1948 in Canada

Events from the year 1948 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – George VI

Federal government

 * Governor General – the Viscount Alexander of Tunis
 * Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King (until November 15) then Louis St. Laurent
 * Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
 * Parliament – 20th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Charles Arthur Banks
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Ray Lawson
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Joseph Alphonsus Bernard
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Reginald John Marsden Parker (until March 23) then John Michael Uhrich (from March 24)

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
 * Premier of British Columbia – Boss Johnson
 * Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson (until November 13) then Douglas Campbell
 * Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Macdonald
 * Premier of Ontario – George A. Drew (until October 19) then Thomas Laird Kennedy
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
 * Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – John Edward Gibben
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside

Events

 * June 7 – Ontario election: George Drew's PCs win a second consecutive majority
 * June 24 – Saskatchewan election: Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation wins a second consecutive majority
 * July 22 – A second runoff referendum is held in the 1948 Newfoundland referendums; confederation with Canada is approved, leading to the eventual union between Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland in March 1949.
 * August 17 – Alberta election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a fourth consecutive majority
 * September 6 – The oil well Atlantic No. 3 (near Devon, Alberta), which had been running wild since March 21, catches fire. Smoke affects the atmosphere for hundreds of kilometres until the blaze is put out in November by a team led by Myron M. Kinley and Red Adair.
 * October 19 – Thomas Kennedy becomes premier of Ontario, replacing George Drew
 * November 13 – Douglas Campbell becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Stuart Garson
 * November 15 – Louis Saint Laurent becomes prime minister, replacing Mackenzie King

Awards

 * See 1948 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
 * Stephen Leacock Award: Paul Hiebert, Sarah Binks

Sport

 * February 2 – Barbara Ann Scott becomes the first Canadian to win the figure skating gold medal at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland
 * April 14 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their seventh Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 0.
 * April 30 – The Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League's Port Arthur West End Bruins win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association's Barrie Flyers 4 games to 0. All games were played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
 * November 27 – The undefeated Calgary Stampeders win their first Grey Cup by defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders 12 to 7 in the 36th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. This Cup is notable for the Stampeders' fans making a party out of the game and launching the Grey Cup festival that precedes the championship game.

January to March

 * January 10 – Craig Russell, female impersonator (d. 1990)
 * January 12 – Gordon Campbell, politician and 34th Premier of British Columbia
 * January 13 – Pat O'Brien, politician
 * January 15 – Andy Jones, comedian, writer, actor and director
 * January 16 – Cliff Thorburn, snooker player, former world number one
 * January 19 – Frank McKenna, businessman, politician, 27th Premier of New Brunswick and diplomat
 * January 25 – Sarkis Assadourian, politician
 * February 11 – Shaughnessy Cohen, politician (d. 1998)
 * February 13 – Allan Legere, serial killer, rapist, and arsonist
 * February 21 – Chuck Cadman, politician (d. 2005)
 * March 14
 * Pierre Granche, sculptor (d. 1997)
 * Maria Minna, politician
 * March 20 – Bobby Orr, ice hockey player
 * March 31 – Gary Doer, politician and 20th Premier of Manitoba

April to June

 * April 14 – Claude Vivier, composer (d. 1983 in France)
 * April 16 – Reg Alcock, politician, minister, MP for Winnipeg South (1993–2006); President of the Treasury Board (2003–2006) (d. 2011)
 * April 17 – Wilf Wedmann, high jumper
 * April 20 – Rémy Trudel, academic and politician
 * May 11 – John Plohman, politician
 * May 16 – Clif Evans, politician
 * May 24 – Lorna Crozier, poet and essayist
 * June 4
 * Margaret Gibson, novelist and short story writer (d. 2006)
 * Sandra Post, golfer, first Canadian to play on the LPGA Tour
 * June 5 – Bill Smart, middle-distance runner and judge
 * June 7 – Welwyn Wilton Katz, children's author
 * June 23 – Myles Goodwyn, musician (d. 2023)

July to September

 * July 4 – Katherine Govier, novelist
 * July 8 – Raffi, children's entertainer, music producer, author and entrepreneur
 * August 2 – Bob Rae, politician and 21st Premier of Ontario
 * August 5 – Don Scott, politician
 * August 14 – John Edzerza, Yukon MLA (d. 2011)
 * August 31 – Marie-Lynn Hammond, folk singer-songwriter, broadcaster and playwright
 * September 8 – Stephen Owen, politician (d. 2023)
 * September 10 – Margaret Trudeau, wife of the late Pierre Trudeau, the 15th Prime Minister of Canada
 * September 19 – James McCrae, politician
 * September 21 – Bernard Jean, oboist, conductor, and music educator
 * September 24 – Phil Hartman, actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist (d. 1998)

