1959 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

• Governor General – Vincent Massey (until September 15) then Georges Vanier
• Prime Minister – John Diefenbaker
• Chief Justice – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
• Parliament – 24th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John J. Bowlen (until December 16) then John Percy Page (from December 19)
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Frank Mackenzie Ross
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – John Stewart McDiarmid
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Joseph Leonard O'Brien
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Campbell Leonard Macpherson
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Edward Chester Plow
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Keiller MacKay
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Walter Hyndman
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Onésime Gagnon
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frank Lindsay Bastedo

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Dufferin Roblin
• Premier of New Brunswick – Hugh John Flemming
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
• Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alex Matheson (until September 16) then Walter Shaw
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis (until September 7) then Paul Sauvé (from September 11)
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Howard Collins
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Robert Gordon Robertson

Events

• February 20: Avro Arrow project is terminated
• April 1: The St. Lawrence Seaway opens
• June 11: 1959 Ontario general election: Leslie Frost's PCs win a fifth consecutive majority
• June 18: 1959 Alberta general election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a seventh consecutive majority
• June 20: The Escuminac Disaster results in 35 fishermen drowned or missing and 22 fishing boats sunk.
• September 7: Maurice Duplessis, Premier of Quebec, dies in office
• September 11: Paul Sauvé becomes premier of Quebec
• September 15: Georges Vanier is sworn in as Governor General replacing Vincent Massey. He is the first French Canadian Governor General.
• September 16: Walter Shaw becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Alex Matheson
• October 12: Isabella Memorial (Montreal) unveiled
• November 18: Canadian content rules are introduced for television.
• December 2: York University is founded

Full date unknown

• National Energy Board of Canada is created.
• Steven Truscott falsely convicted of the murder of Lynne Harper. He would be exonerated in 2007.
• Vancouver Folk Song Society is founded.

Arts and literature

New books

• Mordecai Richler: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
• Hugh MacLennan: The Watch That Ends the Night
• Farley Mowat: Grey Seas Under
• Max Aitken: Friends
• Gordon R. Dickson: Dorsai!

Awards

• See 1959 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

Sport

• April 18 - Montreal Canadiens won their Eleventh (and Fourth consecutive) Stanley Cup by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at the Montreal Forum
• May 1 - Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Winnipeg Braves won their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association's Peterborough TPT Petes 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at Wheat City Arena in Brandon, Manitoba
• November 1 – Montreal Canadiens Jacques Plante becomes the first ice hockey goalie to wear a protective face mask during a game against the New York Rangers at the Montreal Forum
• November 28 - Winnipeg Blue Bombers won their Fifth Grey Cup by defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 21 to 7 in the 47th Grey Cup played at Toronto's CNE Stadium

Births

January to March

• January 1 – Sharon Bayes, field hockey player
• January 3 – Dwight Duncan, politician and Minister
• January 8 – Bill Sawchuk, swimmer
• January 11 – Rob Ramage, ice hockey player
• January 12 – Helen Vanderburg, synchronized swimmer
• May 25 – Rick Wamsley, ice hockey player

April to June

• April 5 – Stephen Feraday, javelin thrower
• April 6
  • Jim Rondeau, politician
  • Gail Shea, politician (d. 2025)

• April 13 – Genevieve Robic-Brunet, road racing cyclist
• April 15 – Kevin Lowe, ice hockey player
• April 22 – Ryan Stiles, actor, comedian and director
• April 30 – Paul Gross, actor, producer, director, singer and writer
• April 30 – Stephen Harper, politician and 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
• May 14 – Rick Vaive, ice hockey player
• May 26 – Brian Peaker, rower and Olympic silver medalist
• May 27
  • Eugene Melnyk, businessman and sports franchise owner (d. 2022)
  • Donna Strickland, physicist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics
• June 2 – Charlie Huddy, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
• June 4 – Rex Barnes, politician

• June 9 - Louis Hamelin, writer
• June 12 – Scott Thompson, comedian
• June 20 – Louise Bessette, pianist
• June 28 – Brad Fraser, playwright, screenwriter and cultural commentator

July to December

• August 29 – Chris Hadfield, astronaut, first Canadian to walk in space
• September 29 – Robert Thibault, politician
• October 14 – Dominic Agostino, politician (d.2004)
• October 20 – Janice McCaffrey, racewalker
• November 5 – Bryan Adams, rock singer-songwriter and photographer
• November 17 – Guy André, politician
• November 22 – Geoff Regan, politician
• December 2 – David Alward, 32nd Premier of New Brunswick
• December 8 – Mark Steyn, writer and broadcaster

Full date unknown

• Carole Laganière, documentary filmmaker
• Michael Slobodian, murderer responsible for the Centennial Secondary School shooting (d.1975)

Deaths

• January 26 – Barbara Hanley, first woman to be elected a mayor in Canada (b.1882)
• February 11 – Harry James Barber, politician (b.1875)
• February 13 – Thomas Laird Kennedy, politician and 15th Premier of Ontario (b.1878)
• March 3 – Philémon Cousineau, politician (b.1874)
• March 17 – Sidney Earle Smith, academic and 7th President of the University of Toronto (b.1897)

• April 8 – George Croil, first Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force (b.1893)
• June 3 – Filip Konowal, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient in 1917 (b.1888)
• June 9 - Lynne Harper, murder victim (b.1946)
• September 7 – Maurice Duplessis, politician and 16th Premier of Quebec (b.1890)
• October 25 – Samuel Lawrence, politician and trade unionist (b.1879)

Full date unknown

• Edwin Hansford, politician (b.1895)

References

References

1. "Queen Elizabeth II {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia".
2. (4 February 2014). "Heads of States and Governments Since 1945". Routledge.
3. Holdstock, Roger. “Vancouver Folk Song Society,” ''Canadian Folk Music Bulletin,'' March, 1986.