1979 in Canada

Events from the year 1979 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Jules Léger (until January 22) then Edward Schreyer
 * Prime Minister – Pierre Trudeau (until June 4) then Joe Clark
 * Chief Justice of Canada – Bora Laskin (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 30th (until 26 March) then 31st (11 June–14 December)

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Ralph Steinhauer (until October 18) then Francis Charles Lynch-Staunton
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Henry Pybus Bell-Irving
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Francis Lawrence Jobin
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Hédard Robichaud
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Gordon Arnaud Winter
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – John Elvin Shaffner
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Pauline Mills McGibbon
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gordon Lockhart Bennett
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Jean-Pierre Côté
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Irwin McIntosh

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Peter Lougheed
 * Premier of British Columbia – Bill Bennett
 * Premier of Manitoba – Sterling Lyon
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Richard Hatfield
 * Premier of Newfoundland – Frank Moores (until March 26) then Brian Peckford
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – John Buchanan
 * Premier of Ontario – Bill Davis
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Bennett Campbell (until May 3) then Angus MacLean
 * Premier of Quebec – René Lévesque
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Allan Blakeney

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – Frank Fingland (interim) (until January 20) then Ione Christensen (January 29 to October 6) then Douglas Bell
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson (until April 15) then John Havelock Parker

Premiers

 * Premier of Yukon – Chris Pearson

January to June

 * January 17 - Edward Richard Schreyer replaces Jules Léger as Governor General
 * February 1 - The first Winterlude is held in Ottawa
 * February 24 - An explosion rips through Number 26 Colliery in Glace Bay, Cape Breton, killing 12 men.
 * February 26 a total solar eclipse take place in the USA And Canada
 * 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 federal election. They defeat Pierre Trudeau's Liberals and elect Joe Clark's PCs, but only with a minority
 * June 4
 * Joe Clark becomes Canada's sixteenth, and youngest ever, prime minister.
 * Flora MacDonald becomes Canada's first female Secretary of State for External Affairs.
 * June 7 - The Sudbury Strike of 1978 ends after nine months.

July to December

 * September 5 – Canada's first gold bullion coin goes on sale
 * October 29 – Port-Harrison, Quebec, is renamed to Inukjuak
 * November 10 – The 1979 Mississauga train derailment causes the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people
 * 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 at Le Club Opemiska in Chapais, Quebec, kills 48 at a New Year's Eve party.

Full date unknown

 * Chris Haney and Scott Abbott invent Trivial Pursuit
 * Petro-Canada buys U.S.-controlled Pacific Petroleums
 * The first women enroll in Canadian military colleges
 * Founding of Academy of Canadian Cinema

New works

 * 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

 * Antonine Maillet wins the French Prix Goncourt for her novel Pélagie-la-Charette
 * See 1979 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
 * Stephen Leacock Award - Sondra Gotlieb, True Confessions
 * Vicky Metcalf Award - Cliff Faulknor

Television

 * Lorne Michaels starts Broadway Video, a company that would go on to produce shows like The Kids in the Hall and Saturday Night Live
 * You Can't Do That On Television premiers

Sport

 * March 18 – The Alberta Golden Bears win their fifth (second consecutive) University Cup by defeating the Dalhousie Tigers 5–1 in Montreal
 * May 13 – The Peterborough Petes win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Brandon Wheat Kings 2 to 1. The final game was played at Palais des Sports in Sherbrooke, Quebec
 * May 21 – The Montreal Canadiens win their 22nd (fourth consecutive) Stanley Cup by defeating the New York Rangers 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at the Montreal Forum. Peterborough, Ontario's Bob Gainey was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
 * June 22 – The World Hockey Association folds. Four teams – the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Hartford Whalers – survive and move to the NHL.
 * September 1 – Pat Patterson wins the first World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Champion
 * September 8 – The Vancouver Whitecaps win their only Soccer Bowl by defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2–1 at Soccer Bowl '79 played Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
 * November 17 – The Acadia Axemen win their first Vanier Cup by defeating the Western Ontario Mustangs 34–12 in the 15th Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
 * November 25 – The Edmonton Eskimos win their sixth (second consecutive) Grey Cup by defeating the Montreal Alouettes by the score 17 to 9 in the 67th Grey Cup played at Olympic Stadium at Montreal. Vancouver's Don Sweet is awarded his third Most Valuable Canadian award

