1896 in Canada

Events from the year 1896 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Victoria

Federal government

 * Governor General – John Hamilton-Gordon
 * Prime Minister – Mackenzie Bowell (until April 27) then Charles Tupper (May 1 to July 8) then Wilfrid Laurier (from July 11)
 * Chief Justice – Samuel Henry Strong (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 7th (until 24 April) then 8th (from 19 August)

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Edgar Dewdney
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Colebrooke Patterson
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – John James Fraser (until November 24) then Jabez Bunting Snowball (from December 9)
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Malachy Bowes Daly
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – George Airey Kirkpatrick (until November 7) then Casimir Gzowski
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – George William Howlan
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

Premiers

 * Premier of British Columbia – John Herbert Turner
 * Premier of Manitoba – Thomas Greenway
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Andrew George Blair (until July 17) then James Mitchell
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – William Stevens Fielding (until July 18) then George Henry Murray (from July 20)
 * Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat (until July 25) then Arthur Sturgis Hardy
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Peters
 * Premier of Quebec – Louis-Olivier Taillon (until May 11) then Edmund James Flynn

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – James Colebrooke Patterson
 * Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Charles Herbert Mackintosh

Premiers

 * Chairman of the Executive Committee of the North-West Territories – Frederick Haultain

Events

 * April 27 – Sir Mackenzie Bowell resigns as Prime Minister due to cabinet infighting. He is replaced by Sir Charles Tupper.
 * May 1 – Sir Charles Tupper becomes prime minister, replacing Sir Mackenzie Bowell.
 * May 11 – Edmund Flynn becomes Premier of Quebec, replacing Sir Louis-Olivier Taillon.
 * May 26 – A bridge collapse in Victoria, British Columbia kills 55 people.
 * June 23 – Federal election: Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals win a majority, defeating Sir Charles Tupper's Conservatives. One of the key issues in the campaign has been the Manitoba Schools Question.
 * July 11 – Wilfrid Laurier becomes prime minister, replacing Sir Charles Tupper.
 * July 20 – George Henry Murray becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing William Fielding.
 * July 25 – Arthur S. Hardy becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Sir Oliver Mowat.
 * July – James Mitchell becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Andrew Blair.
 * August 17 – Gold is discovered in the Yukon, prompting the Klondike gold rush.

Full date unknown

 * A plan to populate the western prairies with immigration from eastern Europe is unveiled.
 * The first Canadian blast furnace opens in Hamilton, Ontario.

Sport

 * February 14 – Winnipeg Victorias win their first Stanley Cup by defeating Montreal Victorias 2 goals to 0 at Montreal's Victoria Skating Rink

January to June

 * March 8 – Charlotte Whitton, feminist, politician and mayor of Ottawa (d.1975)
 * March 16 – Harry Banks, soldier
 * March 21 – Errick Willis, politician (d.1967)
 * April 11 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, journalist, writer (d.1967)
 * April 20 – Wilfrid R. "Wop" May, World War I flying ace and pioneering bush pilot (d.1952)
 * May 2 – Elmore Philpott, journalist and politician (d.1964)
 * May 18 – Brock Chisholm, doctor and first Director-General of the World Health Organization (d.1971)
 * June 22 – Leonard W. Murray, naval officer (d.1971)

July to December

 * July 2 – Prudence Heward, painter (d.1947)
 * July 4 – Frederick Cronyn Betts, politician (d.1938)
 * July 10 – Thérèse Casgrain, feminist, reformer, politician and Senator (d.1981)
 * July 13 – John Henry Cates, businessman and political figure (d.1986)
 * July 27 – Anne Savage, painter and art teacher (d.1971)
 * August 12 – Mitchell Hepburn, politician and 11th Premier of Ontario (d.1953)
 * August 18 – Jack Pickford, actor (d.1933)
 * August 30 – Raymond Massey, actor (d.1983)
 * August 31 – Alice Strike, Canada's last surviving female World War I veteran (d.2004)
 * November 3 – Madeleine Fritz, paleontologist (d.1990)
 * November 7 – Henry Botterell, World War I fighter pilot (d.2003)

Full date unknown

 * Jean Baptiste Paul, Canadian First Nations wrestler (d. 1966)

Deaths

 * January 14 – Christopher William Bunting, politician, merchant, newspaper owner and newspaper publisher (b.1837)
 * February 20 – Hart Massey, businessman and philanthropist (b.1823)
 * April 13 – John Christian Schultz, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (b.1840)
 * May 4 – Timothy Anglin, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (b.1822)
 * June 7 – Wyatt Eaton, painter (b.1849)
 * June 10 – Donald Alexander Macdonald, politician (b.1817)
 * June 19 – John Beverley Robinson, politician (b.1821)
 * June 25 – Samuel Leonard Tilley, Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1818)
 * November 24 – John James Fraser, lawyer, judge, politician and 4th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1829)
 * Anne Hill, dancer and actor (b. 1804)

Historical documents

 * Summary of Canada's imperial history and description of Governor General's Historical Ball


 * Joshua Slocum sails Cape Horn solo on his globe-circling voyage


 * Visitor describes constant boat traffic on the Muskoka Lakes, Ontario