# 1968 in Canada

Events from the year 1968 in Canada.

## Incumbents
### Crown

* Monarch – Elizabeth II

### Federal government

* Governor General – Roland Michener
* Prime Minister – Lester B. Pearson (until April 20) then Pierre Trudeau
* Chief Justice – John Robert Cartwright (Ontario)
* Parliament – 27th (until April 23) then 28th (from September 12)

### Provincial governments
#### Lieutenant governors

* Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Grant MacEwan
* Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George Pearkes (until July 2) then John Robert Nicholson
* Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Richard Spink Bowles
* Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – John B. McNair (until January 31) then Wallace Samuel Bird
* Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Fabian O'Dea
* Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Poole MacKeen (until July 22) then Victor de Bedia Oland
* Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Earl Rowe (until July 4) then William Ross Macdonald
* Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Willibald Joseph MacDonald
* Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe
* Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Robert Hanbidge

#### Premiers

* Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning (until December 12) and then Harry Strom
* Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
* Premier of Manitoba – Walter Weir
* Premier of New Brunswick – Louis Robichaud
* Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
* Premier of Nova Scotia – G.I. Smith
* Premier of Ontario – John Robarts
* Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell
* Premier of Quebec – Daniel Johnson, Sr. (until September 26) and then Jean-Jacques Bertrand (from October 2)
* Premier of Saskatchewan – Ross Thatcher

### Territorial governments
#### Commissioners

* Commissioner of Yukon – James Smith
* Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson

## Events
### January to June

* February 1 – The three branches of the Canadian Forces are merged into one, adopting a common green uniform and Army-derived ranks
* February 20 – Prime Minister Pearson gives the first ever televised address to the nation as he tells Canadians that he will table a confidence motion the next day to prove his party still has control. After a week of filibustering by the Opposition, the motion passes.
* April 1 – The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is formed
* April 6 – Pierre Trudeau wins 1968 Liberal Party leadership election
* May 14 – The grand opening of the Toronto-Dominion Centre is held
* June 1 – The flag of Alberta is authorized
* June 24 – Separatists riot in Montreal on S$^t$-Jean-Baptiste Day
* June 25 – Federal election: Pierre Trudeau's Liberals win a majority

### July to December

* July 1 – The laws creating Canada's Medicare system come into effect
* July 18–August 9 – Canada Post workers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers go on strike
* August 20 – Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization. Thousands of refugees flee to Canada.
* September 26 – Daniel Johnson, Sr, Premier of Quebec, dies in office
* October 2 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand becomes premier of Quebec
* October 15 – The Mouvement Souveraineté-Association merges with the Ralliement National to create the Parti Québécois, René Lévesque is selected as the party's first leader
* December 12 – Harry Strom becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Ernest Manning
* December 31 – Quebec's Legislative Assembly is renamed the National Assembly

### Full date unknown

* IMAX technique invented
* Canada's new Divorce Act introduces no fault divorce
* The Rochdale College experiment begins in Toronto

## Arts and literature
### New works

* Alice Munro – Dance of the Happy Shades
* Mordecai Richler – Hunting Tigers Under Glass
* Robert Fulford – This Was Expo
* John Newlove – Black Night Window
* Kildare Dobbs – Reading the Time
* Mordecai Richler – Cocksure
* Robert Kroetsch – Alberta
* Marian Engel – No Clouds of Glory
* Gordon R. Dickson – Soldier, Ask Not
* Farley Mowat – This Rock Within the Sea: A Heritage Lost

### Poetry

* Margaret Atwood – The Animals in That Country
* Mary Alice Downie and Barbara Robertson, editors, The Wind Has Wings, anthology of 77 Canadian poems for children (anthology)
* Dennis Lee, editor, T. O. Now, anthology of 13 "apprentice poets living in Toronto" (anthology)
* Joe Rosenblatt, Winter of the Luna Moon
* Irving Layton, The Shattered Plinths, 60 new poems
* Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems, 1956-1968
* Al Purdy, Wild Grape Wine
* Dorothy Livesay, The Documentaries, poems from the 1930s and 1940s, and including "Roots", a long poem

### Awards

* David Suzuki wins UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science writing
* See 1968 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
* Stephen Leacock Award: Max Ferguson, And Now...Here's Max
* Vicky Metcalf Award: Lorraine McLaughlin

### Theatre

* August 28 – Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-Sœurs premiers in Montreal.