January to June

 * January 2 - Jagmeet Singh, Canadian politician, leader of the New Democratic Party
 * January 8 - Sarah Polley, actress, singer, film director and screenwriter
 * January 9 - Jenny Johnson, field hockey player
 * January 14 - Nick Boynton, ice hockey player
 * January 24 - Tom Kostopoulos, ice hockey player
 * February 1 – Rachelle Lefevre, actress
 * February 8 - Adam Trupish, boxer
 * February 11 - Eric Cyr, baseball player
 * February 15 - Ohenewa Akuffo, freestyle wrestler
 * February 21 - Andre Noble, actor (d. 2004)
 * February 22
 * Patrick Merrill, lacrosse player
 * Jeremy Wilcox, volleyball player
 * February 23 – Maryke Hendrikse, voice actress
 * March 5 - Érik Bédard, pitcher
 * March 7 - Stephanie Anne Mills, voice actress
 * March 15 - Azelia Liu, field hockey player
 * April 2 - Lindy Booth, actress
 * April 4 - Roberto Luongo, ice hockey player
 * April 11 - Sebastien Grainger, ice hockey player
 * April 17 - Eric Brewer, ice hockey player
 * May 2 - Jason Chimera, ice hockey player
 * May 6 - Jon Montgomery, Canadian former skeleton racer and television personality; host of The Amazing Race Canada
 * May 9 - Pierre Bouvier, singer
 * May 10 - Dion Lavhey, Montreal Canadiens player
 * May 11 - Erin Lang, singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * May 12 - Adrian Serioux, soccer player
 * May 20 - Andrew Scheer, politician
 * June 1 - Craig Olejnik, actor
 * June 3 - Pierre Poilievre, politician
 * June 5 - Pete Wentz, musician
 * June 8 - Pete Orr, baseball player
 * June 18 - Chris Neil, ice hockey player
 * June 24 - Fanny Létourneau, synchronized swimmer
 * June 26 - Julia Benson, voice actress
 * June 27 - Rebecca Jane Middleton, murder victim (d. 1996)
 * June 30 - Christopher Jacot, film, television and voice actor

July to December

 * July 2 - Joe Thornton, ice hockey player
 * July 4 - Mark Twitchell, filmmaker and murderer
 * July 7 - Shane Yellowbird, musician (d. 2022)
 * July 13 - Holly Gauthier-Frankel, actress, voice director
 * July 16 - Nathan Rogers, singer-songwriter
 * August 3 - Evangeline Lilly, actress
 * August 9 - Erin Chan, synchronized swimmer
 * August 11 - Drew Nelson, actor and voice actor
 * August 12 - Cindy Klassen, speed skater
 * August 22 - Jennifer Finnigan, actress
 * August 31 - Mark Johnston, swimmer
 * September 5 - Stacey Dales, basketball player and sportscaster
 * September 15
 * Patrick Marleau, ice hockey player
 * Brett Youngberg, volleyball player
 * September 17 - Chuck Comeau, drummer
 * September 21 - Nathaniel Miller, water polo player
 * October 7
 * Aaron Ashmore, actor
 * Shawn Ashmore, actor
 * October 13 - Ryan Malcolm, singer (Low Level Flight) and winner of Canadian Idol
 * November 14 - Randee Hermus, soccer player
 * November 21 - Alex Tanguay, ice hockey player
 * November 28 - Jamie Korab, curler
 * November 30 - Diego Klattenhoff, Actor
 * December 3 - Rainbow Sun Francks, actor and singer
 * December 6 - Maxime Collin, child actor
 * December 7 - Eric Bauza, comedian and voice actor
 * December 10 - Andrea Rushton, field hockey player
 * December 15 - Eric Young, professional wrestler
 * December 27 - Pascale Dorcelus, weightlifter
 * December 28 - Bree Williamson, actress

Deaths

 * February 23 - W. A. C. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia (b. 1900)
 * March 26 - Lionel Bertrand, politician, journalist and newspaper editor (b. 1906)
 * May 9 - Cyrus S. Eaton, investment banker, businessman and philanthropist (b. 1883)
 * May 15 - Dora Mavor Moore, actor, teacher and director (b. 1888)
 * May 29 - Mary Pickford, actress and studio co-founder (b. 1892)
 * July 11 - Claude Wagner, judge and politician (b. 1925)
 * August 16 - John Diefenbaker, politician and 13th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1895)
 * September 28 - John Herbert Chapman, scientist and space researcher (b. 1921)
 * November 24 - John Robert Cartwright, jurist and Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1895)
 * December 19 - Donald Creighton, historian (b. 1902)