1956 in Canada

"See also:"
1955 in Canada,
other events of 1956,
1957 in Canada and the
Timeline of Canadian history.

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Incumbents

*Monarch - Queen Elizabeth II
*Governor General - Vincent Massey
*Prime Minister - Louis Saint Laurent
*Premier of Alberta - Ernest Manning
*Premier of British Columbia - W.A.C. Bennett
*Premier of Manitoba - Douglas Campbell
*Premier of New Brunswick - Hugh John Flemming
*Premier of Newfoundland - Joey Smallwood
*Premier of Nova Scotia - Henry Hicks then Robert Stanfield
*Premier of Ontario - Leslie Frost
*Premier of Prince Edward Island - Alex Matheson
*Premier of Quebec - Maurice Duplessis
*Premier of Saskatchewan - Tommy Douglas

Events

* February 10 - Wilbert Coffin is hanged
* May 1 - The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada merges with the Canadian Congress of Labour to form the Canadian Labour Congress.
* May 8 - The controversial bill to create the TransCanada pipeline is introduced in the House of Commons.
* May 15 - A CF-100 crashes into a Grey Nuns convent outside of Ottawa killing fifteen.
* June 20 - Saskatchewan election: Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation wins a fourth consecutive majority
* September 30 - Winnipeg connects to TransCanada Telephone System's microwave radio relay via MTS, bringing same day programming from CBC Television.
* November 1 - The second Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 39.
* November 4 - Lester B. Pearson proposes a successful resolution to the Suez Crisis, this will win him a Nobel Peace Prize.
* November 20 - Robert Stanfield becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Henry Hicks
* December 9 - Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 (9), a Canadair Northstar, crashes on Slesse Mountain near Chilliwack during heavy weather. The plane carried the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers and fans on the their way home from a game in Vancouver. Bodies were not found until the following late summer due to severe terrain and high altitude and unknown location of the crash. This was one of the worst civilian air disasters in the world at the time.
* December 14 - John Diefenbaker is elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
* René Lévesque begins hosting "Point de Mire"

Arts and literature

:New Books
*Milton Acorn - "In Love and Anger"
*Pierre Berton - "The Mysterious North"
*Max Aitken - "Men and Power"
*Leonard Cohen - "Let Us Compare Mythologies"
*Harold Innis - "Essays in Canadian Economic History"
*Farley Mowat - "Lost in the Barrens":Literary Awards
* See 1956 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
*Stephen Leacock Award: Eric Nicol, "Shall We Join The Ladies?":Music
*Walter Susskind replaces Sir Ernest MacMillan as the director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
*Pianist Glenn Gould tours the Soviet Union

Births

* January 6 – Peter Stoffer, politician
* January 9 – Gregory Dewar, politician
* January 28 – David Faurschou, politician
* February 7 – Murray Downing, farmer
* February 28 – Guy Maddin, filmmaker
* February 29 – Steve Ashton, politician
* February 29 – Bob Speller, politician
* April 4 – Evelyn Hart, ballet dancer
* April 10 – Thomas Graham, volleyball player
* May 7 – Jean Lapierre, politician
* May 9 – Wendy Crewson, actor
* May 15 – Ian Clyde, boxer
* May 19 – James Gosling, computer scientist (Java)
* May 29 – Claude Drouin, politician
* June 10 – Hugh McMillan, musician
* June 15 – Dan Thompson, butterfly swimmer
* June 22 – Blake Debassige, artist
* July 8 – Terry Puhl, baseball player
* July 15 – Barry Melrose, ice hockey player and commentator
* July 17 – Bryan Trottier, ice hockey player
* August 7 – Paul Williams, long-distance runner
* August 12 – Bruce Greenwood, actor'((September 26)) &ndash: ((George Turanich)), Character"'
* October 5 – Brad Farrow, judoka
* October 7 – Brian Sutter, ice hockey player and coach
* October 23 – Geoffrey Kelly, musician
* October 24 – Chris Clarke, boxer
* December 10 – Marie Bountrogianni, politician
* December 31 – Paul Zed, politician

Deaths

* January 6 - Albert James Bradshaw, politician
* February 10 - William Coffin, alleged murderer
* August 4 - Joseph Georges Bouchard, politician
* September 11 - Billy Bishop, fighter pilot
* December 7 - Huntley Gordon, actor