1988 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

  Federal government

• Governor general – Jeanne Sauvé
• Prime minister – Brian Mulroney
• Chief Justice – Brian Dickson
• Parliament – 33rd then 34th

  Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Helen Hunley
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Robert G. Rogers then David Lam
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – George Johnson
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Gilbert Finn
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – James McGrath
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Alan Abraham
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Lincoln Alexander
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Lloyd MacPhail
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Gilles Lamontagne
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frederick Johnson then Sylvia Fedoruk

  Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Don Getty
• Premier of British Columbia – Bill Vander Zalm
• Premier of Manitoba – Howard Pawley then Gary Filmon
• Premier of New Brunswick – Frank McKenna
• Premier of Newfoundland – Brian Peckford
• Premier of Nova Scotia – John Buchanan
• Premier of Ontario – David Peterson
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Joe Ghiz
• Premier of Quebec – Robert Bourassa
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Grant Devine

  Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – John Kenneth McKinnon
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – John Havelock Parker

  Premiers

• Premier of the Northwest Territories – Dennis Patterson
• Premier of Yukon – Tony Penikett

  Events

• January 28 – Canada's abortion laws are repealed by the Supreme Court.
• March 19 – Jacques Parizeau becomes leader of the Parti Québécois.
• May –, the first is launched in Saint John, New Brunswick.
• May 9 – Gary Filmon becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Howard Pawley.
• June 4 – The Canadian Heraldic Authority is established, with a mandate to grant armourial bearings to worthy Canadians and Canadian corporations. It is the first heraldic authority in the Commonwealth of Nations outside the United Kingdom.
• July 21 – The War Measures Act is replaced by the Emergencies Act.
• September 1 – Several new cable channels sign-on: YTV, VisionTV, Family, WeatherNow, MétéoMédia, TV5 Québec Canada.
• September 1 – All rail service is terminated in Newfoundland after CN Rail abandons its historic rail lines on the island operated by its Terra Transport subsidiary.
• September 22 – Prime Minister Brian Mulroney officially apologizes for the World War II internment of Japanese Canadians.
• November 1 – The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse is created.
• November 21 – In the federal election, Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative Party wins a second majority government in an election fought over the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.
• December 15 – The Supreme Court rules that the Quebec Charter of the French Language is unconstitutional.
• December 21 – The Quebec government reinstates the language laws using the notwithstanding clause.

  Full date unknown

• Svend Robinson becomes Canada's first Member of Parliament to come out as homosexual.
• Maher Arar emigrates to Canada.
• David Lam becomes Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.
• CHUM Limited buys the CHUM-City Building at the corner of Queen and John streets in Toronto as their headquarters.
• Conrad Black gains control of The Spectator.

  Arts and literature

• May 21 – The new National Gallery of Canada building opens in Ottawa.

  New works

• Timothy Findley – Stones
• Morley Callaghan – A Wild Old Man on the Road
• Jeffrey Simpson – Spoils of Power
• bill bissett – What We Have

  Awards

• See 1988 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Marion Quednau, The Butterfly Chair
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: 1988 – Carol Matas, 'Lisa
• Gerald Lampert Award: Di Brandt, Questions I Asked My Mother
• Marian Engel Award: Edna Alford
• Pat Lowther Award: Gwendolyn MacEwen, Afterworlds
• Stephen Leacock Award: Paul Quarrington, King Leary
• Trillium Book Award: Timothy Findley, Stones
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Barbara Smucker

  Sport

• February 13 – The XV Olympic Winter Games open in Calgary.
• May 14 – The Medicine Hat Tigers win their second Memorial Cup by defeating the Windsor Spitfires 7 to 6. The final game was played at Centre Georges-Vézina in Chicoutimi, Quebec
• May 26 – The Edmonton Oilers win their fourth Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins 4 games to 0. Brantford, Ontario's Wayne Gretzky was awarded his second Conn Smythe Trophy
• July – The 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics take place in Sudbury, Ontario.
• August 9 – Wayne Gretzky is traded to the Los Angeles Kings by the Edmonton Oilers with Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gélinas, and the Kings' first-round draft picks in 1989, 1991, and 1993
• September 26 – Sprinter Ben Johnson is stripped of his Olympic gold medal and world record when he tests positive for steroids.
• Figure skater Kurt Browning completes the first-ever quadruple toe loop in competition.
• November 19 – The Calgary Dinos win their third Vanier Cup by defeating the Saint Mary's Huskies by a score of 52–23 in the 24th Vanier Cup
• November 27 – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers win their ninth Grey Cup by defeating the BC Lions in the 76th Grey Cup played at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. Ancaster, Ontario's Bob Cameron was awarded the game's Most Valuable Canadian

  Births

• January 6 – Andrew Robinson, water polo player
• February 2 – Meghan Collison, model
• February 14 – Katie Boland, actress, writer, and producer
• February 27 – Dustin Jeffrey, hockey player
• April 21 – Robbie Amell, actor
• April 29 – Jonathan Toews, hockey player
• May 3 – Kaya Turski, freestyle skier
• May 5 – Skye Sweetnam, singer-songwriter and actress
• May 9 – J. R. Fitzpatrick, race car driver
• May 18 – Ryan Cooley, actor
• May 26 – Kelly MacDonald, diver
• June 6 – Keshia Chanté, singer-songwriter, model, actress, and philanthropist
• June 7 – Michael Cera, actor
• June 18 – Yannick Riendeau, ice hockey player
• July 2 – Seanna Mitchell, swimmer
• July 6 – Mathieu Bois, swimmer
• July 12 – Melissa O'Neil, singer
• July 25 – Heather Marks, model
• July 29 – Emily Csikos, water polo player
• August 4 – Carly Foulkes, model and actress
• August 8 – Jake Goldsbie, actor
• August 16 – Tara Teng, model, activist, and television presenter
• August 23 - Alice Glass, singer
• August 28 - Rosie MacLennan, trampoline gymnast
• September 10 – Jordan Staal, hockey player
• September 24 – Kirsten Sweetland, triathlete
• September 26 – Lilly Singh, YouTuber, comedian and TV host
• October 17 – Cristine Rotenberg, crime statistics analyst and YouTube personality
• October 21 – Mark Rendall, actor
• November 3 – Jessie Loutit, rower
• November 8 – Jessica Lowndes, actress and singer-songwriter
• November 16 – Kier Maitland, swimmer
• November 22 – Reece Thompson, actor
• December 16 – Gael Mackie, artistic gymnast

  Full date unknown

• Anastasia De Sousa, student.

  Deaths

January to June

• February 2 – Louis-Marie Régis, philosopher, theologian, scholar and member of the Dominican Order
• March 20 – Gil Evans, jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader
• June 19 – Fernand Seguin, biochemist, professor and television host

  July to December

• July 4 – Donald MacLaren, World War I flying ace, businessman
• July 9 – Richard Spink Bowles, lawyer and Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
• August 8 – Félix Leclerc, folk singer, poet, writer, actor and political activist
• August 28 – Jean Marchand, trade unionist and politician
• September 8 – Joseph Algernon Pearce, astrophysicist
• September 25 – bpNichol, poet
• September 27 – George Grant, philosopher, teacher and political commentator
• October 15 – Victor Copps, politician and Mayor of Hamilton
• October 31 – Alfred Pellan, painter
• November 26 – John Dahmer, politician