1998 in Canada
Events from the year 1998 in Canada.
Incumbents
Events
January to March
- January 1 - Toronto and six other communities are merged to form a new megacity. The next day Mel Lastman is sworn in as its first mayor. (Three other Ontario cities were similarly merged on the same date in 2001.)
- January 2 - Three separate avalanches in British Columbia kill a total of nine people.
- January 5 - The Ice Storm of 1998, caused by El Niño, strikes southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting in widespread power failures, severe damage to forests, and a number of deaths.
- January 6 - Alan Eagleson pleads guilty to fraud.
- January 7 - The federal government formally apologizes for the past mistreatment of First Nations.
- January 23 - The Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal announce plans to merge, which are later scuttled by the federal government.
- February 6 - The Hudson's Bay Company takes over K-Mart Canada, folding it into its Zellers chain.
- February 10 - Canadian National Railway merges with the Illinois Central.
- February 13 - Three girls, all under 18 years of age, are found guilty in Victoria, BC, of killing 14-year-old Reena Virk. Three others plead guilty of assault.
- February 16 - The Supreme Court is asked to rule on the legality of Quebec separatism.
- February 18 - Controversial plans to include a Holocaust memorial in the Canadian War Museum are scrapped.
- February 24 - In the 1998 Canadian budget Finance Minister Paul Martin delivers a balanced budget.
- March 2 - Daniel Johnson, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, announces his resignation.
- March 6 - The Dionne Quintuplets are given money and an apology by the Ontario government.
- March 6 - British Columbia doctors begin the first of a series of protests against funding shortages.
- March 12 - Quebec and Newfoundland resolve the long-running Churchill Falls dispute.
- March 12 - Mutual Life of Canada acquires MetLife to become Canada's second-largest insurance company.
- March 23 - Senator Andy Thompson is forced to resign his Senate seat after not attending for two years.
- March 24 - The 1998 Nova Scotia election leaves the Liberals and NDP tied for the most seats.
- March 27 - Jean Charest announces that he will seek the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party.
- March 27 - The federal government agrees to compensate hepatitis C victims of tainted blood.
April to June
July to September
October to December
Arts and literature
New books
Awards
Music
Film
Television
- Canada's Sesame Street switches to showing exclusively Canadian content, renaming itself Sesame Park, as it no longer uses any American made segments from Sesame Street
- Canadian children's television show Rolie Polie Olie debuts.
Dance
- The French government names Karen Kain as an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters
Sport
Births
Full date unknown
Deaths
January to March
- January 1 - Arthur Gelber, philanthropist (b.1915)
- January 6 - Lotte Brotte, cellist
- January 12 - Mark MacGuigan, academic and politician (b.1931)
- January 23 - Donald Davis, actor (b.1928)
- January 28 - Eddie Sargent, politician (b.1915)
- February 1 - Sheila Watson, novelist, critic and teacher (b.1909)
- February 20 - Bob McBride, singer (b.1946)
- February 25 - W. O. Mitchell, writer (b.1914)
- March 13 - Bill Reid, artist (b.1920)
- March 16 - Yves Landry, president of Chrysler Canada
- March 17 - Eric Donkin, actor
April to June
- April 3 - Elmer Iseler, choir conductor and choral editor (b.1927)
- April 7 - Nick Auf der Maur, journalist and politician (b.1942)
- April 16 - Marie-Louise Meilleur, supercentenarian, the oldest validated Canadian ever (b.1880)
- April 25 - Jimmy Namaro, jazz musician
- April 27 - John Bassett, publisher and media baron (b.1915)
- May 28 - Phil Hartman, actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist (b.1948)
- June 4
- June 20 - Bobby Gimby, orchestra leader, trumpeter and singer-songwriter (b.1918)
- June 27 - Joyce Wieland, experimental filmmaker and mixed media artist (b.1931)
July to September
October to December
- October 1 - Pauline Julien, singer, songwriter, actress and feminist activist (b.1928)
- October 13 - Gérard Charles Édouard Thériault, general and Chief of the Defence Staff (b.1932)
- October 17
- Robert Dickson, Supreme Court justice
- Mary O'Brien, feminist
- November 9 - Roland Hewgill, actor
- November 13 - Michel Trudeau, student (b.1975)
- November 22 - Jack Shadbolt, painter (b.1909)
- December 9 - Shaughnessy Cohen, politician (b.1948)
- December 16 - John Gallagher, geologist and businessman (b.1916)
- December 23
- December 24 - Syl Apps, pole vaulter and ice hockey player (b.1915)
- December 31 - Apak Angilik, film maker
Full date unknown
See also
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1998 in North America
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| Sovereign states |
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Canada
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United States
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Dependencies and
other territories |
- Anguilla
- Aruba
- Bermuda
- Bonaire
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Curaçao
- Greenland
- Guadeloupe
- Martinique
- Montserrat
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Barthélemy
- Saint Martin
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Saba
- Sint Eustatius
- Sint Maarten
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- United States Virgin Islands
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