1998 in Canada
Events from the year 1998 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
Federal government
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
Premiers
Territorial governments
Commissioners
Premiers
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
- April 1 - Floods in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec force 2000 from their homes.
- April 2 - In the final appeal of the Delwin Vriend case, the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down an Alberta Court of Appeal ruling that barred LGBT persons from protection under the province's human rights code.
- April 3 - Members of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary are permitted side arms for the first time.
- April 17 - Dafydd Rhys Williams flies aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, becoming the first non-American to serve as medical officer.
- April 17 - The Toronto Dominion Bank and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce announce plans to merge; however, the merger is later blocked by the government.
- April 25 - The United States announces large tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.
- April 26–28 - Prime Minister Chrétien pays an official visit to Cuba.
- May 1 - Separatist David Levine is named head of the newly amalgamated Ottawa hospital sparking great controversy.
- Early May - Wildfires burning in Alberta force the evacuation of a number of communities.
- May 14 - Camille Thériault becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Raymond Frenette.
- May 21 - The Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans shuts down the B.C. coho fishery.
- May 29 - The Supreme Court strikes down a ban on pre-election opinion polls.
- June 9 - Three are killed in a gas explosion in Montreal.
- June 10 - One person is killed by an explosion at an Irving Oil refinery.
- June 11 - Eleven are killed in a plane crash at Mirabel Airport
- June 24 - Macmillan Bloedel says that it will end clear cutting of old growth forests.
- July 15 - The B.C. government and the Nisga'a First Nation sign a historic, and controversial, land claims agreement.
July to September
- August - The Canadian dollar plunges all month.
- August 11 - 8,000 people are evacuated as forest fires threaten Salmon Arm, British Columbia.
- August 20 - The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec can not legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
- August 28 - The dollar reaches 64.02 US cents.
- September 2 - Pilots for Air Canada launch the first strike in company's history.
- September 2 - Crash of Swissair Flight 111 off Peggys Cove in Nova Scotia.
- September 3 - A three-week lockout begins in Ontario's Catholic school system.
- September 22 - 20,000 protest Canada's new gun registry on Parliament Hill.
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
![](../I/m/Anastasia_Rizikov_1.jpg)
Anastasia Rizikov
- January 9 - Sean Day, Belgium-born ice hockey player
- January 13 - Gabrielle Daleman, figure skater
- February 26 - Isaac Durnford, actor
- March 12 - Annaleise Carr, swinnig
- May 16 - Ariel Waller, actress
- May 20 - Nam Nguyen, figure skater
- September 17 - Richard Wang, chess player
- October 10 - John Meeboer, singer and dancer
- November 13 - Melissa "Charlie" Storwick, singer-songwriter
- December 6 - Micah Berry, actor
- December 8 - Anastasia Rizikov, pianist
- December 17 - Mitchell Nye, actor
Full date unknown
Deaths
January to March
- January 1 - Arthur Gelber, philanthropist (born 1915)
- January 6 - Lotte Brotte, cellist
- January 12 - Mark MacGuigan, academic and politician (born 1931)
- January 23 - Donald Davis, actor (born 1928)
- January 28 - Eddie Sargent, politician (born 1915)
- February 1 - Sheila Watson, novelist, critic and teacher (born 1909)
- February 20 - Bob McBride, singer (born 1946)
- February 25 - W. O. Mitchell, writer (born 1914)
- March 13 - Bill Reid, artist (born 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 (born 1927)
- April 7 - Nick Auf der Maur, journalist and politician (born 1942)
- April 16 - Marie-Louise Meilleur, supercentenarian, the oldest validated Canadian ever (born 1880)
- April 25 - Jimmy Namaro, jazz musician
- April 27 - John Bassett, publisher and media baron (born 1915)
- May 28 - Phil Hartman, actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist (born 1948)
- June 4
- June 20 - Bobby Gimby, orchestra leader, trumpeter and singer-songwriter (born 1918)
- June 27 - Joyce Wieland, experimental filmmaker and mixed media artist (born 1931)
July to September
October to December
- October 1 - Pauline Julien, singer, songwriter, actress and feminist activist (born 1928)
- October 13 - Gérard Charles Édouard Thériault, general and Chief of the Defence Staff (born 1932)
- October 17
- Robert Dickson, Supreme Court justice
- Mary O'Brien, feminist
- November 9 - Roland Hewgill, actor
- November 13 - Michel Trudeau, student (born 1975)
- November 22 - Jack Shadbolt, painter (born 1909)
- December 9 - Shaughnessy Cohen, politician (born 1948)
- December 16 - John Gallagher, geologist and businessman (born 1916)
- December 23
- December 24 - Syl Apps, pole vaulter and ice hockey player (born 1915)
- December 31 - Apak Angilik, film maker
Full date unknown
See also
1998 in North America |
---|
| 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
|
---|
| 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
|
---|
|