See also: 1995 in Canada, other events of 1996, 1997 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.

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Contents

1 Incumbents 2 Events 3 Arts and literature 4 Births 5 Deaths

Incumbents

• Prime Minister - Jean Chrétien
• Governor General - Roméo LeBlanc

• Premier of Alberta - Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia - Mike Harcourt then Glen Clark
• Premier of Manitoba - Gary Filmon
• Premier of New Brunswick - Frank McKenna then Raymond Frenette
• Premier of Newfoundland - Clyde Wells then Brian Tobin
• Premier of Nova Scotia - John Savage then Russell MacLellan
• Premier of Ontario - Mike Harris
• Premier of Prince Edward Island - Catherine Callbeck then Keith Milligan then Pat Binns
• Premier of Quebec - Jacques Parizeau then Lucien Bouchard
• Premier of Saskatchewan - Roy Romanow

See also: 1996 Canadian incumbents

Events

• January 14 - a free trade agreement with Israel is announced
• January 15 - the Corel Centre opens in Ottawa
• January 25 - Jean Chrétien launches a major cabinet shuffle. Pierre Pettigrew and Stéphane Dion are brought in, despite not having seats in parliament.
• January 26 - Brian Tobin becomes premier of Newfoundland, replacing Clyde Wells
• January 29 - Lucien Bouchard becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Jacques Parizeau
• February 7 - Bob Rae, former premier of Ontario leaves politics
• February 14 - Mr. Dressup does his last show
• February 15 - Chrétien throttles a protester in Ottawa, launching a small controversy over the "Shawinigan handshake"
• February 17 - Michel Gauthier is elected new leader of the Bloc Québécois
• February 22 - Glen Clark becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Michael Harcourt
• February 22 - Brian Tobin leads the Newfoundland Liberal Party to victory in the 1996 Newfoundland election
• February 27 - the Los Angeles Kings trade Wayne Gretzky to the St. Louis Blues
• March 6 - the federal budget continues the assault on the deficit
• March 16 - the Montreal Canadiens play their first game at the Molson Centre against the New York Rangers
• March 26 - the ANIK E-1 satellite malfunctions
• March 27 - the Quebec budget proposes sweeping cuts to government funding
• April 3 - all members of the Canadian Forces are ordered to spend the entire day searching for documents that may aid the Somalia inquiry
• April 5 - a gunman in B.C. kills nine relatives and then himself
• April 11 - the Ontario government announce a 15 per cent reduction in the civil service
• April 22 - John Nunziata is expelled from the Liberal caucus for voting against the budget
• April 23 - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland agree to replace their provincial sales taxes and the GST with a Harmonized Sales Tax.
• May 7 - the Ontario government cuts provincial income taxes by 30 per cent
• May 10 - Jan Brown resigns from the Reform Party
• May 19 - Marc Garneau flies on a second space mission
• May 24 - Conrad Black's Hollinger takes over the Southam newspaper chain
• May 28 - The British Columbia NDP wins a surprise re-election
• May 29 - Six Taiwanese sailors are charged with the murder of three Romanian stowaways aboard the Maersk Dubai
• June 10 - the Quebec government reintroduces the "Language Police "
• June 17 - Sheila Copps, who had resigned over the GST, wins back her Hamilton–Wentworth seat in a by-election
• June 20 - Robert Thirsk flies aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia
• June 24 - a riot in Quebec City causes a million dollars in damage
• July 1 - the Winnipeg Jets leave Canada and become the Phoenix Coyotes
• July 7-July 11 - a major AIDS conference is held in Vancouver
• July 19 - the Atlanta Olympics open, Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey wins the 100-metre dash
• July 20-July 21 - floods in Quebec kill ten
• July 25 - Coach House Press closes
• July 26 - Gretzky signs with the New York Rangers
• August 8 - former Prime Minister Kim Campbell is named consul general to Los Angeles
• August 8 - Jean-Louis Roux appointed Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
• August 29 - former B.C. Premier W.R. Bennett is found guilty of insider trading
• October 4 - Defence Minister David Collenette resigns
• October 10 - Keith Milligan becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Catherine Callbeck
• October 19 - Piers McDonald becomes government leader of Yukon, replacing John Ostashek
• November - SaskTel becomes the first Canadian Internet Service Provider to rollout ADSL
• November 5 - Jean-Louis Roux forced to resign as Lieutenant Governor of Quebec when pictures of him at Nazi rallies in the 1930s are published
• November 27 - Pat Binns becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Keith Milligan
• December 16 - Chrétien formally apologizes for lying about the GST
• Karen Kain becomes the first Canadian to win the Cartier Lifetime Achievement Award
• General Jean Boyle resigns over Somalia Inquiry controversy
• Dalton McGuinty is elected leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
• Canada sends over a thousand troops to take part in IFOR

Arts and literature

New books

• John Ralston Saul - The Unconscious Civilization
• Nancy Huston - Slow Emergencies
• Pierre Berton - Farewell to the Twentieth Century
• Elisabeth Harvor - Let Me Be the One
• Yann Martel - Self
• Timothy Findley - You Went Away
• Di Brandt - Dancing Naked: Narrative Strategies for Writing Across Centuries
• Douglas Coupland - Polaroids from the Dead

Awards

• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
• See 1996 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Keath Fraser , Popular Anatomy
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Marianne Brandis , Rebellion: A Novel of Upper Canada
• Gerald Lampert Award: Maureen Hynes , Rough Skin
• Marian Engel Award: Barbara Gowdy
• Pat Lowther Award: Lorna Crozier, Everything Arrives at the Light
• Stephen Leacock Award: Marsha Boulton , Letters from the Country
• Trillium Book Award English: Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
• Trillium Book Award French: Nancy Vickers , Le Pied de Sappho and Alain Bernard Marchand , Tintin au pays de la ferveur
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Margaret Buffie

New Music

• Barenaked Ladies - Born on a Pirate Ship
• Bruce Cockburn - The Charity of Night

Births

Deaths

• January 26 - Sally Gribble , founder of MADD Canada
• January 26 - Yvonne Housser , painter
• January 27 - Brian Kelleher , journalist
• January 31 - Beth Amos , actress
• February 2 - Phyliss Marshall , actor
• February 7 - Barbara Hamilton , actor
• February 7 - Lucien Maynard , leader of Alberta francophones
• February 9 - Henri Masson , painter
• February 19 - Ernest C. Manning former Premier of Alberta
• February 21 - Gordon Armstrong , playwright
• February 29 - Robert O'Driscoll , scholar
• March 28 - Edith Fowke , ethnologist
• April 23 - Jean Allard former Chief of the Defence Staff
• May 11 - Hilda Grant , author
• May 22 - Robert Christie , actor
• June 11 - George Hees, Cabinet Minister
• July 1 - Harold Greenberg, businessman
• July 5 - Fred Davis , moderator of Front Page Challenge
• July 5 - Bob Southam , newspaper publisher
• July 17 - Susan Cole , puppeteer
• July 18 - Robert Needham , journalist
• July 20 - Ronald Buick , scientist
• July 22 - Carl Goldenberg , Senator
• August 1 - Patrick O'Callaghan , newspaper publicist
• August 10 - Walter MacNutt , organist
• August 21 - Mary Earley , Native rights campaigner
• September 22 - Ludmilla Chiriaeff , ballet dancer
• September 23 - Joe Borowski, anti-abortion activist
• October 2 - Robert Bourassa former Premier of Quebec