1959 in Canada

Events from the year 1959 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Vincent Massey (until September 15) then Georges Vanier
 * Prime Minister – John Diefenbaker
 * Chief Justice – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 24th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John J. Bowlen (until December 16) then John Percy Page (from December 19)
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Frank Mackenzie Ross
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – John Stewart McDiarmid
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Joseph Leonard O'Brien
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Campbell Leonard Macpherson
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Edward Chester Plow
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Keiller MacKay
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Walter Hyndman
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Onésime Gagnon
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frank Lindsay Bastedo

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
 * Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
 * Premier of Manitoba – Dufferin Roblin
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Hugh John Flemming
 * Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
 * Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alex Matheson (until September 16) then Walter Shaw
 * Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis (until September 7) then Paul Sauvé (from September 11)
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Howard Collins
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Robert Gordon Robertson

Events

 * February 20: Avro Arrow project is terminated
 * April 1: The St. Lawrence Seaway opens
 * June 11: 1959 Ontario general election: Leslie Frost's PCs win a fifth consecutive majority
 * June 18: 1959 Alberta general election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a seventh consecutive majority
 * June 20: The Escuminac Disaster results in 35 fishermen drowned or missing and 22 fishing boats sunk.
 * September 7: Maurice Duplessis, Premier of Quebec, dies in office
 * September 11: Paul Sauvé becomes premier of Quebec
 * September 15: Georges Vanier is sworn in as Governor General replacing Vincent Massey. He is the first French Canadian Governor General.
 * September 16: Walter Shaw becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Alex Matheson
 * October 12: Isabella Memorial (Montreal) unveiled
 * November 18: Canadian content rules are introduced for television.
 * December 2: York University is founded

Full date unknown

 * National Energy Board of Canada is created.
 * Steven Truscott falsely convicted of the murder of Lynne Harper. He would be exonerated in 2007.
 * Vancouver Folk Song Society is founded.

New books

 * Mordecai Richler: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
 * Hugh MacLennan: The Watch That Ends the Night
 * Farley Mowat: Grey Seas Under
 * Max Aitken: Friends
 * Gordon R. Dickson: Dorsai!

Awards

 * See 1959 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

Sport

 * April 18 - Montreal Canadiens won their Eleventh (and Fourth consecutive) Stanley Cup by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at the Montreal Forum
 * May 1 - Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Winnipeg Braves won their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association's Peterborough TPT Petes 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at Wheat City Arena in Brandon, Manitoba
 * November 1 – Montreal Canadiens Jacques Plante becomes the first ice hockey goalie to wear a protective face mask during a game against the New York Rangers at the Montreal Forum
 * November 28 - Winnipeg Blue Bombers won their Fifth Grey Cup by defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 21 to 7 in the 47th Grey Cup played at Toronto's CNE Stadium

January to March

 * January 1 – Sharon Bayes, field hockey player
 * January 3 – Dwight Duncan, politician and Minister
 * January 8 – Bill Sawchuk, swimmer
 * January 11 – Rob Ramage, ice hockey player
 * January 12 – Helen Vanderburg, synchronized swimmer
 * May 25 – Rick Wamsley, ice hockey player

April to June

 * April 5 – Stephen Feraday, javelin thrower
 * April 6 – Jim Rondeau, politician
 * April 13 – Genevieve Robic-Brunet, road racing cyclist
 * April 15 – Kevin Lowe, ice hockey player
 * April 22 – Ryan Stiles, actor, comedian, director and voice actor
 * April 30 – Paul Gross, actor, producer, director, singer and writer
 * April 30 – Stephen Harper, politician and 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
 * May 14 – Rick Vaive, ice hockey player
 * May 26 – Brian Peaker, rower and Olympic silver medalist
 * May 27
 * Eugene Melnyk, businessman and sports franchise owner (d. 2022)
 * Donna Strickland, physicist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics
 * June 2 – Charlie Huddy, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
 * June 4 – Rex Barnes, politician
 * June 9 - Louis Hamelin, writer
 * June 12 – Scott Thompson, comedian
 * June 20 – Louise Bessette, pianist
 * June 28 – Brad Fraser, playwright, screenwriter and cultural commentator

July to December

 * August 29 – Chris Hadfield, astronaut, first Canadian to walk in space
 * September 29 – Robert Thibault, politician
 * October 14 – Dominic Agostino, politician (d.2004)
 * October 20 – Janice McCaffrey, racewalker
 * November 5 – Bryan Adams, rock singer-songwriter and photographer
 * November 17 – Guy André, politician
 * November 22 – Geoff Regan, politician
 * December 2 – David Alward, 32nd Premier of New Brunswick
 * December 8 – Mark Steyn, writer and broadcaster

Full date unknown

 * Michael Slobodian, murderer responsible for the Centennial Secondary School shooting (d.1975)

Deaths

 * January 26 – Barbara Hanley, first woman to be elected a mayor in Canada (b.1882)
 * February 11 – Harry James Barber, politician (b.1875)
 * February 13 – Thomas Laird Kennedy, politician and 15th Premier of Ontario (b.1878)
 * March 3 – Philémon Cousineau, politician (b.1874)
 * March 17 – Sidney Earle Smith, academic and 7th President of the University of Toronto (b.1897)
 * April 8 – George Croil, first Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force (b.1893)
 * June 3 – Filip Konowal, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient in 1917 (b.1888)
 * June 9 - Lynne Harper, murder victim (b.1946)
 * September 7 – Maurice Duplessis, politician and 16th Premier of Quebec (b.1890)
 * October 25 – Samuel Lawrence, politician and trade unionist (b.1879)

Full date unknown

 * Edwin Hansford, politician (b.1895)