1967 is remembered as one of the most notable years in Canada. It was the centenary of Canadian Confederation and celebrations were held throughout the nation. The most prominent event was Expo 67 in Montreal, the most successful World's Fair ever held up to that time, and one of the first events to win international acclaim for the country. The year saw the nation's Governor General, Georges Vanier, die in office; and two prominent federal leaders, Official Opposition Leader John Diefenbaker, and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson announced their resignations. The year's top news-story was French President Charles de Gaulle's "Vive le Québec libre" speech in Montreal. The year also saw major changes in youth culture with the "hippies" in Toronto's Yorkville area becoming front-page news over their lifestyle choices and battles with Toronto City Council. A new honours system was announced, the Order of Canada. In sports, the Toronto Maple Leafs won their 13th and last Stanley Cup.
In mountaineering, the year saw the first ascents of the highest peak in the remote Arctic Cordillera
The nation began to feel far more nationalistic than before, with a generation raised in a country fully detached from Britain. The new Canadian flag served as a symbol and a catalyst for this. In Quebec, the Quiet Revolution was overthrowing the oligarchy of francophone clergy and anglophone businessmen, and French Canadian pride and nationalism were becoming a national political force.
The Canadian economy was at its post-war peak, and levels of prosperity and quality of life were at all-time highs. Many of the most important elements of Canada's welfare state were coming on line, such as Medicare and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
These events were coupled with the coming of age of the baby boom and the regeneration of music, literature, and art that the 1960s brought around the world. The baby boomers, who have since dominated Canada's culture, tend to view the period as Canada's halcyon days.
While to Montreal it was the year of Expo, to Toronto it was the culmination of the Toronto Maple Leafs dynasty of the 1960s, with the team winning its fourth Stanley Cup in six years by defeating its arch-rival, the Montreal Canadiens, in the last all-Canadian Stanley Cup Final until 1986.
Author and historian Pierre Berton famously referred to 1967 as Canada's last good year. In his analysis, the years following saw much of 1967's hopefulness disappear. In the early 1970s, the oil shock and other factors hammered the Canadian economy. Quebec separatism led to divisive debates and an economic decline of Montreal and Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) terrorism. The Vietnam War and Watergate Scandal in the United States also had profound effects on Canadians. Berton reported that Toronto hockey fans also note that the Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since.
Head of state (monarch) – Queen Elizabeth II (consort – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh)Governor general – Georges Vanier (until March 5) then Roland Michener (from April 17) (viceregal consort – Pauline Vanier then Norah Michener)Prime minister – Lester B. PearsonLieutenant Governor of Alberta – Grant MacEwanLieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George PearkesLieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Richard Spink BowlesLieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – John B. McNairLieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Fabian O'DeaLieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Poole MacKeenLieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Earl RoweLieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Willibald Joseph MacDonaldLieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues LapointeLieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Robert HanbidgePremier of Alberta – Ernest ManningPremier of British Columbia – W.A.C. BennettPremier of Manitoba – Dufferin Roblin (until November 27) then Walter WeirPremier of New Brunswick – Louis RobichaudPremier of Newfoundland – Joey SmallwoodPremier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield (until September 13) then G.I. SmithPremier of Ontario – John RobartsPremier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. CampbellPremier of Quebec – Daniel Johnson, Sr.Premier of Saskatchewan – Ross ThatcherCommissioner of Yukon – James SmithCommissioner of Northwest Territories – Bent Gestur Sivertz (until March 2) then Stuart Milton HodgsonJanuary 1: Several municipalities such as Forest Hill and Swansea are merged into TorontoJanuary 7: Robert Nixon is elected leader of the Ontario Liberal PartyMarch 25: After the death of Georges Vanier, Roland Michener becomes Governor GeneralApril 17: The Order of Canada is createdApril 27: Expo 67 Official Opening Ceremony broadcast in colour live via satellite to an estimated worldwide audience of 700 million viewers and listeners.April 28: Expo 67 opens to the public at 9:30 a.m. in MontrealApril: Bill C-243, The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act, is given third and final reading in the House of Commons May: The GO Transit service begins in TorontoMay 23: Alberta election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a ninth consecutive majorityJune 5: Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith becomes the first person to climb Barbeau Peak, the highest point in the Arctic CordilleraJune 20: The National Library of Canada opensJuly 1: Canada celebrates its centennialJuly 24: During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many francophone Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians and was voted as the top news story from Canada by newspaper and radio journalists.July 30: The Caribbean community in Toronto stages the first Caribana, with only eight bands and 1,000 spectators. It later grows into the third largest carnival