1998 in Canada

Contents

1 Incumbents

2 Events

3 Arts and literature

4 Births

5 Deaths

Incumbents

Events

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 - A massive ice storm, 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 7 - February 22 - Nagano Olympics Canada wins the fourth-most medals, but is embarrassed when their star-filled hockey team fails to win a medal.
February 10 - Canadian National Railway merges with the Illinois Central.
February 12 - The Toronto Maple Leafs buy the Toronto Raptors.
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 Columbian 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 insurace company.
March 23 - Senator Andrew 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 1 - Floods in the Saguenay 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 a explosion at an Irving Oil refinery.
June 11 - Eleven are killed in a plane crash a 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 20 - The Southam chain buys the Financial Post from Sun Media.
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 its lowest point ever, at only 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 8 - Canada is elected to a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
October 14 - Canada's first diamond mine opens in the Northwest Territories.
October 27 - Conrad Black's National Post publishes its first issue.
November 14 - Former Prime Minister Joe Clark is selected as the new leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.
November 26 - Don Morin is forced to resign as Premier of the Northwest Territories.
November 30 - In the Quebec election the Parti Québécois is re-elected despite narrowly losing the popular vote.
December 1 - Work on Canada's new gun registry begins.
December 10 - James Antoine becomes premier of the Northwest Territories, replacing Don Morin.
December 14 - Minister of Finance Paul Martin prohibits Canada's banks from merging.
Grey Cup: Calgary Stampeders win 26-24 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Vanier Cup: Saskatchewan Huskies win 24-17 over the Concordia Stingers.

Arts and literature

New Books

The Bay of Love and Sorrows - David Adams Richards
Greater Than Angels - Carol Matas
The Love of a Good Woman - Alice Munro
Prières d'un adolescent très très sage - Roch Carrier
Broken Entries: Race Subjectivity Writing - Roy Miki
Isaiah Berlin: A Life - Michael Ignatieff
Coyotes Sing to the Moon - Thomas King
Toronto Discovered - Robert Fulford
Body Music - Dennis Lee

Awards

Carol Shields's Larry's Party wins the Orange Prize for Fiction
Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Alice Munro: The Love of a Good Woman
See 1998 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Books in Canada First Novel Award: Margaret Gibson, Opium Dreams
Geoffrey Bilson Award: Irene N. Watts, Good-Bye Marianne
Gerald Lampert Award: Mark Sinnett, The Landing
Marian Engel Award: Sharon Butala
Pat Lowther Award: Barbara Nickel, The Gladys Elegies
Stephen Leacock Award: Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version
Trillium Book Award English: André Alexis, Childhood and Alice Munro, The Love of a Good Woman
Trillium Book Award French: Daniel Poliquin, L'homme de paille and Stefan Psenak, Du chaos et de l'ordre des choses
Vicky Metcalf Award: Kit Pearson

Music

Shania Twain's Come on Over is one of the year's top selling albums in North America
Les Chansons en or by Céline Dion is released
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie by Alanis Morissette

Film

Titanic, directed by Canadian James Cameron, wins 11 Oscars.

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

Dance