1999 in Canada

Crown

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

Federal government

Governor general – Roméo LeBlanc (until October 7) then Adrienne Clarkson (viceregal consort – Diana Fowler then John Ralston Saul)

Prime minister – Jean Chrétien

Lieutenant governors

Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Bud Olson

Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Garde Gardom

Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Yvon Dumont (until March 2) then Peter Liba

Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Marilyn Trenholme Counsell

Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Arthur Maxwell House

Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Kinley

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Hillary Weston

Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gilbert Clements

Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Lise Thibault

Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Jack Wiebe

Premiers

Premier of Alberta – Ralph Klein

Premier of British Columbia – Glen Clark (until August 25) then Dan Miller

Premier of Manitoba – Gary Filmon (until October 5) then Gary Doer

Premier of New Brunswick – Camille Thériault (until June 21) then Bernard Lord

Premier of Newfoundland – Brian Tobin

Premier of Nova Scotia – Russell MacLellan (until August 16) then John Hamm

Premier of Ontario – Mike Harris

Premier of Prince Edward Island – Pat Binns

Premier of Quebec – Lucien Bouchard

Premier of Saskatchewan – Roy Romanow

Commissioners

Commissioner of Yukon – Judy Gingell

Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Helen Maksagak (until March 26) then Daniel Joseph Marion

Commissioner of Nunavut – Helen Maksagak (from April 1)

Premiers

Premier of the Northwest Territories – Jim Antoine

Premier of Nunavut – Paul Okalik (from April 1)

Premier of Yukon – Piers McDonald

January to June

January 1 – An avalanche destroys a school gymnasium during New Year's celebrations in Kangguspoo in far northern Quebec, killing 9.

February 9 – Brian Tobin's Liberals are re-elected in Newfoundland.

April 1 – Nunavut becomes the newest territory. Paul Okalik becomes the first premier.

April 6 – A disgruntled employee kills four people, then killed himself in OC Transpo of Ottawa.

April 28 – W. R. Myers High School shooting: in Taber, Alberta, a 15-year-old boy, who had recently been withdrawn from public school to escape bullying, walks into W.R. Myers High School and shoots two students with a .22 rifle, killing one (Jason Lang) and injuring the other.

May 1 – Sponsorship scandal: The federal government issues a $615,000 contract for a report from Groupaction into its own activities.

May 11 – Chevron announces a major natural gas find in the Northwest Territories.

May 17 – The Saskatchewan government awards David Milgaard after he was jailed for 23 years for a murder he did not commit.

May 20 – The Supreme Court expands gay spousal rights.

May 27 – Julie Payette becomes the first Canadian to board the International Space Station.

June 3 – Ontario election: Mike Harris's PCs win a second consecutive majority.

June 3 – Canada and the United States sign a treaty to divide the Pacific salmon fishery.

June 4 – An agreement on split-run magazines prevents looming trade war with the United States.

June 7 – Bernard Lord's Conservatives win a surprise election victory in New Brunswick.

June 10 – The Reform Party of Canada votes to become the Canadian Alliance.

June 17 – Canadian citizen Stanley Faulder is executed in Texas, despite diplomatic complaints by the Canadian government.

June 21 – Bernard Lord becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Camille Thériault.

June 30 – A British Columbia court strikes down Canada's child pornography laws.

July to December

July 27 - Nova Scotia election: The Conservatives win a majority government in Nova Scotia.

August 16 - John Hamm becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Russell MacLellan.

August 20 - The Supreme Court rules that Quebec cannot secede unilaterally, but that Canada is obliged to recognize a clear "yes" vote.

August 20 - Eaton's files for bankruptcy.

August 24 - Onex announces a plan to buy and merge Air Canada and Canadian Airlines.

August 25 - Dan Miller, as interim leader of the NDP, becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Glen Clark who resigned on the 21st.

September 15 - Louise Arbour appointed to the Supreme Court replacing Antonio Lamer.

September 19 - Saskatchewan election: Roy Romanow's NDP wins only a minority but forms a coalition with the Liberals to maintain control of the Legislative Assembly.

September 25 - The federal government refuses requests for aid by the six remaining Canadian NHL franchises.

October 5 - Gary Doer of the NDP becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Gary Filmon of the Conservatives.

October 7 - Adrienne Clarkson becomes Governor General.

October 8 - Bill Clinton dedicates the new Embassy of the United States in Ottawa.

October 15 - Robert Mundell wins the Nobel Prize for economics.

October 19 - Air Canada, backed by other airlines, announces a takeover bid for Canadian Airlines.

November 3 - Beverley McLachlin becomes the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court.

November 5 - A Quebec court decides that Onex's bid for Air Canada is illegal.

