1947 in Canada

Crown

Head of state (monarch) – King George VI (consort – Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon)

Federal government

Governor general – Earl Alexander of Tunis (viceregal consort – Margaret Alexander, Countess Alexander of Tunis)

Prime minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King

Lieutenant governors

Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen

Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Charles Arthur Banks

Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams

Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren

Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Ernest Kendall (until August 12) then J.A.D. McCurdy

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Ray Lawson

Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Joseph Alphonsus Bernard

Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset

Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Reginald John Marsden Parker

Premiers

Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning

Premier of British Columbia – John Hart (until December 29) then Boss Johnson

Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson

Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair

Premier of Nova Scotia – 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

Commissioners

Controller then Commissioner of Yukon – George A. Jeckell (until September 18) then John Edward Gibben

Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Charles Camsell (until January 14) then Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside

Events

January 1 - Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect.

January 2 - Dominion of Newfoundland (later a province in 1949) switches to driving on the right from the left.

January 27 - The cabinet order deporting Japanese-Canadians to Japan is repealed after widespread protests.

February 13 - Oil is discovered near Leduc, Alberta.

May 14 - The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 is repealed.

June 15 - The laws limiting Asian immigration to Canada are repealed; Canadians of Asian descent are allowed to vote in federal elections.

July 22 - Two new nuclear reactors go online at the Chalk River research facility.

September 30 - The last group of personnel who had been on active service, for World War II, since September 1, 1939, stood down.

October 1 - New letters patent defining the office and powers of the governor general come into effect.

December 29 - Boss Johnson becomes premier of British Columbia.

Stephen Leacock Award: Harry L. Symons, Ojibway Melody.

Federal law was changed such that Canadian women no longer lost their citizenship automatically if they married non-Canadians.

New books

Fearful Symmetry - Northrop Frye

Who Has Seen the Wind? - W.O. Mitchell

January to March

January 14 - Bill Werbeniuk, snooker player (d.2003)

January 15 - Andrea Martin, actress and comedian

January 23 - Clayton Manness, politician

January 24 - Steve McCaffery, poet and scholar

February 10 - Louise Arbour, jurist, justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

February 11 - Abby Hoffman, track and field athlete

February 20 - Joy Smith, politician

March 1 - Alan Thicke, actor, songwriter and game and talk show host

March 10 - Chris Axworthy, politician

March 10 - Kim Campbell, politician and 19th (and first female) Prime Minister of Canada

March 13 - Judith Marcuse, dancer

March 24 - Louise Lanctôt, convicted kidnapper and writer

April to June

April 3 - Jonathan Welsh, actor (d.2005)

April 27 - Pauline Picard, politician (d. 2009)

May 3 - Doug Henning, magician, illusionist and escape artist (d.2000)

May 4 - John Bosley, politician

May 12 - Micheline Lanctôt, Canadian actress, director, and screenwriter

May 20 - Oscar Lathlin, politician (d.2008)

May 25 - Doug Martindale, politician

May 28 - Lynn Johnston, cartoonist

June 10 - Michel Bastarache, lawyer, businessman, puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada

June 14 - Vanessa Harwood, ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director, teacher and actor

June 19 - John Ralston Saul, author and essayist

June 22 - Aude, writer

July to September

July 13 - Rosella Bjornson, airline pilot, first female pilot for a commercial airline in North America

July 18 - Steve Mahoney, politician and Minister

July 22 - Gilles Duceppe, politician

July 22 - Bill Matthews, politician

August 8 - Ken Dryden, ice hockey player, politician, lawyer, businessman and author

August 24 - Linda Hutcheon, literary critic and theorist

August 30 - Allan Rock, politician and diplomat

September 24 - R. H. Thomson, actor

October to December

October 3 - Carroll Morgan, boxer

October 13 - Jon Gerrard, politician and medical doctor

November 10 - Bryan Gibson, boxer

November 17 - Inky Mark, politician

November 22 - Jacques Saada, politician and Minister

November 28 - Bonnie Mitchelson, politician

December 27 - Mickey Redmond, ice hockey player and commentator

December 31 - Burton Cummings, musician and songwriter

Full date unknown

Russ Germain, radio presenter (d.2009)

John Martin, broadcaster (d.2006)

January to June

January 7 - John Alexander Mathieson, jurist, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1863)

January 11 - Eva Tanguay, singer and entertainer (b.1879)

March 19 - Prudence Heward, painter (b.1896)

June 10 - Alexander Bethune, politician and 12th Mayor of Vancouver (b.1852)

June 25 - William Donald Ross, financier, banker and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b.1869)

June 26 - R. B. Bennett, lawyer, businessman, politician, philanthropist and 11th Prime Minister of Canada (b.1870)

July to December

July 1 - Clarence Lucas, composer, lyricist, conductor and music professor (b.1866)

November 14 - Walter Edward Foster, businessman, politician and 16th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1873)

December 28 - Leonard Percy de Wolfe Tilley, lawyer, politician and 20th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1870)