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  • Today in Canadian History

    1926 MCGILL STUDENT GIVES HARRY HOUDINI A DEATH BLOW

    Montreal Quebec - While performing in Montreal, famed magician and escape artist Harry Houdini invites a McGill student to punch him hard in the stomach. The young man complies before Houdini has a chance to brace himself, and the blow leads to his death ten days later from internal bleeding.

    1880
    Ottawa Ontario -

    John A. Macdonald signs the final Canadian Pacific Railway contract with the George Stephen syndicate, providing a subsidy of $25 million dollars in cash and 25 million acres of land in return for completion of the line within 10 years and a guarantee that the Company would operate the railway 'efficiently' forever. Here he is a month earlier making a speech at Hochelaga depot in Montreal on his return from Europe after getting an imperial guarantee for CPR financing. Macdonald was feeling his age, and thought the line would not be completed in his lifetime. However, five years later, on Nov. 7, 1885, Donald Smith, his old enemy, drove home the Last Spike at Craigellachie, and a few years after that, Macdonald himself took his wife Agnes on a summer trip across Canada on the CPR. Here they are, tanned and fit, admiring the Fraser River from a trestle in BC.

    And in Other news on this day..

    1976 Stockholm Sweden - Lachine Quebec born writer Saul Bellow 1915- wins the Nobel Prize for Literature; novels include Dangling Man (1944), The Adventures of Augie March (1953), Seize the Day (1956), Henderson the Rain King (1959), Herzog (1964), Mr. Sammler's Planet (1970), Humboldt's Gift (won 1975 Pulitzer Prize), The Dean's December (1982), More Die of Heartbreak (1987) and The Bellarosa Connection (1989).

    1970 Montreal Quebec - Officials release report on the autopsy performed on the body of Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte, murdered by FLQ terrorists.

    1963 Ottawa Ontario - Canada and Britain agree to develop heavy water reactors using Canadian system of natural uranium.

    1944 Breskens Netherlands - Canadian troops occupy Breskens.

    1918 Vladivostok Russia - Government appoints Canadian commercial commission for Siberia; based at Vladivostok.

    1914 Quebec Quebec - Mobilization of the 23rd Battalion of Infantry of Quebec, for service in France.

    1909 Fort McPherson, NWT - Anglican Bishop of the Yukon Isaac Stringer and a companion stumble into an Athabascan village after being lost in the wilderness for 51 days; left for Dawson in early Sept., and started a canoe trip down the Bell River, but when the river froze they abandoned their canoe and set off across the mountains back to Fort McPherson; got lost in fog and snow, ran out of ammunition, and by Oct. 17, they were reduced to eating the soles of the Bishop's sealskin boots.

    1878 Paris France
    - John Labatt's India Pale Ale wins a gold medal at the International Exposition. Labatt devised the recipe for the light-colored ale at his brewery in London, Ontario.

    1876 Sarnia Ontario - First shipment of western wheat to Eastern Canada arrives from Manitoba.

    1874 Pelly Saskatchewan - NWMP force recrosses Prairies to Swan River barracks at Pelly; others continue to Winnipeg.

    1802 Alberta - David Thompson 1770-1857 explores west from mouth of Lesser Slave River and Lesser Slave Lake toward the forks of the Peace River.

    1690 Beauport Quebec
    - William Phips 1651-1695 orders a retreat from Quebec after being turned back in a skirmish on the Beauport Flats; had attacked Quebec with 37 ships and 2,200 men, but Count Frontenac refused to surrender, and his shelling of the town had little effect.

