1968 in Canada

Events from the year 1968 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Roland Michener
 * Prime Minister – Lester B. Pearson (until April 20) then Pierre Trudeau
 * Chief Justice – John Robert Cartwright (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 27th (until April 23) then 28th (from September 12)

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Grant MacEwan
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George Pearkes (until July 2) then John Robert Nicholson
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Richard Spink Bowles
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – John B. McNair (until January 31) then Wallace Samuel Bird
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Fabian O'Dea
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Poole MacKeen (until July 22) then Victor de Bedia Oland
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Earl Rowe (until July 4) then William Ross Macdonald
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Willibald Joseph MacDonald
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Robert Hanbidge

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning (until December 12) and then Harry Strom
 * Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
 * Premier of Manitoba – Walter Weir
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Louis Robichaud
 * Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – G.I. Smith
 * Premier of Ontario – John Robarts
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell
 * Premier of Quebec – Daniel Johnson, Sr. (until September 26) and then Jean-Jacques Bertrand (from October 2)
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Ross Thatcher

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – James Smith
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson

January to June

 * February 1 – The three branches of the Canadian Forces are merged into one, adopting a common green uniform and Army-derived ranks
 * February 20 – Prime Minister Pearson gives the first ever televised address to the nation as he tells Canadians that he will table a confidence motion the next day to prove his party still has control. After a week of filibustering by the Opposition, the motion passes.
 * April 1 – The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is formed
 * April 6 – Pierre Trudeau wins 1968 Liberal Party leadership election
 * May 14 – The grand opening of the Toronto-Dominion Centre is held
 * June 1 – The flag of Alberta is authorized
 * June 24 – Separatists riot in Montreal on St-Jean-Baptiste Day
 * June 25 – Federal election: Pierre Trudeau's Liberals win a majority

July to December

 * July 1 – The laws creating Canada's Medicare system come into effect
 * July 18–August 9 – Canada Post workers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers go on strike
 * August 20 – Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization. Thousands of refugees flee to Canada.
 * September 26 – Daniel Johnson, Sr, Premier of Quebec, dies in office
 * October 2 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand becomes premier of Quebec
 * October 15 – The Mouvement Souveraineté-Association merges with the Ralliement National to create the Parti Québécois, René Lévesque is selected as the party's first leader
 * December 12 – Harry Strom becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Ernest Manning
 * December 31 – Quebec's Legislative Assembly is renamed the National Assembly

Full date unknown

 * IMAX technique invented
 * Canada's new Divorce Act introduces no fault divorce
 * The Rochdale College experiment begins in Toronto

New works

 * Alice Munro – Dance of the Happy Shades
 * Mordecai Richler – Hunting Tigers Under Glass
 * Robert Fulford – This Was Expo
 * John Newlove – Black Night Window
 * Kildare Dobbs – Reading the Time
 * Mordecai Richler – Cocksure
 * Robert Kroetsch – Alberta
 * Marian Engel – No Clouds of Glory
 * Gordon R. Dickson – Soldier, Ask Not
 * Farley Mowat – This Rock Within the Sea: A Heritage Lost

Poetry

 * Margaret Atwood – The Animals in That Country
 * Mary Alice Downie and Barbara Robertson, editors, The Wind Has Wings, anthology of 77 Canadian poems for children (anthology)
 * Dennis Lee, editor, T. O. Now, anthology of 13 "apprentice poets living in Toronto" (anthology)
 * Joe Rosenblatt, Winter of the Luna Moon
 * Irving Layton, The Shattered Plinths, 60 new poems
 * Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems, 1956-1968
 * Al Purdy, Wild Grape Wine
 * Dorothy Livesay, The Documentaries, poems from the 1930s and 1940s, and including "Roots", a long poem

Awards

 * David Suzuki wins UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science writing
 * See 1968 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
 * Stephen Leacock Award: Max Ferguson, And Now...Here's Max
 * Vicky Metcalf Award: Lorraine McLaughlin

Theatre

 * August 28 – Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-Sœurs premiers in Montreal.

