# 1986 in Canada

Events from the year 1986 in Canada.

## Incumbents
### Crown

* Monarch – Elizabeth II

### Federal government

* Governor General – Jeanne Sauvé
* Prime Minister – Brian Mulroney
* Chief Justice – Brian Dickson (Manitoba)
* Parliament – 33rd

### Provincial governments
#### Lieutenant governors

* Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Helen Hunley
* Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Robert Gordon Rogers
* Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Pearl McGonigal (until December 11) then George Johnson
* Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – George Stanley
* Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – William Anthony Paddon (until September 5) then James McGrath
* Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Alan Abraham
* Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Lincoln Alexander
* Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Lloyd MacPhail
* Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Gilles Lamontagne
* Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frederick Johnson

#### Premiers

* Premier of Alberta – Don Getty
* Premier of British Columbia – Bill Bennett (until August 6) then Bill Vander Zalm
* Premier of Manitoba – Howard Pawley
* Premier of New Brunswick – Richard Hatfield
* Premier of Newfoundland – Brian Peckford
* Premier of Nova Scotia – John Buchanan
* Premier of Ontario – David Peterson
* Premier of Prince Edward Island – James Lee (until May 2) then Joe Ghiz
* Premier of Quebec – Robert Bourassa
* Premier of Saskatchewan – Grant Devine

### Territorial governments
#### Commissioners

* Commissioner of Yukon – Douglas Bell (until March 27) then John Kenneth McKinnon
* Commissioner of Northwest Territories – John Havelock Parker

#### Premiers

* Premier of the Northwest Territories – Nick Sibbeston
* Premier of Yukon – Tony Penikett

## Events
### January to June

* January 22 – An investigation determines that a bomb caused the crash of Air India flight 182.
* January 31 – The Canadian dollar hits an all-time low of 70.2 U.S. cents on international money markets.
* February 8 – Hinton train collision: 23 people are killed when the Super Continental passenger train collides with a Canadian National Railway freight train near Hinton, Alberta.
* April 4 – Port Simpson, British Columbia, is renamed to Lax Kwʼalaams.
* May 1 – Shirley Carr becomes the first female head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
* May 2
** Joe Ghiz becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Lee.
** The 1986 World Exposition (Expo 86) in Vancouver opens.
* May 8 – Alberta election: The PCs, led by Don Getty, win a fifth consecutive majority, but a smaller majority than before.
* May 9 – Roger Coles resigns as leader of Yukon Liberal Party and MLA for Tatchun after being arrested and charged with selling cocaine to an undercover police officer.
* May 25 – In Vancouver an attempt is made to assassinate Malkiat Singh Sidhu, a cabinet minister in the Indian state of Punjab.
* June 14 – An accident involving the Mindbender roller coaster at West Edmonton Mall kills three people and seriously injures a fourth.
* June 19 – The new Competition Act comes into force.
* June 20 – Jean Drapeau resigns as mayor of Montreal.

### July to December

* August 5 – Canada adopts sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies
* August 6 – Bill Vander Zalm becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Bill Bennett
* August 11 – Tamil refugees are found drifting off the coast of Newfoundland
* September 16 – Elizabeth II augments the coat of arms of Saskatchewan with a crest and supporters
* September 30 – MPs elect the speaker by secret ballot for the first time.
* October 6 – Canada receives a United Nations award for sheltering refugees
* October 20 – Saskatchewan election: Grant Devine's PCs win a second consecutive majority
* November 13 – The announcement that the film producer Claude Jutra was reported missing for over one week. He had started to suffer the first symptoms of the Alzheimer's disease.
* December 8 – The University of Toronto's John C. Polanyi shares the Nobel Prize for chemistry for the development of the chemical laser.