    1637 Trois-Rivières, Quebec - First French child born at Three Rivers.

    For a complete listing of Canadian History today visit Sympatico.ca - News

  • #2
    1992 STEVE MACLEAN BLASTS OFF

    Cape Canaveral Florida - Canadian Space Agency astronaut Steve MacLean blasts off from Kennedy Space Center at 12:09 pm CDT, a mission specialist aboard Space Shuttle flight STS-52, with CANEX-II and responsibility for the first test of the CSA's Space Vision System (SVS), designed to help operators of the RMS Canadarm or Mobile Servicing System (MSS) of the future berth or deploy satellites. Maclean will also perform a series of seven Canadian experiments on material science, fluid physics, atmosphere characterization, and the human body's ability to adapt to space flight. On the first day, he activates the Queens University Experiment in Liquid Metal Diffusion (QUELD), a high temperature furnace that operates in the mid-deck of the Shuttle and examines the diffusion of bismuth and tin into each other.

    1692
    Verchères Québec -
    Madeleine Jarret de Verchères 1678-1747 gathers about 20 local habitant farmers into her family's fortified home, Fort Dangerous, when some Iroquois appear; fires cannon to warn other families; with her father François, a militia colonel, away in Montreal, the 14 year old will defend the fort against Iroquois siege for the next 8 days, with only 2 militia and her young brother; when help arrives, she says: 'I surrender my arms to you', then collapses; Jarret seigneury about 32 km east of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River opposite Repentigny.

    Born Today was a very important person in Canadian History..

    Louis Riel 1844-1885
    Metis leader, was born on this day in 1844, the eldest of eleven children, in a log cabin near St-Boniface, Manitoba; died on the gallows at Regina Nov. 16, 1885. Riel's mother, Marie-Anne Gaboury, was the daughter of the first white woman in the West. His father, Louis Riel Sr., had built a grist mill on the Seine River, and in 1839, helped break the Hudson's Bay Company trading monopoly through an organized resistance. In 1858, young Riel was sent by Bishop Alexander Taché to Montreal to study for the priesthood, but he left the seminary in the final years of his studies and for clerked in a Montreal law office, where he met such luminaries as George-Etienne Cartier and a young Wilfrid Laurier. After a disastrous love affair, he drifted to Chicago, then returned to the Red River settlement. On October 11, 1869, he and 17 others forced a group of Canadian surveyors off the farm of his cousin André Nault. During the insurrection that followed, Riel and his fellow rebels ordered an Ontario Orangeman, Thomas Scott, shot. In 1872 Riel ran for Parliament, but gave up his riding in favour of George-Etienne Cartier, then in trouble with the Pacific Scandal. He won the seat by acclamation after Cartier's death, but did not take his seat in Ottawa because of an Ontario warrant for his arrest for the death of Scott. Again in 1874, Riel ran for Parliament and won. He journeyed to Ottawa and even registered with the clerk in the House of Commons, but followed his friends' advice and moved to Montreal. In 1875, Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie granted him amnesty on the condition that he stay out of the country for five years. During his exile, Riel became depressed and was later hospitalized in a mental institution in Beauport, under the assumed name of La Rochelle. On his release in January 1878, Riel settled in Montana, took a teaching position at a church school and married Marguerite Bellehumeur. In 1884, Gabriel Dumont and three members of the Batoche Metis community implored him to come back to Saskatchewan and help them fight for their rights. The result was rebellion and, inevitably, defeat. On July 6th, 1885, Riel was found guilty of high treason by six English-speaking Protestant jurors. Even though they recommended mercy, Stipendary Magistrate Hugh Richardson refused their appeal, as did the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council, and a medical commission was divided on the question of Riel's sanity, so the Cabinet decided to proceed, and Louis Riel was hanged in Regina on November 16, 1885.

    1945 Ottawa Ontario - King Government brings in Canadian Citizenship Act to the House of Commons; becomes law in January, 1947; abolishes 'Canadian national' or 'British subject' as the legal terms for non-aliens in Canada..

    1944 Savio River, Italy - Seaforth Highlanders Private Ernest Alva 'Smoky' Smith shows conspicuous heroism, holding the Savio River crossing against German counter-attacks and destroying at least two enemy tanks; awarded the Victoria Cross.

