1979 in Canada
See also:
1978 in Canada,
other events of 1979,
1980 in Canada and the
list of 'years in Canada'.
Incumbents
Events
- January 17 - Edward Richard Schreyer replaces Jules Léger as Governor General
- February - The first Winterlude is held in Ottawa
- March 14 - Alberta election: Peter Lougheed's PCs win a third consecutive majority
- March 26 - Brian Peckford becomes premier of Newfoundland, replacing Frank Moores
- May 3 - Angus MacLean becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Bennett Campbell
- May 22 - Canadians go to the polls in the 1979 Canadian election. They defeat Pierre Trudeau's Liberals and elect Joe Clark's Tories, but only with a minority
- June 4 - Joe Clark becomes Canada's sixteenth, and youngest ever, prime minister
- June 22 - The World Hockey Association folds. Four teams the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, and Hartford Whalers surive and move to the NHL
- September 5 - Canada's first gold bullion coin goes on sale
- November 10 - a train carrying chemicals derails in Mississauga, Ontario and hundreds of thousands have to be evacuated
- December 13 - Supreme Court declares Quebec and Manitoba's provincial legislatures to be unconstitutional because of their use of only one language.
- December 13- The government is defeated on a non-confidence motion and Prime Minister Clark calls an election
- December 31 - A fire a Le Club Opemiska in Chaplais, Quebec kills 42 at a New Year's Eve party
- Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup defeating the New York Rangers 4 games to 1.
- Chris Haney and Scott Abbott invent Trivial Pursuit
- Petro-Canada buys U.S.-controlled Irving Layton - The Tightrope Dancer
- Margaret Atwood - Life Before Man
- Steve McCaffery - Intimate Distortions
- Roch Carrier - Les enfants du bonhomme dans la lune
- Joy Fielding - Trance
- Gabrielle Roy - Courte-Queue
- Gordon R. Dickson - The Spirit of Dorsai
- Farley Mowat - And No Birds Sang
- Awards
Births
Deaths