### Art

* December 18 – Henry Moore donates hundreds of works to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

## Sport

* March 10 – The Alberta Golden Bears win their second University Cup by defeating the Loyola Warriors 5 to 4. The final game was played at the Montreal Forum
* May 11 – The Montreal Canadiens win their 15th Stanley Cup by defeating the St. Louis Blues 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at the Montreal Forum. Jean Béliveau wins his second Conn Smythe Trophy
* May 27 – The Montreal Expos are established as Major League Baseball's first Canadian team.
* November 22 – The Queen's Golden Gaels win their first Vanier Cup by defeating the Waterloo Lutheran Golden Hawks by a score of 42–14 in the 4th Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
* November 29 – The Ottawa Rough Riders win their sixth Grey Cup by defeating the Calgary Stampeders 24 to 21 in the 56th Grey Cup played at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto

## Births
### January to March

* January 1 – Darren Greer, writer
* January 5 – Joé Juneau, ice hockey player
* January 7 – Tara Croxford, field hockey player
* January 13 – Pat Onstad, international soccer player
* January 14 – Michael Meldrum, swimmer
* January 19 - Matt Hill, voice actor
* January 28 – Sarah McLachlan, musician, singer and songwriter
* February 1 – Mark Recchi, ice hockey player
* February 9 – Joel Brough, field hockey player
* February 22 – Shawn Graham, politician and 31st Premier of New Brunswick
* February 27 – Matt Stairs, baseball player
* March 14 – Megan Follows, Canadian-American actress
* March 17 – Patty Sullivan, television personality
* March 30 – Celine Dion, singer, songwriter and actress

### April to June

* April 12 – Adam Graves, ice hockey player
* April 18 – David Hewlett, UK-born actor
* April 20 – Evan Solomon, writer, magazine publisher and television host
* May 8 – Louise Stratten, actress and younger sister of the murdered actress Dorothy Stratten
* May 12 – Jane Kerr, swimmer
* May 14 – Mary DePiero, diver
* May 20 – William Irwin, boxer
* May 30 – Jason Kenney, politician and Minister
* June 1 – Jeff Hackett, ice hockey player and coach
* June 7 – Macha Grenon, actress
* June 10 – Susan Haskell, actress
* June 16 – Lyne Poirier, judoka
* June 27 – Pascale Bussières, actress
* June 29 – Theoren Fleury, ice hockey player

### July to September

* July 2 – Mark Tewksbury, swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
* July 11 – Michael Cram, actor and singer-songwriter
* July 12 – Paul Hopkins, actor
* July 22 – Harry Taylor, swimmer
* July 23 – Shawn Levy, director and producer
* August 5 – Terri Clark, country music singer
* August 10 – Greg Hawgood, ice hockey player
* August 20 – Jody Holden, beach volleyball player
* September 9 – Lisa Lougheed, singer and actress
* September 19 – Shawn Doyle, actor
* September 20 – Leah Pinsent, actress
* September 22 – Lisa Alexander, synchronised swimmer
* September 23 – Donna McGinnis, swimmer

### October to December

* October 2 – Sandy Goss, swimmer
* October 2 – Glen Wesley, ice hockey player
* October 26 – Tom Cavanagh, actor
* November 1 – Andrea Nugent, swimmer
* November 3 – Debbie Rochon, actress
* November 5 – Terry McGurrin, actor, comedian and writer
* November 14 – Serge Postigo, actor
* November 19 – Gord Fraser, road racing cyclist
* November 25 – Jill Hennessy, actress and musician, and Jacqueline Hennessy, actress and journalist
* December 2 – Darren Ward, swimmer
* December 3 – Brendan Fraser, actor
* December 10 – Caroline Wittrin, hammer thrower
* December 17 – Paul Tracy, racing car driver

## Deaths

* January 31 – George Arthur Brethen, politician (b.1877)
* February 5 – Frances Loring, sculptor (b.1887)
* February 13 – Portia White, singer (b.1911)
* February 16 – Healey Willan, organist and composer (b.1880)
* February 17 – Ernest Charles Drury, politician, writer and 8th Premier of Ontario (b.1878)
* March 10 - William John Rose, historian
* March 22 - Margaret Duley, Newfoundland author
* April 29 – Aubin-Edmond Arsenault, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1870)
* May 30 – Charles Gavan Power, politician, Minister and Senator (b.1888)
* June 14 – John B. McNair, lawyer, politician, judge and 22nd Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1889)
* August 1 – Maurice Spector, Chairman of the Communist Party of Canada (b.1898)
* August 14 - Olivier Maurault, French-Canadian historian
* August 21 – Germaine Guèvremont, French-Canadian writer (b.1893)
* September 26 – Daniel Johnson, Sr., politician and 20th Premier of Quebec (b.1915)
* December 15 – Antonio Barrette, politician and 18th Premier of Quebec (b.1899)