2006 in Canada
| Years in Canada: | 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 |
| Centuries: | 20th Century · 21st century · 22nd century |
| Decades: | 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s |
| Years: | 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 |
Contents |
Incumbents
Executive:
- Monarch - Queen Elizabeth II
- Governor General - Michaëlle Jean
- Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta - Norman Kwong
- Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia - Iona Campagnolo
- Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba - John Harvard
- Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick - Herménégilde Chiasson
- Lieutenant-Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador - Edward Roberts
- Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia - Myra Freeman then Mayann E. Francis
- Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario - James K. Bartleman
- Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island - Joseph Gérard Léonce Bernard
- Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec - Lise Thibault
- Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan - Lynda M. Haverstock then Gordon Barnhart
Legislative:
- Prime Minister - Paul Martin then Stephen Harper
- Premier of Alberta - Ralph Klein
- Premier of British Columbia - Gordon Campbell
- Premier of Manitoba - Gary Doer
- Premier of New Brunswick - Bernard Lord then Shawn Graham
- Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador - Danny Williams
- Premier of Nova Scotia - John Hamm then Rodney MacDonald
- Premier of Ontario - Dalton McGuinty
- Premier of Prince Edward Island - Pat Binns
- Premier of Quebec - Jean Charest
- Premier of Saskatchewan - Lorne Calvert
- Premier of the Northwest Territories - Joe Handley
- Premier of Nunavut - Paul Okalik
- Premier of Yukon - Dennis Fentie
Events
January
- January 1: Thirty cities across the province of Quebec are reconstituted as the result of a referendum held on June 20, 2004.
- January 6: The Canadian Junior Hockey Team wins its 12th gold medal in the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship
- January 8- Kyle Nissen, Jeff Bean, Warren Shouldice and Ryan Blais finish first, second, third, and fourth in men's Freestyle Grand Prix at the World Cup Aerials.
- January 10: 29 seniors injured in a Toronto bus crash.
- January 20: Karla, the controversial movie about the murders of two Canadian teens, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, is released in Canada.
- January 23: The 39th Canadian general election results in the Conservative Party of Canada holding the largest number of seats in Parliament, meaning Stephen Harper will become the first Conservative Prime Minister in 13 years.
February
- February 1: Justice John Gomery releases the final report of a federal commission investigating the federal sponsorship scandal.
- February 6: Stephen Harper is sworn in as the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada.
- February 11: Rodney MacDonald wins the leadership of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party.
- February 24: Rodney MacDonald is sworn in as the 32nd Premier of Nova Scotia.
- February 24: Marshall Rothstein is nominated to the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Rothstein will be the first Supreme Court nominee to face an all-party committee hearing in Parliament before his appointment is confirmed.
- February 24: An earthquake of 4.5 in magnitude strikes the Ottawa Valley ranging from Eastern Ontario to Western Quebec.
March
- March 2: The Supreme Court of Canada rules in favour of Gurbaj Singh Multani, saying that kirpan can be worn in Canadian schools
- March 23: a British led multinational military operation involving American, British, Canadian and Iraqi forces results in the rescue of three Christian Peacemaker hostages held in Iraq for nearly four months; Briton Norman Kember and Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney.
April
- The Caledonia land dispute ecalates when the Ontario Provincial Police move in to remove the protesters but are stopped.
- April 16: Hunter Jim Martell kills a Grizzly-polar bear hybrid on Banks Island in the Northwest Territories.
May
- May 15: The village of Embrun, Ontario has its 150th anniversary.
- May 16: Canada 2006 Census day
- May 29: A labour dispute leads to a one-day shutdown of the Toronto Transit Commission, stranding commuters in Toronto, Ontario.
- May 31: 100 millimeters of rain in a few hours caused landslides in and around the small town of La Tuque, in central Quebec, damaging roads and flooding houses. State emergency was decreted right away and people has been evacuated.