### Full date unknown

* Negotiators begin work on what would eventually be the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement
* The birds series of Canadian banknotes is released
* Supreme Court rules on the RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd. case
* Conrad Black buys The Daily Telegraph
* Dinosaur fossils are found near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia

## Arts and literature
### New works

* Margaret Atwood - Freeforall
* W.P. Kinsella - The Fence Post Chronicles
* Robert Munsch - Love You Forever
* Alice Munro - The Progress of Love
* Antonine Maillet - Garrochés en paradis
* Hugh Hood - The Motor Boys in Ottawa
* William Gibson - Count Zero

### Awards

* See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
* Books in Canada First Novel Award: Wayne Johnston, The Story of Bobby O'Mally
* Gerald Lampert Award: Joan Fern Shaw, Raspberry Vinegar
* Marian Engel Award: Alice Munro
* Pat Lowther Award: Erín Moure, Domestic Fuel
* Stephen Leacock Award: Joey Slinger, No Axe too Small to Grind
* Vicky Metcalf Award: Dennis Lee

### New music

* Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan
* Neil Young - Landing on Water

### New movies

* James Cameron's Aliens is released
* David Cronenberg's The Fly
* Denys Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire

## Sport

* March 15 – In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium (England) Canada beats England 3 – 1.
* May 17 – The Guelph Platers win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Hull Olympiques 6 to 2.
* May 24 – The Montreal Canadiens win their 23rd Stanley Cup by defeating the Calgary Flames. The deciding Game 5 is played at Olympic Saddledome in Calgary
* June 1 - Canada participates in the FIFA World Cup for the first, and to date only, time.
* November 22 – The UBC Thunderbirds win their second championship by defeating the Western Ontario Mustangs by a score of 25–23.
* November 30 – Hamilton Tiger-Cats win their 7th Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos 39 to 15 in the 74th Grey Cup played at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver
Unknown date
* The Canadian Amateur Football Association is renamed Football Canada.
* Montreal Concordes are re-branded as the "new" Montreal Allouettes

## Births

* January 8 – Jaclyn Linetsky, actress (d. 2003)
* January 20 – Krystina Alogbo, water polo player
* February 13 – Matthew Hawes, swimmer
* February 19 – Jayde Nicole, model
* April 4 – Cam Barker, ice hockey defenceman
* April 8 - Jevohn Shepherd, basketball player
* April 21 – Kevin Graham, water polo player
* April 28 – Brandon Jung, water polo player
* May 12 – Emily VanCamp, actress
* May 31 – Melissa McIntyre, actress
* June 5 – Amanda Crew, actress
* June 18 – Meaghan Rath, actress
* July 16 – Dustin Boyd, ice hockey player
* July 19 – Jinder Mahal, pro wrestler
* August 16 – Sarah Pavan, volleyball player
* August 19 – Marie-Christine Schmidt, canoeist
* August 20 – Linus Sebastian, youtuber
* August 29 – Lauren Collins, actress
* September 8 – Leah LaBelle, singer (d. 2018)
* September 19 – Carrie Finlay, voice actor
* October 24 – Drake, Canadian-American actor and rapper
* November 4 – Alexz Johnson, singer-songwriter, actress, and philanthropist
* November 5 – Heather Purnell, artistic gymnast
* November 8 – Kaniehtiio Horn, actress
* December 7 – Corey Vidal, online video content provider and digital media consultant
* December 12 – Marie-Pier Beaudet, archer
* December 16 – Scott Tupper, field hockey player
* December 19 – Annie Murphy, actress

## Deaths
### January to June

* January 4 - Wilbur R. Franks, scientist and inventor (b. 1901)
* January 26 - Norman MacKenzie, author, lawyer, professor and Senator (b. 1894)
* February 23 - Louis-Philippe Pigeon, judge of the Supreme Court of Canada (b. 1905)
* February 24 - Tommy Douglas, politician and Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1904)
* February 27 - Jacques Plante, ice hockey player (b. 1929)
* March 4 - Richard Manuel, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist (b. 1943)
* March 4 - Elizabeth Smart, poet and novelist (b. 1913)
* June 13 - Wilfrid Eggleston, journalist and chief censor for Canada from 1942 until 1944 (b. 1901)

### July to December

* July 25 - Alison Parrott, murder victim (b. 1974)
* August 20 - Milton Acorn, poet, writer and playwright (b. 1923)
* September 28 – Howard Graham, army officer, Chief of the General Staff (b. 1898)
* October 11 – Barker Fairley, painter (b. 1887 in the United Kingdom)
* October 26 – John Henry Cates, businessman and political figure (b. 1896)
* November 5 - Claude Jutra, actor, film director and writer (b. 1930)
* November 8 - King Clancy, ice hockey player (b. 1903)
* November 19 - Don Jamieson, politician, diplomat and broadcaster (b. 1921)
* December 31 - Donald Fleming, politician, International Monetary Fund official and lawyer (b. 1905)