1998 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

  Federal government

• Governor general – Roméo LeBlanc
• Prime minister – Jean Chrétien
• Chief Justice – Antonio Lamer
• Parliament – 36th

  Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Bud Olson
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Garde Gardom
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Yvon Dumont
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Marilyn Trenholme Counsell
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Arthur Maxwell House
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Kinley
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Hillary Weston
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gilbert Clements
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Lise Thibault
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Jack Wiebe

  Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia – Glen Clark
• Premier of Manitoba – Gary Filmon
• Premier of New Brunswick – Raymond Frenette then Camille Thériault
• Premier of Newfoundland – Brian Tobin
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Russell MacLellan
• Premier of Ontario – Mike Harris
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Pat Binns
• Premier of Quebec – Lucien Bouchard
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Roy Romanow

  Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Judy Gingell
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Helen Maksagak

  Premiers

• Premier of the Northwest Territories – Don Morin then Goo Arlooktoo then Jim Antoine
• Premier of Yukon – Piers McDonald

  Events

January to March

• January 1 – Toronto and six other communities are merged to form a new megacity. Mel Lastman was sworn in as its first mayor. Three other Ontario cities were similarly merged on the same date in 2001.
• January 2 – Three separate avalanches in British Columbia kill a total of nine people.
• January 5 – The Ice Storm of 1998, caused by El Niño, strikes southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting in widespread power failures, severe damage to forests, and a number of deaths.
• January 6 – Alan Eagleson pleads guilty to fraud.
• January 7 – The federal government formally apologizes for the past mistreatment of First Nations.
• January 23 – The Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal announce plans to merge, which are later scuttled by the federal government.
• February 6 – The Hudson's Bay Company takes over K-Mart Canada, folding it into its Zellers chain.
• February 10 – Canadian National Railway merges with the Illinois Central.
• February 13 – Three girls, all under 18 years of age, are found guilty in Victoria, British Columbia, of killing 14-year-old Reena Virk. Three others plead guilty of assault.
• February 16 – The Supreme Court is asked to rule on the legality of Quebec separatism.
• February 18 – Controversial plans to include a Holocaust memorial in the Canadian War Museum are scrapped.
• February 24 – In the 1998 Canadian budget Finance Minister Paul Martin delivers a balanced budget.
• March 2 – Daniel Johnson, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, announces his resignation.
• March 6 – The Dionne Quintuplets are given money and an apology by the Ontario government.
• March 6 – British Columbia doctors begin the first of a series of protests against funding shortages.
• March 12 – Quebec and Newfoundland resolve the long-running Churchill Falls dispute.
• March 12 – Mutual Life of Canada acquires MetLife to become Canada's second-largest insurance company.
• March 23 – Senator Andy Thompson is forced to resign his Senate seat after not attending for two years.
• March 24 – The 1998 Nova Scotia election leaves the Liberals and NDP tied for the most seats.
• March 27 – Jean Charest announces that he will seek the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party.
• March 27 – The federal government agrees to compensate hepatitis C victims of tainted blood.

  April to June

• April 1 – Floods in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec force 2000 from their homes.
• April 2 – In the final appeal of the Delwin Vriend case, the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down an Alberta Court of Appeal ruling that barred LGBT persons from protection under the province's human rights code.
• April 3 – Members of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary are permitted side arms for the first time.
• April 17 – Dafydd Rhys Williams flies aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, becoming the first non-American to serve as medical officer.
• April 17 – The Toronto Dominion Bank and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce announce plans to merge; however, the merger is later blocked by the government.
• April 25 – The United States announces large tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.
• April 26–28 – Prime Minister Chrétien pays an official visit to Cuba.
• May 1 – Separatist David Levine is named head of the newly amalgamated Ottawa hospital sparking great controversy.
• Early May – Wildfires burning in Alberta force the evacuation of a number of communities.
• May 14 – Camille Thériault becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Raymond Frenette.
• May 21 – The Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans shuts down the B.C. coho fishery.
• May 29 – The Supreme Court strikes down a ban on pre-election opinion polls.
• June 9 – Three are killed in a gas explosion in Montreal, Quebec.
• June 10 – One person is killed by an explosion at an Irving Oil refinery.
• June 11 – Eleven are killed in a plane crash at Mirabel Airport.
• June 24 – Macmillan Bloedel says that it will end clear cutting of old growth forests.
• July 15 – The B.C. government and the Nisga'a First Nation sign a historic, and controversial, land claims agreement.

  July to September

• July 20 – The Southam chain buys the Financial Post from Sun Media.
• August – The Canadian dollar plunges all month.
• August 11 – 8,000 people are evacuated as forest fires threaten Salmon Arm, British Columbia.
• August 20 – The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec can not legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
• August 28 – The dollar reaches 64.02 US cents.
• September 2 – Pilots for Air Canada launch the first strike in company's history.
• September 2 – Crash of Swissair Flight 111 off Peggys Cove in Nova Scotia.
• September 3 – A three-week lockout begins in Ontario's Catholic school system.
• September 22 – 20,000 protest Canada's new gun registry on Parliament Hill.

  October to December

• October 8 – Canada is elected to a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
• October 14 – Canada's first diamond mine opens in the Northwest Territories.
• October 27 – Conrad Black's National Post publishes its first issue.
• November 14 – Former Prime Minister Joe Clark is selected as the new leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
• November 26 – Don Morin is forced to resign as premier of the Northwest Territories.
• November 30 – In the Quebec election the Parti Québécois is re-elected despite narrowly losing the popular vote.
• December 1 – Work on Canada's new gun registry begins.
• December 10 – Jim Antoine becomes premier of the Northwest Territories, replacing Don Morin.
• December 14 – Minister of Finance Paul Martin prohibits Canada's banks from merging.
• December – The Military Police Complaints Commission is established.