June
- June 2: Terrorism plot: more than 400 police officers raid homes in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, and arrest 15 people (10 men and five youths), part of a terrorist cell. All men were born in Canada and were reportedly planning to attack the Parliament in Ottawa, the Bank of Toronto, some military installations, kidnap deputees and behead prime minister Stephen Harper.
- June 13: The Nova Scotia general election, 2006 is won by Rodney MacDonald's Conservatives.
July
- July 7: Two police officers are shot and killed in Spiritwood, Saskatchewan. See Spiritwood Incident.
- July 17: A series of severe thunderstorms hits Ontario, causing the worst damage to the province's power grid since the Ice Storm of 1998 and killing two people. Some communities in the Sudbury, Manitoulin and Nipissing regions go without power for a week before it can be restored. See Great Lakes-Atlantic Coast derecho.
August
- August 2: The day after record-breaking heat in Ontario and Quebec, powerful thunderstorms hit a vast swath of Cottage country in central and eastern Ontario. Eight confirmed tornadoes touch down, the single largest one-day outbreak in the province since 1985. The two strongest tornadoes are rated F2, one near Bancroft and other a direct hit on the town of Combermere in Renfrew County. Close to 200,000 residents lose power in the storms and more than 20,000 remain without power for over one week after the event. Extensive property and forest damage results.
- August 9: Journalist Barbara Kay publishes a controversial piece in the National Post, "The Rise of Quebecistan", which accuses several Quebec politicians of endorsing terrorism and anti-semitism.
- August 13: The XVI International AIDS Conference opens in Toronto. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is widely criticized in the media for declining to attend.
- August 26: Elizabeth May is elected leader of the Green Party of Canada
- Falconbridge Ltd. is acquired by Swiss mining company Xstrata
September
- September 13: Two people are killed and twenty injured in the Dawson College shooting in Montreal
- September 16: Jan Wong publishes a controversial piece in The Globe and Mail, "Get under the desk", alleging that Dawson College shooter Kimveer Gill was motivated by linguistic and cultural alienation from Quebec society. See also Quebec bashing.
- September 18: The New Brunswick general election, 2006 is won by Shawn Graham's Liberal Party
- September 30: A highway overpass on Quebec Autoroute 19 in Laval collapses, killing five people and injuring six others.
October
- October 18: MP Garth Turner is suspended from the Conservative caucus for criticizing Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his online blog
- October 19: Environment Minister Rona Ambrose introduces a controversial Clean Air Act which is criticized by environmentalists and Opposition politicians for offering virtually no substantive action on climate change until at least 2011. During debate on the Act, several Opposition politicians allege that they hear External Affairs Minister Peter MacKay refer to Liberal MP Belinda Stronach as a dog.
- October 20: The CRTC approves the sale of controversial Quebec City radio station CHOI-FM to Radio Nord.
- October 23: Inco Limited shareholders accept a takeover offer by Brazilian mining corporation Companhia Vale do Rio Doce
- October 24: An Ontario Supreme Court judge strikes down part of the Canadian counter-terrorism law as a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
November
- November 25: First round of balloting in the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership election, 2006. As no candidate achieved 50% of the votes, a runoff is to be held on December 2 between top three finishers Jim Dinning, Ted Morton and Ed Stelmach.
- November 27: Byelections are held in the ridings of London North Centre and Repentigny; Glen Pearson retains London North Centre for the Liberals, and Raymond Gravel retains Repentigny for the Bloc Québécois.
December
- December 2: Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 2006 to be held. Also the second round of balloting in the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership election, 2006.
Unknown dates
- Rogers Wireless to begin deployment of Canada's first 3G Wireless Network.
Arts and literature
- David Foster, musical producer, is appointed to the Order of Canada
- Steve Smith, comedian, is appointed to the Order of Canada
- Judith Thompson, playwright, is appointed to the Order of Canada
- Ranee Lee, musician, is appointed to the Order of Canada
- Chantal duPont, video artist, wins the 2005 Bell Canada Award in Video Art
- Sylvia Legris's Nerve Squall is named winner of the Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize
- C.R.A.Z.Y. is named Best Picture at the 26th Genie Awards
- April 2: Juno Awards of 2006
- September 2-September 3: Inaugural Osheaga Festival held in Montreal
- October 11: Media reports announce that Bon Cop, Bad Cop has beat Porky's to become the top-grossing Canadian film of all time in domestic box office; these are later disputed as not having taken inflation into account.