November 5 - Quebec sign law is overturned.

November 21 - Nimiq 1 Canada's first direct broadcast digital TV satellite launched by a Proton K Blok DM-3 rocket from the Tyuratam launch centre in Kazakhstan.

December 8 - Air Canada takes over Canadian Airlines.

December 11 - The verdict in the Just Desserts shooting case is handed down. Two of the accused are found guilty, the third is acquitted.

December 14 - Montreal resident Ahmed Ressam is arrested in Seattle and found with large quantities of explosives.

New works

Bonnie Burnard: A Good House

Wayson Choy: Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood

Matt Cohen: Elizabeth and After

Antonine Maillet: Chronique d'une sorcière de vent

Russell Smith: Young Men

Awards

Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Bonnie Burnard, A Good House

See 1999 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

Books in Canada First Novel Award: Andre Alexis, Childhood

Gerald Lampert Award: Stephanie Bolster, White Stone: The Alice Poems

Geoffrey Bilson Award: Iain Lawrence, The Wreckers

Marian Engel Award: Janice Kulyk Keeger

Norma Fleck Award: Andy Turnbull and Debora Pearson, By Truck to the North: My Winter Adventure

Pat Lowther Award: Hilary Clark, More Light

Stephen Leacock Award: Stuart McLean, Home from the Vinyl Cafe

Trillium Book Award English: Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief

Trillium Book Award French: Andrée Christensen and Jacques Flamand, Lithochronos ou le premier vol de la pierre

Vicky Metcalf Award: Joan Clark

Music

Céline Dion, Alanis Morissette, and Shania Twain win major Grammy Awards

Television

September 13 - The first episode of the children's series Mona the Vampire is broadcast on YTV

Sport

February 13 - The last hockey game is played at Maple Leaf Gardens as the team moves to the new Air Canada Centre.

April 16 - Wayne Gretzky retires from ice hockey.

July 23–August 8 - The Pan American games are held in Winnipeg.

November 13 - Lennox Lewis defeats Evander Holyfield to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

November 28 - At the 87th Grey Cup the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeat the Calgary Stampeders at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver.

Births

February 19 - Quinn Lord, actor

April 8 - Jacob Guay, singer

April 27 - Brooklynn Proulx, actress

July 9 - Claire Corlett, actress

August 22 - Dakota Goyo, actor

July 14 - Dawson Dunbar, actor

September 7 - Michelle Creber, actress

September 22 - Erin Pitt, actress

October 29 - Olivia Waldriff, actress

November 30 - Gage Munroe, actor

Full date unknown

Maya Burhanpurkar, scientist

Natasha Calis, actress

Veronica Penny

January to March

January 8 - James William Baskin, politician and businessman (born 1920)

January 10 - Walter Harris, politician and lawyer (born 1904)

February 8 - Denise Leblanc-Bantey, politician (born 1949)

February 18 - Neil Gaudry, politician (born 1937)

February 22 - Isidore Goresky, farm labourer, teacher and provincial politician (born 1902)

March 3 - Gerhard Herzberg, physicist and physical chemist (born 1904)

March 9 - Harry Somers, composer (born 1925)

March 15 - Guy D'Artois, army officer (born 1917)

March 23 - Osmond Borradaile, cameraman, cinematographer and veteran of First and Second World War (born 1898)

March 24 - Edmund Tobin Asselin, politician (born 1920)

April to June

April 4 - Greg McConnell, indie rock musician (born 1964)

April 5 - Paul David, cardiologist and founder of the Montreal Heart Institute (born 1919)

May 2 - Douglas Harkness, politician, teacher, farmer and former Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Canadian Artillery. (born 1903)

May 23 - Owen Hart, wrestler (born 1965)

June 8 - Gordon Towers, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta (born 1919)

June 17 - Stanley Faulder, murderer and first Canadian citizen to be executed in the United States since 1952 (born 1937)

July to December

July 1 - Edward Dmytryk, Canadian-born American film director (born 1908)

July 16 - Alan Macnaughton, politician (born 1903)

August 12 - Jean Drapeau, lawyer, politician and Mayor of Montreal (born 1916)

September 24 - Robert Bend, politician (born 1914)

October 14 - Ian Wahn, politician and lawyer (born 1916)

October 31 - Greg Moore, racecar driver (born 1975)

December 2 - Matt Cohen, writer (born 1942)

December 4 - Bert Hoffmeister, army officer (born 1907)

December 10 - Rick Danko, musician and singer (born 1943)

December 20 - Hank Snow, country music artist (born 1914)

December 23 - Wallace Diestelmeyer, figure skater (born 1926)