1996 in Canada

"See also:"
1995 in Canada,
other events of 1996,
1997 in Canada and the
list of 'years in Canada'.

----

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

Events

*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
*February 27: the Los Angeles Kings trade Wayne Gretzky to the St. Louis Blues
*March 6: the federal budget continues the assault on the deficit
*March 16: the Montreal Canadiens play their first game at the Molson Centre against the New York Rangers
*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
*May 29: Six Taiwanese sailors are charged with the murder of three Romanian stowaways aboard the "Maersk Dubai"
*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
*July 1: the Winnipeg Jets leave Canada and become the Phoenix Coyotes
*July 7–July 11: a major AIDS conference is held in Vancouver
*July 19: the Atlanta Olympics open, Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey wins the 100-metre dash
*July 20–July 21: floods in Quebec kill ten
*July 25: Coach House Press closes
*July 26: Gretzky signs with the New York Rangers
*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
*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
*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

Arts and literature

:New books
*John Ralston Saul: "The Unconscious Civilization"
*Nancy Huston: "Slow Emergencies"
*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":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: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"

Births

Deaths

* 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: Barbara Hamilton, actor
* February 7: Lucien Maynard, leader of Alberta francophones
* February 9: Henri Masson, painter
* February 19: Ernest C. Manning former Premier of Alberta
* February 21: Gordon Armstrong, playwright
* February 29: Robert O'Driscoll, scholar
* March 28: Edith Fowke, ethnologist
* April 13: Stewart McLean, Manitoba politician
* April 23: Jean Allard former Chief of the Defence Staff
* May 5: Salli Terri, musician
* May 11: Hilda Grant, author
* May 22: Robert Christie, actor
* June 10: George Hees, cabinet minister
* July 1: Harold Greenberg, businessman
* July 5: Fred Davis, moderator of "Front Page Challenge"
* July 5: Bob Southam, newspaper publisher
* July 17: Susan Cole, puppeteer
* July 18: Robert Needham, journalist
* July 20: Ronald Buick, scientist
* July 22: Carl Goldenberg, Senator
* August 1: Patrick O'Callaghan, newspaper publicist
* August 10: Walter MacNutt, organist
* August 21: Mary Earley, Aboriginal rights campaigner
* September 22: Ludmilla Chiriaeff, ballet dancer
* September 23: Joe Borowski, anti-abortion activist
* October 2: Robert Bourassa, former Premier of Quebec
* October 3: Winnifred Holden, actor
* October 9: Colleen Peterson, singer/songwriter
* October 11: Joe Morris, chairman of International Labour Organization and former president of the Canadian Labour Congress
* October 11: William Vickrey, nobel prize winner, professor
* October 14: Marcel Bourbonnais, politician
* October 17: Laura Sabia, feminist, women's rights activist
* October 19: James Bourque, Aboriginal activist
* 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, sexologist
** Mervin Good Eagle, actor
** Ran Ide, first president of TVOntario
* October 27: Arthur Tremblay, senator
* October 28: Reuben Baetz, Ontario politician
* October 28: Jack Reitman, chairman of the board of Reitmans
* November 9: Joseph A. Ghiz, Premier of PEI
* November 18: John Josiah Robinette, courtroom lawyer
* December 1: Peter Bronfman, founded Edper Investments
* December 5: Wilf Carter, composer and singer
* December 13: Ear Walls, boxer
* December 17: Nancy Malloy, Red Cross nurse, murdered in Chechnya
* December 19: Austin Taylor, financier
* December 21: Douglas Fullerton, headed National Capital Commission
* December 21: Clarence Gosse, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia
* December 26: Al Adair, Alberta politician
* December 29: Dorothy Livesay, poet, journalist, peace activist, feminist
* Leo Landreville: politician and judge implicated in the Northern Ontario Natural Gas scandal