1945 in Canada
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Events from the year 1945 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
Federal government
- Governor General – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone[2]
- Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
- Parliament – 19th (until 16 April) then 20th (from 6 September)
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
- Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
- Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – William Culham Woodward
- Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
- Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William George Clark (until November 1) then David Laurence MacLaren
- Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Ernest Kendall
- Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Albert Edward Matthews
- Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Bradford William LePage (until May 18) then Joseph Alphonsus Bernard
- Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
- Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Archibald P. McNab (until February 27) then Thomas Miller (February 27 to June 20) then Reginald John Marsden Parker (from June 22)
Premiers
- Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
- Premier of British Columbia – John Hart
- Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson
- Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
- Premier of Nova Scotia – A.S. MacMillan (until September 8) then Angus Macdonald
- Premier of Ontario – George A. Drew
- Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
- Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
- Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas
Territorial governments
Commissioners
Events
- 1944–1945: World War II: Japan's Special Balloon Regiment launched 9,000 Fu-Go balloon bombs towards the Pacific Northwest, intended to cause panic, by starting forest fires. Six casualties, a woman and her five children in American state of Oregon, were reported. The ten metre-wide balloons contained 540 cubic metres of hydrogen and reached as far inland as Manitoba. The Japanese project was declared a failure and abandoned, after six months.[3]
- January 8 – Brantford, Ontario becomes the first Canadian community to fluoridate its water supply.
- January 20 – World War II: The first conscripted Canadian soldiers arrive overseas
- February 8 – World War II: The Anglo-Canadian Operation Veritable launched in the Netherlands
- February 24 – Radio Canada International begins operation
- February 25 – Sergeant Aubrey Cosens posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
- March 1 – Major Frederick Albert Tilston wins the Victoria Cross
- March 29 – The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan is shut down
- April 16 – World War II: HMCS Esquimalt is sunk off Halifax by the German submarine U-190.
- May 7 – The crew of HMCS Uganda vote themselves out of the Pacific war
- May 8 – VE Day sees celebrations across the nation, but also the Halifax Riot.
- June 4 – 1945 Ontario general election: George Drew's PCs win a majority
- June 11 – Federal election: Mackenzie King's Liberals win a third consecutive majority
- June 26 – Canada is a founding member of the United Nations
- August 2 – The Canadian Armoured Corps becomes the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps
- August 15 – VJ Day marks the end of the Second World War. Over a million Canadians had fought in the conflict and 42,000 were killed.
- September 5 – The defection of Soviet embassy clerk Igor Gouzenko reveals a Soviet spy ring in Canada.
- September 8 – Angus Macdonald becomes premier of Nova Scotia for the second time, replacing Alexander MacMillan
- September 12 – The Ford Motor employees in Windsor, Ontario, go on strike.
- October 23 – Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Montreal Royals baseball team.
Full date unknown
- Family allowance payments are introduced.
- Canada has its first trade surplus with the United States.
Arts and literature
- The Tin Flute (Bonheur d'occasion) by Gabrielle Roy.
Sport
- February 25 – Maurice Richard sets a new record for the most goals (50) in a single ice hockey season.
- April 22 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their fifth Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 3.
- April 23 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Toronto St. Michael's Majors win their second Memorial Cup by defeating the Southern Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Moose Jaw Canucks 4 games to 1. All games were played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
- September 29 – The Calgary Stampeders are established
- December 1 – The Toronto Argonauts win their sixth Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 35 to 0 in the 33rd Grey Cup played in Varsity Stadium in Toronto.
Births
January to March
- January 15 - Bonnie Burnard, novelist (d. 2017)
- January 18 - Steven Truscott, exonerated murderer
- January 21 - Len Derkach, politician
- January 23 - Mike Harris, politician and 22nd Premier of Ontario
- January 27
- Harold Cardinal, writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator and lawyer (d. 2005)
- Joe Ghiz, politician and 29th Premier of Prince Edward Island (d. 1996)
- February 5 - Nancy McCredie, track and field athlete
- February 19
- Jim Bradley, politician
- Bill Casey, politician
- February 20 - Donald McPherson, figure skater (d. 2001)
- March 4 - Patrick Boyer, politician and university professor
- March 6 - John A. MacNaughton, financier and executive (d. 2013)
- March 17 - Dave Bailey, track and field athlete (d. 2022)
- March 26 - Diane McGifford, politician
- March 28 - Bobby Schmautz, ice hockey player (d. 2021)
April to June
- April 12 - Doug Riley, keyboard player and producer (d. 2007)
- April 14 - John S. Hunkin, banker (d. 2025)
- May 3 – Leo Panitch, political scientist (d. 2020)
- May 27 - Bruce Cockburn, folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter
- June 11 - Robert Munsch, children's writer
- June 16 - Lucienne Robillard, politician and minister
- June 20 - Anne Murray, singer
July to September
- August 4 - Ben Sveinson, politician
- August 11 - David Walsh, businessman, disgraced head of Bre-X (d. 1998)
- August 12 - Mary Stewart, swimmer and world record breaker
- August 15 - Rosann Wowchuk, politician and Deputy Premier of Manitoba
- September 21 - Bjarni Tryggvason, engineer and astronaut (d. 2022)
October to December
- October 15 - John Murrell, playwright (d. 2019)
- November 5 - Jacques Lanctôt, member of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ)
- November 11 - Norman Doyle, politician
- November 12 - Neil Young, singer-songwriter, musician and film director
- December 4 - Roberta Bondar, neurologist and Canada's first female astronaut
- December 24 - John Till, musician (d. 2022)
Full date unknown
- Felix Partz, artist and co-founder of the artistic collective General Idea (d. 1994)
Deaths
- January 15 – Kate Simpson Hayes, playwright and legislative librarian (b. 1856)
- March 2 - Emily Carr, artist and writer (b. 1871)
- March 23 - Walter Charles Murray, first President of the University of Saskatchewan (b. 1866)
- July 17 - Adjutor Rivard, lawyer, writer, judge and linguist (b. 1868)
- October 24 - Franklin Carmichael, painter and Group of Seven member (b. 1890)
- November 1 - Marie Lacoste Gérin-Lajoie, feminist and social activist (b. 1867)
- December 10 - Joseph-Octave Samson, businessperson, politician and 28th Mayor of Quebec City (b. 1862)
See also
References
- ^ "King George VI | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- ^ Lentz, Harris M. (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-134-26490-2.
- ^ "Japan bombs Saskatchewan". CBC.ca. Retrieved 2011-03-18.