    1908 Montreal Quebec - Patriotic celebration takes place at the National Monument, to celebrate the mobilization of the 24th Battalion of Montreal Infantry for service in France.

    1885 London England - Judicial Committee of the Privy Council rules against the appeal of Louis Riel's sentence, and he will be hanged in Regina Nov. 16, 1885.

    1846 Toronto Ontario
    - Founding of Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara, & St. Catharines Telegraph Company; first telegraph company in Canada.

    Full Listing can be seen hear Sympatico.ca - News

    Comment


    • #3
      OCTOBER 23

      1993 JAYS REPEAT WORLD SERIES WIN

      Toronto Ontario - Blue Jays slugger Joe Carter hits a three-run homer in the bottom of the 9th inning to give Toronto an 8-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 of the World Series; defending champions take the Series 4-2; first team to win the World Series on Canadian soil.

      1837
      St-Charles Quebec
      - Wolfred Nelson 1791-1863 leads 5,000 Patriotes in the two-day Grand Assembly of the Six Counties at St-Charles in the Richelieu Valley; claims that 'the time has come to melt our spoons into bullets'; at the instigation of their leader, Louis-Joseph Papineau (in the picture), the conference delegates approve Thirteen Resolutions based on the Rights of Man adopted during the French Revolution; the young Sons of Liberty erect a Column of Liberty in the square.

      A Famous Canadian Painter was born today.

      Lawren Harris 1885-1970
      painter, member of the Group of Seven, was born on this day at Brantford, Ontario in 1885; died in Toronto Jan. 29, 1970. A member of the family who co-owned the Massey-Harris farm machinery company, Harris attended the University of Toronto for a year, then studied art in Europe, returning to Canada in 1908. He was a founding member of the Arts and Letters Club, married painter Bess Housser, and worked as an illustrator for Harper's, before devoting himself entirely to painting. He began painting Toronto houses in the immigrant district, and in 1914 helped plan and finance the Studio Building on Severn Street in Toronto as a workshop for Canadian painters such as A. Y. Jackson, Tom Thomson, J. E. H. MacDonald, Franklin Carmichael and Harris himself.

      1995 Quebec - Advance poll for the Parizeau Referendum sees 320,954 voters turn out.

      1995 Canada - Referendum jitters send Canadian dollar and country's stock markets plunging.

      1965 Montreal Quebec - FLQ terrorists break into the offices of the Parti National Démocratique de Montréal.

      1958 Springhill, Nova Scotia - Underground coal gas explosion and rock surge in the Number Two Cumberland mine traps 174 miners; rescue workers bring 81 men out the first day, 12 more found alive on Oct. 30, 7 more on Nov. 1; 74 die in the deepest coal mine in North America; last body recovered Nov. 6.

      1952 Korea - Canadian troops fight in battle of 'Little Gibraltar Hill', their heaviest engagement of the Korean War.

      1945 Brooklyn, New York - Brooklyn Dodgers announce that Jackie Robinson will play for their farm club, the Montreal Royals; first black baseball player hired by a major league team..

      1938 Canada - Canadian singers and orchestras produce 'A Musical Portrait of Canada'; first major Canadian broadcast heard round the world.

      1935 Ottawa Ontario - William Lyon Mackenzie King 1874-1950 sworn in as Prime Minister succeeding Bennett ; until Nov. 15, 1948; Bennett PM since Aug. 7, 1930; appoints his chief Quebec lieutenant Ernest Lapointe as Justice Minister.

      1929 Canada - New York Stock Exchange crash spreads to Toronto and Montreal; Montreal Exchange trades record 400,000 shares.

      1847 London Ontario
      - Construction of Great Western Railway begins in London.

      1812 St. Regis, Quebec
      - American invaders win skirmish at St. Regis.

      1672 Quebec Quebec - Louis de Buade et de Palluau, Count Frontenac 1622-1698 sworn in as Governor of New France.
      Last edited by Canmoore; 24 Oct 07,, 04:00.