- Scotiabank Giller Prize: Vincent Lam, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures
- November 21: 2006 Governor General's Awards to be announced
Sports
- January 24: Mario Lemieux announces his second retirement.
- Winter Olympic Games held in Turin, Italy:
- February 11: Jennifer Heil wins gold in free style skiing, women's monguls
- February 12: Cindy Klassen wins bronze in Ladies 3000 m speed skating
- February 14: Sara Renner and Beckie Scott win silver medals in Ladies' team sprint in Cross-Country Skiing
- February 15: Anouk Leblanc-Boucher wins bronze in the Ladies' 500 m in Short Track Speed Skating.
- February 16: Canadian Jeff Buttle wins bronze medal for men's figure skating solid free skate.
- February 16: Canada's men's speed skating team wins silver for men's team pursuit in speed skating
- February 16: Canada's women's speed skating team wins silver for women's team pursuit in speed skating
- February 16: Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards wins bronze in women's skeleton.
- February 17: Canadians Duff Gibson and Jeff Pain win gold and silver respectively in men's skeleton.
- February 17: Dominique Maltais wins bronze in ladie's snowboard cross.
- February 17: Jeff Pain wins silver in men's skeleton.
- February 19: Pierre Lueders and Lascelles Brown win silver for two-man competition in bobsleigh.
- February 19: Cindy Klassen wins silver in the ladie's 1000 m for speed skating.
- February 20: The Canadian women's Ice Hockey team win gold.
- February 22: Kristina Groves wins silver in the women's 1500 m in speed skating.
- February 22: Canada's women's speed skating team wins silver for women's 3000 m relay in short track speed skating
- February 22: Canadian Cindy Klassen wins gold in the Ladies 1500 m in Speed Skating.
- February 22: Canadian Chandra Crawford wins gold in the Ladies Sprint for Cross Country Skiing.
- February 23: The Canadian women's curling team wins bronze by beating Norway 11-5.
- February 24: The Canadian men's curling team beats Finland 10-4 and wins gold.
- February 25: Canadian Clara Hughes wins gold in the Ladies 5000 m in speed skating.
- February 25: Francois-Louis Tremblay wins a silver medal in short track speed skating's men's 500 m.
- February 25: The men's speed skating team wins silver in short track speed skating's men's 5000 m relay.
- February 25: Canadian Cindy Klassen wins bronze in the Ladies 5000 m in speed skating, giving her a total of 5 medals making her the best Canadian Olympian ever.
- May 7- NBA: Canadian Steve Nash is named NBA MVP for the 2nd year in a row.
- September 17- WWE: Canadian Trish Stratus retires from professional wrestling.
- November 19- CFL: 94th Grey Cup held in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The BC Lions beat the Montreal Alouettes by a score of 25 to 14.
Births
Deaths
January
- January 4 - Irving Layton, poet and two-time nominee for the Nobel Prize for literature (b. Israel Pincu Lazarovitch, 1912)
February
- February 24 - John Martin, television programmer
- February 25 - Margaret Gibson, novelist and short story writer
March
- March 11 - Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, hockey player
April
- April 25 - Jane Jacobs, urban theorist
May
- May 6 - Lorne Saxberg, CBC Newsworld anchor
- May 10 - A.M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born editor of the New York Times
August
- August 28 - Benoît Sauvageau, Member of Parliament for Repentigny
September
- September 16 - Floyd Curry, hockey player
October
- October 16 - Lister Sinclair, playwright and CBC broadcaster
November
- November 4 - Frank Arthur Calder, first aboriginal person elected to a Canadian legislature
- November 7 - Jackie Parker, football player
- November 22 - John Allan Cameron, folk singer
Categories
2006 in Canada