# 1959 in Canada

Events from the year 1959 in Canada.

## Incumbents
### Crown

* Monarch – Elizabeth II

### Federal government

* Governor General – Vincent Massey (until September 15) then Georges Vanier
* Prime Minister – John Diefenbaker
* Chief Justice – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
* Parliament – 24th

### Provincial governments
#### Lieutenant governors

* Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John J. Bowlen (until December 16) then John Percy Page (from December 19)
* Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Frank Mackenzie Ross
* Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – John Stewart McDiarmid
* Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Joseph Leonard O'Brien
* Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Campbell Leonard Macpherson
* Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Edward Chester Plow
* Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Keiller MacKay
* Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Walter Hyndman
* Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Onésime Gagnon
* Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frank Lindsay Bastedo

#### Premiers

* Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
* Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
* Premier of Manitoba – Dufferin Roblin
* Premier of New Brunswick – Hugh John Flemming
* Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
* Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
* Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost
* Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alex Matheson (until September 16) then Walter Shaw
* Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis (until September 7) then Paul Sauvé (from September 11)
* Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

### Territorial governments
#### Commissioners

* Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Howard Collins
* Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Robert Gordon Robertson

## Events

* February 20: Avro Arrow project is terminated
* April 1: The St. Lawrence Seaway opens
* June 11: 1959 Ontario general election: Leslie Frost's PCs win a fifth consecutive majority
* June 18: 1959 Alberta general election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a seventh consecutive majority
* June 20: The Escuminac Disaster results in 35 fishermen drowned or missing and 22 fishing boats sunk.
* September 7: Maurice Duplessis, Premier of Quebec, dies in office
* September 11: Paul Sauvé becomes premier of Quebec
* September 15: Georges Vanier is sworn in as Governor General replacing Vincent Massey. He is the first French Canadian Governor General.
* September 16: Walter Shaw becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Alex Matheson
* October 12: Isabella Memorial (Montreal) unveiled
* November 18: Canadian content rules are introduced for television.
* December 2: York University is founded

### Full date unknown

* National Energy Board of Canada is created.
* Steven Truscott falsely convicted of the murder of Lynne Harper. He would be exonerated in 2007.
* Vancouver Folk Song Society is founded.

## Arts and literature
### New books

* Mordecai Richler: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
* Hugh MacLennan: The Watch That Ends the Night
* Farley Mowat: Grey Seas Under
* Max Aitken: Friends
* Gordon R. Dickson: Dorsai!

### Awards

* See 1959 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

## Sport

* April 18 - Montreal Canadiens won their Eleventh (and Fourth consecutive) Stanley Cup by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at the Montreal Forum
* May 1 - Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Winnipeg Braves won their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association's Peterborough TPT Petes 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at Wheat City Arena in Brandon, Manitoba
* November 1 – Montreal Canadiens Jacques Plante becomes the first ice hockey goalie to wear a protective face mask during a game against the New York Rangers at the Montreal Forum
* November 28 - Winnipeg Blue Bombers won their Fifth Grey Cup by defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 21 to 7 in the 47th Grey Cup played at Toronto's CNE Stadium

## Births
### January to March

* January 1 – Sharon Bayes, field hockey player
* January 3 – Dwight Duncan, politician and Minister
* January 8 – Bill Sawchuk, swimmer
* January 11 – Rob Ramage, ice hockey player
* January 12 – Helen Vanderburg, synchronized swimmer
* May 25 – Rick Wamsley, ice hockey player

### April to June

* April 5 – Stephen Feraday, javelin thrower
* April 6 – Jim Rondeau, politician
* April 13 – Genevieve Robic-Brunet, road racing cyclist
* April 15 – Kevin Lowe, ice hockey player
* April 22 – Ryan Stiles, actor, comedian, director and voice actor
* April 30 – Paul Gross, actor, producer, director, singer and writer
* April 30 – Stephen Harper, politician and 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
* May 14 – Rick Vaive, ice hockey player
* May 26 – Brian Peaker, rower and Olympic silver medalist
* May 27
** Eugene Melnyk, businessman and sports franchise owner (d. 2022)
** Donna Strickland, physicist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics
* June 2 – Charlie Huddy, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
* June 4 – Rex Barnes, politician
* June 9 - Louis Hamelin, writer
* June 12 – Scott Thompson, comedian
* June 20 – Louise Bessette, pianist
* June 28 – Brad Fraser, playwright, screenwriter and cultural commentator

### July to December

* August 29 – Chris Hadfield, astronaut, first Canadian to walk in space
* September 29 – Robert Thibault, politician
* October 14 – Dominic Agostino, politician (d.2004)
* October 20 – Janice McCaffrey, racewalker
* November 5 – Bryan Adams, rock singer-songwriter and photographer
* November 17 – Guy André, politician
* November 22 – Geoff Regan, politician
* December 2 – David Alward, 32nd Premier of New Brunswick
* December 8 – Mark Steyn, writer and broadcaster

### Full date unknown

* Carole Laganière, documentary filmmaker
* Michael Slobodian, murderer responsible for the Centennial Secondary School shooting (d.1975)

## Deaths

* January 26 – Barbara Hanley, first woman to be elected a mayor in Canada (b.1882)
* February 11 – Harry James Barber, politician (b.1875)
* February 13 – Thomas Laird Kennedy, politician and 15th Premier of Ontario (b.1878)
* March 3 – Philémon Cousineau, politician (b.1874)
* March 17 – Sidney Earle Smith, academic and 7th President of the University of Toronto (b.1897)
* April 8 – George Croil, first Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force (b.1893)
* June 3 – Filip Konowal, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient in 1917 (b.1888)
* June 9 - Lynne Harper, murder victim (b.1946)
* September 7 – Maurice Duplessis, politician and 16th Premier of Quebec (b.1890)
* October 25 – Samuel Lawrence, politician and trade unionist (b.1879)

### Full date unknown

* Edwin Hansford, politician (b.1895)