1956 in Canada.html

See also: 1955 in Canada, other events of 1956, 1957 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

1 Incumbents
2 Events
3 Arts and literature
4 Births
5 Deaths

Incumbents

Events

February 10 - Wilbert Coffin is hanged
May 1 - The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada merges with the Canadian Congress of Labour to form the Canadian Labour Congress.
May 8 - The controversial bill to create the TransCanada pipeline is introduced in the House of Commons.
May 15 - A CF-100 crashes into a Grey Nuns convent outside of Ottawa killing fifteen.
June 20 - Saskatchewan election: Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation wins a fourth consecutive majority
September 30 - Winnipeg connects to TransCanada Telephone System's microwave radio relay via MTS, bringing same day programming from CBC Television.
November 1 - The second Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 39.
November 4 - Lester B. Pearson proposes a successful resolution to the Suez Crisis, this will win him a Nobel Peace Prize.
November 20 - Robert Stanfield becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Henry Hicks
December 9 - Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 (9), a Canadair Northstar, crashes on Slesse Mountain near Chilliwack during heavy weather. The plane carried the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers and fans on the their way home from a game in Vancouver. Bodies were not found until the following late summer due to severe terrain and high altitude and unknown location of the crash. This was one of the worst civilian air disasters in the world at the time.
December 14 - John Diefenbaker is elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
René Lévesque begins hosting Point de Mire

Arts and literature

New Books

Milton Acorn - In Love and Anger
Pierre Berton - The Mysterious North
Max Aitken - Men and Power
Leonard Cohen - Let Us Compare Mythologies
Harold Innis - Essays in Canadian Economic History
Farley Mowat - Lost in the Barrens

Literary Awards

See 1956 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Stephen Leacock Award: Eric Nicol, Shall We Join The Ladies?

Music

Walter Susskind replaces Sir Ernest MacMillan as the director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Pianist Glenn Gould tours the Soviet Union

Births

January 6 – Peter Stoffer, politician
January 9 – Gregory Dewar, politician
January 28 – David Faurschou, politician
February 7 – Murray Downing, farmer
February 28 – Guy Maddin, filmmaker
February 29 – Steve Ashton, politician
February 29 – Bob Speller, politician
April 4 – Evelyn Hart, ballet dancer
April 10 – Thomas Graham, volleyball player
May 7 – Jean Lapierre, politician
May 9 – Wendy Crewson, actor
May 15 – Ian Clyde, boxer
May 19 – James Gosling, computer scientist (Java)
May 29 – Claude Drouin, politician
June 10 – Hugh McMillan, musician
June 15 – Dan Thompson, butterfly swimmer
June 22 – Blake Debassige, artist
July 8 – Terry Puhl, baseball player
July 15 – Barry Melrose, ice hockey player and commentator
July 17 – Bryan Trottier, ice hockey player
August 7 – Paul Williams, long-distance runner
August 12 – Bruce Greenwood, actor
October 5 – Brad Farrow, judoka
October 7 – Brian Sutter, ice hockey player and coach
October 23 – Geoffrey Kelly, musician
October 24 – Chris Clarke, boxer
December 10 – Marie Bountrogianni, politician
December 31 – Paul Zed, politician

Deaths

February 10 - William Coffin, alleged murderer
August 4 - Joseph Georges Bouchard, politician
September 11 - Billy Bishop, fighter pilot
December 7 - Huntley Gordon, actor

1956 in Canada.html

Contents

Incumbents

Events

Arts and literature

Births

Deaths