in the world, drawing over 1 million spectators and 250,000 visitors a year.August 5: A schizophrenic man, Victor Hoffman, kills nine near Shell Lake, SaskatchewanSeptember 9: Robert Stanfield wins the leadership of the Progressive Conservative PartySeptember 13: G.I. Smith becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Robert StanfieldOctober 5–6: Ucluelet records Canada’s heaviest ever 24-hour rainfall with 489.2 millimetres (19.26 in).October 11: Saskatchewan election: Ross Thatcher's Liberals win a second consecutive majorityOctober 14: René Lévesque quits the Quebec Liberal Party and leaves to form the Mouvement Souveraineté-AssociationOctober 17: Ontario election: John Robarts's PCs win a seventh consecutive majorityOctober 29: Expo 67 closes, setting attendance records.November 5: Robert Stanfield becomes head of the federal Progressive Conservative PartyNovember 16: The Museum of Science and Technology opens in OttawaNovember 27: Walter Weir becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Dufferin RoblinNovember 27: A conference organized by John Robarts of Ontario brings together all the provincial premiers to discuss the constitutionDecember 14: Lester B. Pearson announces he will step down as prime minister early in the next yearDecember 27: Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau proposes sweeping reforms that, among other things, make homosexual acts legal in CanadaDecember 29: Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism delivers first volume its report.Mary Walker-Sawka becomes the first woman to be nominated as a candidate for the leadership of a federal political party.The University of Lethbridge is foundedMorley Callaghan: StoriesTimothy Findley: The Last of the Crazy PeopleHugh Hood: The Camera Always LiesFarley Mowat: The Polar PassionMargaret Atwood, The Circle Game, won a Governor General's award and "sold out immediately"John Robert Colombo, AbracadabraD. G. Jones, Phrases from OrpheusDorothy Livesay, The Unquiet Bed, Canadian and African experiencesEli Mandel, An Idiot JoyMichael Ondaatje, The Dainty Monsters, Toronto: Coach House PressP. K. Page, Cry Ararat!: Poems New and SelectedAl Purdy, North of Summer, a diary in verse recounting his stay on Baffin IslandA. J. M. Smith:Editor, A Book of Modern Canadian Verse, anthologyPoems: New and CollectedRaymond Souster, editor, New Wave Canada anthology of younger poetsMiriam Waddington, The Glass TrumpetGeorge Woodcock, Selected Poems of George Woodcock, Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, CanadaSee 1967 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.Stephen Leacock Award: Richard J. Needham, Needham's InfernoVicky Metcalf Award: John Patrick GilleseNorman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night premieresMichael Snow's Wavelength premieres and starts the structural film movement.May 2 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win the sixth game of the Stanley Cup final over the Montreal Canadiens to win their last Stanley Cup to date.July 23 – The fifth Pan American Games commence in Winnipeg.The Ottawa 67's Ontario Hockey League team is formedBobby Orr wins the first of his eight consecutive Norris TrophiesThe Canadian Rugby Union is renamed the Canadian Amateur Football AssociationDecember 2 – The Hamilton Tiger Cats defeat The Regina Roughriders 24 to 1 in the nation's capital OttawaJanuary 8 - Dave Newbury, man about Manitoba.January 27 – Susan Aglukark, singer-songwriterJanuary 29 – Sean Burke, ice hockey playerFebruary 26 – Gene Principe, sports reporterMarch 16 – Kevin Draxinger, swimmerApril 5 – Gary Gait, lacrosse playerApril 5 – Paul Gait, lacrosse player and coachApril 29 – Curtis Joseph, ice hockey playerMay 1 – Tom Hanson, photojournalist (d.2009)May 1 – Marie Moore, swimmerMay 4 – John Child, beach volleyball player and Olympic bronze medalistMay 5 – Stephane Provost, National Hockey League linesman (d.2005)May 10 – Scott Brison, politician and MinisterMay 21 – Chris Benoit, wrestler (d.2007)May 25 – Andrew Sznajder, tennis playerMay 29 – Mike Keane, ice hockey playerJune 1 – Murray Baron, ice hockey playerJune 27 – Sylvie Fréchette, synchronized swimmer and Olympic gold medalistJune 30 – Gareth Rees, rugby union playerJuly 1 – Pamela Anderson, actress, glamour model, producer, author and activistJuly 12 – Bruny Surin, sprinter, Olympic gold medalist and World ChampionAugust 12 – Pascale Grand, racewalkerAugust 21 – Carrie-Anne Moss, actressAugust 23 – Jody Vance, sports anchorSeptember 17 – Kevin Boyles, volleyball player and coachOctober 3 – Denis Villeneuve, film director and writerOctober 9 – Carling Bassett-Seguso, tennis playerOctober 9 – Guylaine Dumont, beach volleyball playerNovember 8 – Christopher Chalmers, swimmerDecember 14 – Dominic LeBlanc, politicianDecember 16 – Donovan Bailey, sprinter, double Olympic gold medalist and World ChampionDecember 17 – Vincent Damphousse, ice hockey playerDecember 29 – Ashleigh Banfield, journalist and television hostJanuary 9 – Errick Willis, politician (b.1896)January 14 – James Lorimer Ilsley, politician, Minister and jurist (b.1894)January 26 – Crawford Gordon, businessman (b.1914)January 31 – Geoffrey O'Hara, composer, singer and music professor (b.1882)February 10 – Thomas Ricketts, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient in 1918 (b.1901)March 5 – Georges Vanier, soldier, diplomat and Governor General of Canada (b.1888)April 30 – Gladys Porter, politician and first female Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia (b.1894)May 13 – Dana Porter, politician and jurist (b.1901)May 23 – Lionel Groulx, priest, historian, Quebec nationalist and traditionalist (b.1878)August 2 – Adrien Arcand, journalist and fascist (b.1899)December 30 – Vincent Massey, lawyer, diplomat and Governor General of Canada (b.1887)Charles Edward Bothwell, politician and barrister (b.1882)Jack Humphrey, painter (b.1901)Malcolm Norris, Métis leader (b.1900)