1976 in Canada

Crown

Head of state (monarch) – Queen Elizabeth II (consort – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh)

Federal government

Governor general – Jules Léger (viceregal consort – Gabrielle Léger)

Prime minister – Pierre Trudeau

Lieutenant governors

Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Ralph Steinhauer

Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Walter Stewart Owen

Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – William John McKeag (until March 15) then Francis Lawrence Jobin

Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Hédard Robichaud

Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Gordon Arnaud Winter

Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Clarence Gosse

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Pauline Mills McGibbon

Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gordon Lockhart Bennett

Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe

Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Stephen Worobetz (until February 29) then George Porteous

Premiers

Premier of Alberta – Peter Lougheed

Premier of British Columbia – Bill Bennett

Premier of Manitoba – Edward Schreyer

Premier of New Brunswick – Richard Hatfield

Premier of Newfoundland – Frank Moores

Premier of Nova Scotia – Gerald Regan

Premier of Ontario – Bill Davis

Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell

Premier of Quebec – Robert Bourassa (until November 25) then René Lévesque

Premier of Saskatchewan – Allan Blakeney

Commissioners

Commissioner of Yukon – James Smith (until July 1) then Arthur MacDonald Pearson

Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson

Events

January 14 - The Eaton's catalogue is discontinued.

January 28 - The government of Saskatchewan takes over the province's potash industry.

February 4 - The Supreme Court rules provinces cannot censor movies.

February 7 - Joe Clark is elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada replacing Robert Stanfield.

March 23 - The Norman Bethune Memorial unveiled in Montreal

April 1 - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is given the power to regulate Canadian television and radio.

April 15 - Dome Petroleum is given approval to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea.

May 2 - Time's Canadian edition is discontinued.

June 25 - The CN Tower opens to the public in Toronto.

June 30 - Parliament votes to abolish the death penalty.

July 17 - Opening Ceremony of the Montreal Summer Olympic

October 14 - Over a million workers stage a one-day strike to protest wage and price controls.

November 15 - In the Quebec election, René Lévesque's Parti Québécois wins a majority, defeating Robert Bourassa's Parti libéral du Québec.

November 25 - René Lévesque becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Robert Bourassa.

Full date unknown

The Timbit is introduced (April 1976)

L'Express de Toronto is created

New works

Marian Engel: Bear

Hugh Hood: Dark Glasses

Joy Fielding: The Transformation

Farley Mowat: Canada North Now: The Great Betrayal

Awards

See 1976 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

Stephen Leacock Award: Harry J. Boyle, The Luck of the Irish

Vicky Metcalf Award: Suzanne Martel

Film

The Man Who Skied Down Everest becomes the first Canadian dramatic film to win an Academy Award

Television

Second City Television premiers

Sport

February 7 - Toronto Maple Leafs star Darryl Sittler scores ten points in one game.

July 17 - The 1976 Summer Olympics open in Montreal.

August 28 - Toronto Metros-Croatia defeat the Minnesota Kicks 3–0, to win Soccer Bowl '76

Full date unknown

Walter Wolf Racing becomes first Canadian Formula One constructor.

January to March

January 7 - Éric Gagné, baseball player

January 23 - Phillip Boudreault, boxer

February 19 - Brian Price, coxswain, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion

February 23 - Jeff O'Neill, ice hockey player

March 9 - Ben Mulroney, television host

March 23 - Nolan Baumgartner, ice hockey player

April to June

April 3 - Daniel Lewis, volleyball player

May 10 - Kristen French, murder victim (d.1992)

May 13 - Jeff Powell, rower and World Champion

May 13 - Bobbi Jo Steadward, field hockey player

May 19 - Jason Botterill, ice hockey player and manager

June 10 - James Moore, politician and Minister

June 13 - Mark Versfeld, swimmer

June 25 - Michelle Bowyer, field hockey player

June 26 - Ed Jovanovski, ice hockey player

July to September

July 3 - Wade Belak, ice hockey player

July 5 - Leslie Mahaffy, murder victim (d.1991)

July 12 - Dan Boyle, ice hockey player

July 13 - Sheldon Souray, ice hockey player

August 5 - Jeff Friesen, ice hockey player

August 17 - Eric Boulton, ice hockey player

August 27 - Sarah Chalke, actress

September 5 - Pat Thornton, comedian

September 13 - José Théodore, ice hockey player

September 17 - Zac Bierk, ice hockey player

September 26 - Jean-François Marceau, judoka

October to December

October 1 - Denis Gauthier, ice hockey player

October 10 - Shane Doan, ice hockey player

November 6 - Catherine Clark, television broadcaster

November 20 - Laura Harris, actress

November 26 - Mathieu Darche, ice hockey player

December 26 - Nadia Litz, actress

December 26 - Jake Wetzel, rower, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion

January to June

February 9 - Percy Faith, band-leader, orchestrator and composer (b.1908)

March 3 - Alexander Wallace Matheson, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1903)

April 5 - Wilder Penfield, neurosurgeon (b.1891)

April 11 - Art Alexandre, ice hockey player (b.1909)

May 28 - William Ross Macdonald, politician, Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons and 21st Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b.1891)

June 10 - William John Patterson, politician and 6th Premier of Saskatchewan (b.1886)

July to December

August 4 - Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur (b.1894)

August 8 - Wilson Duff, anthropologist (b.1925)

August 28 - Lloyd Stinson, politician (b.1904)

September 28 - Raymond Collishaw, World War I flying ace (b.1893)

November 14 - Jean-Paul Beaulieu, politician and chartered accountant (b.1902)

November 29 - Steve Peters, politician (b.1912)

December 4 - Paul Gouin, politician (b.1898)

December 16 - Réal Caouette, politician (b.1917)

December 22 - Olive Diefenbaker, wife of John Diefenbaker, 13th Prime Minister of Canada (b.1902)