October to December

 * October 8 – Pat Binns, politician, 30th Premier of Prince Edward Island and diplomat
 * October 9 – Brad Woodside, politician, Mayor of Fredericton, New Brunswick
 * October 17 – Margot Kidder, actress (d. 2018)
 * November 5 – Mike Neary, rower
 * November 24 – Spider Robinson, science fiction author
 * December 7 – Jay Dahlgren, javelin thrower
 * December 30 – Rick Casson, politician
 * December 30 – Pierre Blais, jurist, politician and Minister
 * December 31 – René Robert, ice hockey player (d. 2021)

Full date unknown

 * Marc Lortie, diplomat

Deaths

 * March 14 – Ernest Frederick Armstrong, politician (b. 1878)
 * March 28 – John Duncan MacLean, teacher, physician, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b. 1873)
 * May 20 – George Beurling, most successful Canadian fighter pilot of World War II (b. 1921)
 * May 21 – James Ralston, lawyer, soldier, politician and Minister (b. 1881)

Full date unknown

 * Margaret C. MacDonald, nurse (b. 1873)

Historical documents
"A common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations" - UN proclaims Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Parliamentary committee studying draft UN human rights declaration speaks to global variety of rights interpretations

UN convention on genocide defines it as attempt to destroy group by killing or seriously harming members, preventing births or taking group's children

Canadian children "had no idea what to do with us" - Holocaust orphan arrives in Canada and settles in Regina

"Fitting together the scattered jigsaw-puzzle pieces of their lives" - Japanese Canadians move on, and why they have to

CPR sleeping car porter enjoys travel but finds job "subservient" and travelling public "about 85 pleasant and the other 15 unpleasant"

Ottawa-Quebec politics rule out Black U.S. troops in Quebec, where their presence "might be misunderstood and misrepresented"

"Maximum dramatic appeal" and "simplicity" of secret U.S.A.-Canada free-trade proposal encourage optimism for success

Lester Pearson says "the world needs the textiles which Japan" would produce if it received Most favoured nation trade status

Ambassador to China keen to see Canadian presence (banks, Canadian Pacific ships and planes, TCA and Navy) in southeast Asia

U.S.A. to hold multi-party talks on North Atlantic security matters, including Soviet intentions and U.S. commitment

Canada wants North Atlantic security organization to involve foreign ministry consultation and economic and social collaboration

Kinks in Canada-U.S. joint defence arrangements, including roles, responsibilities and functions, need to be worked out

Canada seeks to know U.S. policy on partition of Palestine, especially regarding possibility of UN Security Council authorizing force

Cabinet decides not to support UN membership for Israel before it recognizes Israel's provisional government

With Nationalist forces "off balance and low in morale" in Chinese Civil War, Canada plans evacuations

South African ambassador seeks Canada's support for white supremacy policy to block communism and Indians "swamping" whites

Cabinet seeks better ways to exclude from Canada top leaders of "unions known to be communist dominated" and fellow travellers

Cabinet Defence Committee sees need for Arctic icebreaker to support government stations and wartime amphibious operations

"Frenzied," "shrill" and "a pitch of hysteria which could scarcely be raised" - anti-U.S. Soviet propaganda assessed

Given CBC cooperation and with policy "guidance notes," Pearson ponders propaganda broadcasts to communist controlled countries

Newfoundland must be independent because England couldn't help if it wanted to and confederation means federal government rule

"I fear the return of Responsible Government" - Newfoundlander dreads days of privation recurring if Canada is rejected

Refus Global calls Quebeckers to free themselves from past fears and anguish at nauseating recent evils with passion and unity

CBC Radio interview with figure skating champion Barbara Ann Scott after she won gold medal at Winter Olympics in St. Moritz

Photo: Calgary Stampeders' Norman L. Kwong runs into opposing team's defence in football game

Kate Aitken talks about women of the year, including Princess Elizabeth, Barbara Ann Scott and Henrietta Banting, on her radio show

CBC radio play from "series of dramatized programmes on human relation" involving National Committee for Mental Hygiene of Canada

"Absolute and undying ambition to succeed" - CBC network announcer Elwood Glover's memories of his early radio career

Ducks Unlimited naturalist says prairie drought can seem catastrophic, but only cover 1% of waterfowl breeding territory

Illustration: Promotional poster, with illustration by Peter Maxwell Ewart, invites hunters to travel on Canadian Pacific