Art

 * December 18 – Henry Moore donates hundreds of works to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Sport

 * March 10 – The Alberta Golden Bears win their second University Cup by defeating the Loyola Warriors 5 to 4. The final game was played at the Montreal Forum
 * May 11 – The Montreal Canadiens win their 15th Stanley Cup by defeating the St. Louis Blues 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at the Montreal Forum. Jean Béliveau wins his second Conn Smythe Trophy
 * May 27 – The Montreal Expos are established as Major League Baseball's first Canadian team.
 * November 22 – The Queen's Golden Gaels win their first Vanier Cup by defeating the Waterloo Lutheran Golden Hawks by a score of 42–14 in the 4th Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
 * November 29 – The Ottawa Rough Riders win their sixth Grey Cup by defeating the Calgary Stampeders 24 to 21 in the 56th Grey Cup played at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto

January to March

 * January 1 – Darren Greer, writer
 * January 5 – Joé Juneau, ice hockey player
 * January 7 – Tara Croxford, field hockey player
 * January 13 – Pat Onstad, international soccer player
 * January 14 – Michael Meldrum, swimmer
 * January 19 - Matt Hill, voice actor
 * January 28 – Sarah McLachlan, musician, singer and songwriter
 * February 1 – Mark Recchi, ice hockey player
 * February 9 – Joel Brough, field hockey player
 * February 22 – Shawn Graham, politician and 31st Premier of New Brunswick
 * February 27 – Matt Stairs, baseball player
 * March 14 – Megan Follows, Canadian-American actress
 * March 17 – Patty Sullivan, television personality
 * March 30 – Celine Dion, singer, songwriter and actress

April to June

 * April 12 – Adam Graves, ice hockey player
 * April 18 – David Hewlett, UK-born actor
 * April 20 – Evan Solomon, writer, magazine publisher and television host
 * May 8 – Louise Stratten, actress and younger sister of the murdered actress Dorothy Stratten
 * May 12 – Jane Kerr, swimmer
 * May 14 – Mary DePiero, diver
 * May 20 – William Irwin, boxer
 * May 30 – Jason Kenney, politician and Minister
 * June 1 – Jeff Hackett, ice hockey player and coach
 * June 7 – Macha Grenon, actress
 * June 10 – Susan Haskell, actress
 * June 16 – Lyne Poirier, judoka
 * June 27 – Pascale Bussières, actress
 * June 29 – Theoren Fleury, ice hockey player

July to September

 * July 2 – Mark Tewksbury, swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
 * July 11 – Michael Cram, actor and singer-songwriter
 * July 12 – Paul Hopkins, actor
 * July 22 – Harry Taylor, swimmer
 * July 23 – Shawn Levy, director and producer
 * August 5 – Terri Clark, country music singer
 * August 10 – Greg Hawgood, ice hockey player
 * August 20 – Jody Holden, beach volleyball player
 * September 9 – Lisa Lougheed, singer and actress
 * September 19 – Shawn Doyle, actor
 * September 20 – Leah Pinsent, actress
 * September 22 – Lisa Alexander, synchronised swimmer
 * September 23 – Donna McGinnis, swimmer

October to December

 * October 2 – Sandy Goss, swimmer
 * October 2 – Glen Wesley, ice hockey player
 * October 26 – Tom Cavanagh, actor
 * November 1 – Andrea Nugent, swimmer
 * November 3 – Debbie Rochon, actress
 * November 5 – Terry McGurrin, actor, comedian and writer
 * November 14 – Serge Postigo, actor
 * November 19 – Gord Fraser, road racing cyclist
 * November 25 – Jill Hennessy, actress and musician, and Jacqueline Hennessy, actress and journalist
 * December 2 – Darren Ward, swimmer
 * December 3 – Brendan Fraser, actor
 * December 10 – Caroline Wittrin, hammer thrower
 * December 17 – Paul Tracy, racing car driver

Deaths



 * January 31 – George Arthur Brethen, politician (b.1877)
 * February 5 – Frances Loring, sculptor (b.1887)
 * February 13 – Portia White, singer (b.1911)
 * February 16 – Healey Willan, organist and composer (b.1880)
 * February 17 – Ernest Charles Drury, politician, writer and 8th Premier of Ontario (b.1878)
 * March 10 - William John Rose, historian
 * March 22 - Margaret Duley, Newfoundland author
 * April 29 – Aubin-Edmond Arsenault, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1870)
 * May 30 – Charles Gavan Power, politician, Minister and Senator (b.1888)
 * June 14 – John B. McNair, lawyer, politician, judge and 22nd Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1889)
 * August 1 – Maurice Spector, Chairman of the Communist Party of Canada (b.1898)
 * August 14 - Olivier Maurault, French-Canadian historian
 * August 21 – Germaine Guèvremont, French-Canadian writer (b.1893)
 * September 26 – Daniel Johnson, Sr., politician and 20th Premier of Quebec (b.1915)
 * December 15 – Antonio Barrette, politician and 18th Premier of Quebec (b.1899)