      Comment


      • #4
        OCTOBER 24th


        1621 CANADA'S FIRST FRENCH CHILD

        Quebec Quebec - Eustache Martin baptized; born to Marguerite Langlois, the wife of Abraham Martin, the farmer who gave his name to the Plains of Abraham; first French child born in North America.

        1992
        Atlanta Georgia
        - Dave Winfield whacks a two run double in the 11th inning to give Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 win over Atlanta Braves; Jays take baseball's World Series four games to two, and are the first team from outside the United States to take the title; game actually won on the 25th, as it went on after midnight.

        Famous Canadian born today

        John Tuzo Wilson 1908-1993
        geologist and geophysicist, was born on this day at Ottawa in 1908; died in Toronto April 15, 1993. Wilson was the first student in geophysics at the University of Toronto, did graduate work at Cambridge and Princeton, where he received his PhD in geology in 1936. He then worked for the Geological Survey of Canada, spent seven years in the Canadian Army, and taught at the University of Toronto from 1946 to 1974. Wilson's 1965 paper, A New Class of Faults and Their Bearing on Continental Drift, explained transform faults, which link trenches (where the plates collide) and rifts (where the plates pull apart). He rekindled studies in plate tectonics, then held in disrepute, proved the phenomenon of continental drift and seafloor spreading, and suggested the existence of hot spots which remain stationary under the moving plates and produce volcanic chains of islands like Hawaii or Japan.. Wilson was first non-American president of the American Geophysical Union, which altered its rules to allow his election. In 1974 he was appointed Director of the Ontario Science Center.

        1995 New York City - Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and 200 other world leaders celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations organization, founded in San Francisco fifty years ago today; largest gathering of world leaders in history.

        1995 Quebec - Cree people of Nouveau-Québec hold their own referendum; decisively reject sovereignty option.

        1995 Chicago Illinois - The Quebec government and its agencies buy up hundreds of millions of Canadian dollars in a move to stabilize markets ahead of the referendum. Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada rate rises 98 basis points, the largest jump in 3 years.

        1978 Toronto Ontario - NHL Toronto Maple Leafs score 28 points against the New York Islanders; set own team record. (go leafs go!)

        1978 Toronto Ontario - Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones convicted of heroin possession, given a one-year suspended sentence and ordered to put on a future charity concert for the blind.

        1966 Mill Village Nova Scotia - SATCOM earth station starts operations near Mill Village; Canada's first satellite communications earth station.

        1921 Halifax, Nova Scotia- Nova Scotia fishing schooner Bluenose defeats the New England schooner Elsie by almost 5 km to win the International Schooner Championships.

        Comment


        • #5
          OCTOBER 25th

          1993 TORIES GO OVER THE CLIFF, CHRETIEN IN POWER

          Canada - Kim Campbell's Progressive Conservatives lose 152 of their 154 Commons seats in the federal election, dropping to just 16% of the popular vote and 2 seats - Jean Charest in Sherbrooke and Elsie Wayne in Saint John, NB. Jean Chrétien's Liberals win a comfortable majority with 177 seats (41.32% of popular vote); the Bloc Quebecois form the Official Opposition with 54 seats (13.51%), the Reform Party have 52 seats (18.72%), mainly in Alberta and BC, and the NDP 9 (6.87%). The PCs lose their status as an official party, and Campbell is out after four months in power.

          1923
          Stockholm Sweden
          - Frederick Banting & J. J. R. Macleod of the University of Toronto jointly win the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discovery of the hormone insulin, which was to save the lives of millions of diabetics. Banting, whose idea launched the research, shares the prize money with Charles Best. Macleod, who supervised the research, shares with J.B. Collip. They are the first Canadians to win a Nobel Prize.

