2 Events

• January 1 - An avalanche destroys a school gymnasium during New Years' celebrations in Kangiqsualujjuaq in far northern Quebec, killing 9.
• February 9 - Brian Tobin's Liberals are reelected in Newfoundland
• February 13 - the last hockey game is played at Maple Leaf Gardens as the team moves to the new Air Canada Centre
• April 1 - Nunavut becomes the newest territory. Paul Okalik becomes its first premier
• April 6 - A disgruntled employee kills four in Ottawa before killing himself
• April 16 - Wayne Gretzky retires from hockey
• April 28 - A student kills two classmates in Taber, Alberta
• May 1 - Sponsorship scandal: The federal government issues a $615,000 contract for a report from GroupAction into its own activities.
• May 11 - Chevron announces a major natural gas find in the Northwest Territories
• May 17 - The Saskatchewan government awards David Milgaard after he was jailed for 23 years for a murder he did not commit
• May 20 the Supreme Court expands gay spousal rights
• May 27 - Julie Payette becomes the first Canadian to board the International Space Station
• June 3 - Ontario election: Mike Harris's PCs win a second consecutive majority
• June 3 - Canada and the United States sign a treaty to divide the Pacific salmon fishery
• June 4 - An agreement on split-run magazines prevents looming trade war with the states
• June 7 - Bernard Lord's Conservatives win a surprise election victory in New Brunswick
• June 10 - The Reform Party of Canada votes to become the Canadian Alliance
• June 17 - Canadian citizen Stanley Faulder is executed in Texas, despite diplomatic complaints by the Canadian government
• June 21 - Bernard Lord becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Camille Thériault
• June 30 - A British Columbia court strikes down Canada's child pornography laws
• July 23 - August 8 - The Pan-American games are held in Winnipeg
• July 27 - The Conservatives win a majority government in Nova Scotia
• August 16 - John Hamm becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Russell MacLellan
• August 20 - The Supreme Court rules that Quebec cannot secede unilaterally, but that Canada is obligated to recognize a clear yes vote
• August 20 - Eaton's files for bankruptcy
• August 24 - Onex announces a plan to buy and merge Air Canada and Canadian Airlines
• August 25 - Dan Miller, as interim leader of the NDP, becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Glen Clark who resigned on the 21st
• September 15 - Louise Arbour appointed to the Supreme Court replacing Antonio Lamer
• September 19 - Saskatchewan election: Roy Romanow's NDP wins only a minority but forms a coalition with the Liberals to maintain control of the Legislative Assembly
• September 25 - The federal government refuses requests for aid by the six remaining Canadian NHL franchises
• October 5 - Gary Doer of the NDP becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Gary Filmon of the Conservatives
• October 7 - Adrienne Clarkson becomes Governor General
• October 8 - Bill Clinton dedicates the new United States embassy in Ottawa
• October 15 - Robert Mundell wins the Nobel Prize for economics
• October 19 - Air Canada, backed by other airlines, announces a takeover bid for Canadian Airlines
• November 3 - Beverley McLachlin becomes the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court
• November 5 - A Quebec court decides that Onex's bid for Air Canada is illegal
• November 5 - Quebec sign law is overturned
• November 13 - Lennox Lewis defeats Evander Holyfield to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World
• November 21 - Nimiq 1 Canada's first direct broadcast digital TV satellite launched by a Proton K Blok DM-3 rocket from the Tyuratam launch center in Kazakhstan.
• December 8 - Air Canada takes over Canadian Airlines
• December 11 - The verdict in the Just Desserts shooting case is handed down. Two of the accused are found guilty, the third is acquitted.
• December 14 - Montreal resident Ahmed Ressam is arrested in Seattle and found with large quantities of explosives

3 Arts and literature

New Works:

• Russell Smith - Young Men
• Bonnie Burnard - A Good House
• Antonine Maillet - Chronique d'une sorcière de vent

Awards

• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Bonnie Burnard, A Good House
• See 1999 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Andre Alexis , Childhood
• Gerald Lampert Award: Stephanie Bolster, White Stone: The Alice Poems
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Iain Lawrence , The Wreckers
• Marian Engel Award: Janice Kulyk Keeger
• Norma Fleck Award: Andy Turnbull and Debora Pearson , By Truck to the North: My Winter Adventure
• Pat Lowther Award: Hilary Clark , More Light
• Stephen Leacock Award: Stuart McLean, Home from the Vinyl Cafe
• Trillium Book Award English: Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief
• Trillium Book Award French: Andrée Christensen and Jacques Flamand , Lithochronos ou le premier vol de la pierre
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Joan Clark

Music

• Céline Dion, Alanis Morissette, and Shania Twain win major Grammy Awards

4 Births

5 Deaths

• May 23 - Owen Hart, WWF wrestler
• June 17 - Stanley Faulder , murderer
• June 30 - Tyrell Duek
• August 12 - Jean Drapeau, mayor of Montreal
• October 31 - Greg Moore, racing car driver
• December 2 - Matt Cohen , author
• December 11 - Big Ben, race horse
• December 20 - Hank Snow, country singer

Canada Years in Canada

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