1913)
• October 11 - William Vickrey, professor of economics and Nobel Laureate (b.1914)
• October 14 - Marcel Bourbonnais, politician (b.1918)
• October 17 - Laura Sabia, social activist and feminist (b.1916)
• October 19 - James Bourque, First Nations activist (b.1935)
• October 21 - Rejean Boily, horse racer
• October 22 - Ed Kubin, AIDS activist for hemophiliacs
• October 22 - Jan Verdun, designed 3 quart (2.8 L) milk jug, pioneered sale of milk in stores
• October 23 - Kurt Freund, physician and sexologist (b.1914)
• October 23 - Mervin Good Eagle, actor

Joe Ghiz

• October 23 - Thomas Ide, educator and the founding Chairman of TVOntario (b.1919)
• October 27 - Arthur Tremblay, politician and Senator (b.1917)
• October 28 - Reuben Baetz, politician (b.1923)
• October 28 - Jack Reitman, chairman of the board of Reitmans
• November 9 - Joe Ghiz, politician and 29th Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1945)
• November 18 - John Josiah Robinette, lawyer (b.1906)
• December 1 - Peter Bronfman, businessman (b.1928)
• December 5 - Wilf Carter, country music singer, songwriter, guitarist and yodeller (b.1904)
• December 13 - Ear Walls, boxer
• December 17 - Nancy Malloy, Red Cross nurse, murdered in Chechnya
• December 21 - Douglas Fullerton, headed National Capital Commission
• December 21 - Clarence Gosse, physician and Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (b.1912)
• December 24 - Al Adair, politician, radio broadcaster and author (b.1929)
• December 29 - Dorothy Livesay, poet (b.1909)

[edit] Full date unknown

• Leo Landreville, politician and judge implicated in the Northern Ontario Natural Gas scandal (b.1910)