          1982 Ottawa Ontario - Senate passes legislation officially naming July 1 Canada Day. (previously known as Dominion Day)

          1978 Red Bay Newfoundland - Selma Barkham and a team of Public Archives of Canada researchers find a Spanish galleon off the coast of Labrador; sunk in 1525.

          1953 Sudbury Ontario - Opening of CKSO-TV, Sudbury, Canada's first privately owned television station.

          1951 Montreal Quebec - Montreal the first Canadian city to reach a population of more than one million people.

          1945 Montreal Quebec
          - Negro League baseball star Jackie Robinson signs contract with the Montreal Royals, a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team; first black in major league baseball.

          1941 Newfoundland - RCAF's Eastern Command makes first attack on submarine off Newfoundland.

          1918 Juneau Alaska- Snowstorm hits CPR steamship 'Princess Sophia', foundering on a reef she hit a day earlier, en route to Vancouver from Skagway, Alaska; ship sinks with loss of all 268 passengers and 75 crew; small fleet of rescue vessels had to seek shelter in the storm; about 10% of the Yukon's white population were aboard.

          1916 France - Canadian Fourth Division attacks Germans at the Somme.

          1854 Balaklova Russia - Lieutenant A.R. Dunn, of Toronto, part of an English brigade of 600 men who charge the Russian army at 11 am, during the Crimean War; unhorsed, he empties his revolver at the Russians, then uses his sword - too long by regulations - to save several of his fellow cavalrymen; his bravery during the Charge of the Light Brigade made him the first Canadian to win the Victoria Cross.
          Last edited by Canmoore; 25 Oct 07,, 04:09.

          Comment


          • #6
            OCTOBER 26th

            1992 CHARLOTTETOWN ACCORD IS HISTORY

            Ottawa Ontario
            - Brian Mulroney- says Charlottetown Accord is 'history' after voters reject deal by margin of 54.4% to 44.6%; Yes side wins in Newfoundland, PEI, New Brunswick, and only barely in Ontario; total of 74.9% of 18,517,982 eligible Canadians vote; almost 83% of eligible Quebeckers; Prime Minister says he is disappointed but vows to respect verdict, and turn attention to shoring up weak Canadian economy.

            1908
            Canada
            - Wilfrid Laurier 1841-1919 wins the Eleventh Canadian federal general election 135 seats to 85; defeats Robert Borden with 50.4% of popular vote; increase in Commons representation to 218 seats. Two future Prime Ministers are also elected for the first time - William Lyon Mackenzie King 1874-1950 (Liberal - York North) and Arthur Meighen 1874-1960 (Conservative - Portage La Prairie).

            1813
            Chateauguay Quebec
            - Lieutenant-Colonel Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry 1778-1829, leading 1,600 French Canadian Voltigeurs (light militia), turns back Gen. Wade Hampton and 3,000 Americans after four hours of fighting at a ford over the Châteauguay River, 56 km southwest of Montreal; 300 front line militia blow hunting horns in the woods, making the Americans think they are facing a larger force; de Salaberry set up a barricade after learning of Hampton's invasion Oct. 21. (wow I did not know this!)

            1943 Atlantic - RCAF sinks fourth U-boat in seven weeks.

            1940 Atlantic - Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Britain is torpedoed and sunk, with child evacuees bound for Canada; the ship was bombed two days earlier.

            1917 Passchendaele Belgium - Sir Arthur Currie's Canadian Corps starts its first action against well entrenched Germans, taking over where the Anzac troops left off, to capture the Belgian town of Passchendaele. The Flanders bloodbath lasts until Nov. 30. In total, 2,834 Canadian lives are lost and casualties reach 16,000, to win just five square km of muddy quagmire. Canadians win two Victoria Crosses the first day of the battle.

            1774 New York City - The Continental Congress writes an open letter to the inhabitants of Canada and Nova Scotia, inviting them to join the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution. (wow I also did not know this!)
            Last edited by Canmoore; 27 Oct 07,, 01:08.