  Arts and literature

New books

• The Bay of Love and Sorrows: David Adams Richards
• Greater Than Angels: Carol Matas
• The Love of a Good Woman: Alice Munro
• Prières d'un adolescent très très sage: Roch Carrier
• Broken Entries: Race Subjectivity Writing: Roy Miki
• Isaiah Berlin: A Life: Michael Ignatieff
• Coyotes Sing to the Moon: Thomas King
• Toronto Discovered: Robert Fulford
• Body Music: Dennis Lee
• The Colony of Unrequited Dreams: Wayne Johnston
• The Wise and Foolish Virgins: Don Hannah
• Kiss of the Fur Queen: Tomson Highway

  Awards

• Carol Shields's Larry's Party wins the Orange Prize for Fiction
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Alice Munro: The Love of a Good Woman
• See 1998 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Margaret Gibson, Opium Dreams
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Irene N. Watts, Good-Bye Marianne
• Gerald Lampert Award: Mark Sinnett, The Landing
• Marian Engel Award: Sharon Butala
• Pat Lowther Award: Barbara Nickel, The Gladys Elegies
• Stephen Leacock Award: Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version
• Trillium Book Award English: André Alexis, Childhood and Alice Munro, The Love of a Good Woman
• Trillium Book Award French: Daniel Poliquin, L'homme de paille and Stefan Psenak, Du chaos et de l'ordre des choses
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Kit Pearson

  Music

• Shania Twain's Come on Over is one of the year's top selling albums in North America
• Les Chansons en or by Céline Dion is released
• Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie by Alanis Morissette

  Film

• Titanic, directed by Canadian James Cameron, wins 11 Oscars.

  Television

• Canada's Sesame Street switches to showing exclusively Canadian content, renaming itself Sesame Park, as it no longer uses any American made segments from Sesame Street
• Canadian children's television show Rolie Polie Olie debuts.

  Dance

• The French government names Karen Kain as an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters

  Sport

• February 7 – February 22 – Nagano Olympics Canada wins the fourth-most medals, but is embarrassed when their star-filled hockey team fails to win a medal.
• February 12 – The Toronto Maple Leafs buy the Toronto Raptors
• May 17 – Portland Winter Hawks won their Second Memorial Cup by defeating the Guelph Storm 4 to 3.
• June 16 – Cranbrook, British Columbia's Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
• November 22 – Calgary Stampeders won their Fifth Grey Cup by the defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 26 to 24 in the 86th Grey Cup played at Winnipeg Stadium. Vancouver's Vince Danielsen was awarded the game's Most Valuable Canadian
• November 28 – Saskatchewan Huskies won their Third Vanier Cup by defeating the Concordia Stingers 24 to 17 in the 34th Vanier Cup played at Skydome in Toronto

  Births

• January 9 – Sean Day, Belgium-born ice hockey player
• January 13 – Gabrielle Daleman, figure skater
• February 3 – Michael McLeod, Canadian ice hockey player
• February 26 – Isaac Durnford, actor
• March 12 – Annaleise Carr, swimmer
• May 20 – Nam Nguyen, figure skater
• August 8 – Shawn Mendes, singer/songwriter
• September 17 – Richard Wang, chess player
• November 13 – Melissa "Charlie" Storwick, singer-songwriter
• December 6 – Micah Berry, actor
• December 8 – Anastasia Rizikov, pianist

  Full date unknown

• Regan Oey, actor

  Deaths

January to March

• January 1 – Arthur Gelber, philanthropist
• January 12 – Mark MacGuigan, academic and politician
• January 23 – Donald Davis, actor
• January 28 – Eddie Sargent, politician
• February 1 – Sheila Watson, novelist, critic and teacher
• February 20 – Bob McBride, singer
• February 25 – W. O. Mitchell, writer
• March 13 – Bill Reid, artist
• March 16 – Yves Landry, president of Chrysler Canada

  April to June

• April 3 – Elmer Iseler, choir conductor and choral editor
• April 7 – Nick Auf der Maur, journalist and politician
• April 16 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, supercentenarian, the oldest validated Canadian ever
• April 27 – John Bassett, publisher and media baron
• May 28 – Phil Hartman, actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist
• June 4
• *William Cecil Ross, politician
• *David Walsh, businessman, disgraced head of Bre-X
• June 20 – Bobby Gimby, orchestra leader, trumpeter and singer-songwriter
• June 27 – Joyce Wieland, experimental filmmaker and mixed media artist

  July to September

• July 1
• *Emery Barnes, Canadian football player and politician
• *Florence Doane, Olympic athlete
• July 6 – Loris Russell, paleontologist
• July 16 – Lucien Lamoureux, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada
• August 23 – Harold E. Johns, medical physicist
• September 15 – Louis Rasminsky, third Governor of the Bank of Canada
• September 28 – Eric Malling, television journalist

  October to December

• October 1 – Pauline Julien, singer, songwriter, actress and feminist activist
• October 13 – Gérard Charles Édouard Thériault, general and Chief of the Defence Staff
• October 17
• *Brian Dickson, Supreme Court justice
• *Mary O'Brien, feminist
• November 9 – Roland Hewgill, actor
• November 13 – Michel Trudeau, student
• November 22 – Jack Shadbolt, painter
• December 9 – Shaughnessy Cohen, politician
• December 16 – John Gallagher, geologist and businessman
• December 23
• *David Manners, actor
• *Pierre Vallières, journalist and writer
• December 24 – Syl Apps, pole vaulter and ice hockey player

  Full date unknown

• John Hayes, harness racing driver, trainer and owner
• Stanley Bréhaut Ryerson, historian, educator and political activist