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1959
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Decades:

Part of a series on the
History of Canada
Benjamin West's The Death of General Wolfe
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v t e

Incumbents

Crown

Monarch – Elizabeth II^[1]

Federal government

Governor General – Vincent Massey (until September 15) then Georges Vanier^[2]
Prime Minister – John Diefenbaker
Chief Justice – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
Parliament – 24th

Provincial governments

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

Territorial governments

Commissioners

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.^[3]

Arts and literature

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

Births

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)

References

^ "Queen Elizabeth II | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
^ Lentz, Harris M. (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. pp. 142–143. ISBN 978-1-134-26490-2.
^ Holdstock, Roger. “Vancouver Folk Song Society,” Canadian Folk Music Bulletin, March, 1986.

v t e History of Canada
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Cities	Brampton Charlottetown Edmonton Fredericton Halifax Hamilton Lethbridge Markham Moncton Montreal Northwest Territories capital cities Ottawa Quebec City Saint John Regina Richmond Hill Saskatoon Toronto Vancouver Winnipeg (Name etymologies)
Research	Bibliography Historiography Historians Surveys
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v t e List of years in Canada
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Post-Confederation 1867–present	1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
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v t e 1959 in North America
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Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

Incumbents

Crown

Federal government

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

Premiers

Territorial governments

Commissioners

Events

Full date unknown

Arts and literature

New books

Awards

Sport

Births

January to March

April to June

July to December

Full date unknown

Deaths

Full date unknown

See also

References