            Comment


            • #7
              OCTOBER 27th

              1995 PM ADDRESSES REFERENDUM RALLY

              Montreal Quebec
              - Jean Chrétien addresses over 40,000 people at Place du Canada in the biggest political rally in Canadian history 3 days before the Quebec Referendum; many from across Canada had arrived by bus, train, plane and car for the Unity Rally, to urge Quebec to stay in Canada. The Prime Minister had been criticized for doing nothing to stem the Oui tide after the entry of Lucien Bouchard into the fray; promises major changes to Canada.

              1979
              La Grande Quebec
              - Quebec Premier René Lévesque flips a switch to start LG-227, the first generator of the LG-2 (La Grande River) second dam, now called the Barrage Robert-Bourassa; the $15.1 billion James Bay power project is the world's second largest power producer.

              1995 Canada - Canadian banks all but shut down Canada's $30-billion-a-day foreign exchange market as business dries up ahead of the Quebec referendum.

              1992 Ottawa Ontario
              - Chief of Defence Staff John de Chastelain says the Canadian Forces will comply with Federal Court of Canada ruling that banning gays from military contravenes Charter of Rights.

              1980 La Grande, Quebec
              - Second generator of the LG-2 (La Grande River) Barrage Robert-Bourassa goes into operation.

              1967 Montreal Quebec
              - Expo 67 world's fair closes its doors after playing host to 40,300,000 visitors.

              1941 Vancouver BC - Canadian Army sends two infantry battalions of 1,975 men to Hong Kong to reinforce garrison.

              1918 Foret de Mormal, France - Royal Flying Corps Major William George 'Billy' Barker 1894-1930, from Dauphin, Manitoba, wins the Victoria Cross for shooting down a German Rumpler two-seater and three Fokker D VII fighters though wounded three times and while fainting twice from the pain; crash-lands his plane behind British lines in the Mormal forest.

              Comment


              • #8
                OCTOBER 28th

                1864 PROVINCES DRAFT BLUEPRINT FOR UNION

                Quebec Quebec
                - Quebec Conference adjourns with a celebratory banquet after weeks of discussion and debate. The delegates from Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and PEI summarize proceedings in a blueprint for Confederation called Seventy-Two Resolutions (Quebec Resolutions), which are sent to the British Parliament and the provincial legislatures for approval; it will take two more years before the Confederation proposal is approved.

                1830
                Dresden Ontario
                - Josiah Henson 1789-1883 arrives in Upper Canada from Maryland with his wife (in the picture) and four children on the Underground Railway. The escaped American slave becomes pastor of a local church and starts a technical school. He is the model for the hero of Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, the book that Abraham Lincoln said started the US Civil War.

                1980 Ottawa Ontario
                - Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919- unveils the National Energy Program (NEP) in the new federal budget; intended to provide oil self-sufficiency and greater Canadian ownership; grants to encourage drilling in remote areas, new PIP, PGRT and export taxes, expanded role for Petro-Canada.

                1977 Ottawa Ontario - Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919- confirms to the House of Commons that the RCMP entered a Montreal office in 1973 without a warrant to copy the membership lists of the Parti Québécois.

                1954 Vancouver BC - Henry Asbjorn Larsen 1899-1964 arrives in Vancouver on the last voyage of the RCMP patrol vessel 'St. Roch'; the ship that circumnavigated North America will be put in a museum.

                1942 Kluane Lake Yukon - Canadian Health Minister Ian Mackenzie and Alaska Secretary E.L. Bartlett cut a ribbon to open the Alcan Military Highway, today known as the Alaska Highway. The 2575 km road, from Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks Alaska, was built to move supplies and munitions rapidly north in case of Japanese invasion.

                1914 Ottawa Ontario
                - The War Cabinet orders the registration of all 'alien enemies,' specifically Germans and Austrians; provides for establishment of 'concentration camps' to house internees and their families in exchange for work such as clearing bush and cutting lumber in the national parks.

                1887 Quebec Quebec
                - Quebec Premier Honoré Mercier 1840-1894 closes first Interprovincial Premiers Conference: the five premiers adopt 21 resolutions for free trade with the US and other reforms; John A. Macdonald refuses to attend.

                Comment


                • #9
                  OCTOBER 29th

                  1929 CANADIAN EXCHANGES FOLLOW WALL STREET SOUTH

                  Canada
                  - Montreal and Toronto Stock Exchange share prices plummet in their worst drop ever, as the New York market crash spreads quickly around the Globe. The Calgary Stock Exchange closes for a few hours, but reopens when traders think the situation is only temporary. World governments quickly impose tariffs to protect their native industries from dumping, but this causes a collapse in world trade and leads to the Great Depression.

                  1925
                  Canada
                  - William Lyon Mackenzie King 1874-1950 wins only 99 seats in the 15th Canadian federal general election, but stays in power with the support of 24 Progressives and 6 Labour MPs. Arthur Meighen's Conservatives, who won 116 seats, are left out in the cold, as the Progressives back King when he promises to cut tariffs and bring in old age pensions.

                  Born today was

                  Denis Potvin 1953-

                  NHL defenseman, was born on this day in Hull, Quebec in 1953. Potvin was brought up in the National Capital region and played Junior for the Ottawa 67s. A tough, intelligent, self-confident, do-it-all player, he was the anchor of the New York Islanders, leading them to four consecutive Stanley Cups. Potvin won the Norris Trophy 3 times, (1976, 1978 and 1979), and was a 5-time NHL First Team All Star. He had a career 310 goals and 742 assists. Some say Denis Potvin was the greatest defenseman of all time, even greater than Bobby Orr. He broke all of Orr's goal and point records; now ranks second in all time scoring among defenseman behind only the still active Paul Coffey, with whom he shares the record for most goals scored by a defenseman in a playoff game (3). Potvin retired in 1988 after 15 seasons because he had "nothing left to prove."

                  1993 New York City - Céline Dion's album, 'Colour Of My Love' released. (OOE I bet you were first in line to buy a copy:)) )

                  1992 Ottawa Ontario - StatsCan reports Canada spends 9.2% of GNP on health care - US$1,837 per capita; the USA spends 12.4% - $2,566 per capita; Canadians healthier than Americans, and spend less on health care.

                  1923 Halifax, Nova Scotia
                  - Bluenose defeats the American schooner Columbia in an international boat race.

                  1923 Calgary Alberta - United Farmers of Alberta open the head office of the Alberta Wheat Pool; the first grain pool in North America; the Pool starts operations as an agricultural cooperative to try and stabilize prices, which had dropped severely in the past few years; has 16 elevator lines, 25,719 members and over 1 million hectares under contract.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    OCTOBER 30th

                    1995 QUEBEC SAYS NO AGAIN

                    Quebec Quebec
                    - Premier Jacques Parizeau narrowly loses Quebec Referendum on sovereignty, even with the aid of Lucien Bouchard. In a televised address, he denounces money and the "ethnic vote" as reasons for his defeat. The tally: Non 2,361,521 (50.6%), Oui 2,308,028 (49.4%); 93.2% of eligible voters go to the polls; about 60% of francophones vote Yes, about 90% of anglophones and allophones vote No.

                    1972
                    Canada
                    - Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919- wins federal election 109 seats to 107 for the PCs under Robert Stanfield; 31 NDP; 15 Social Credit; 2 Independent; gets 45.5% of popular vote. Among the new Members are Jeanne Sauvé (Montreal), later Speaker and Governor General; Trevor Morgan (St. Catharines), Canada's first blind MP; and, Sean O'Sullivan, age 20 (Hamilton-Wentworth), Canada's youngest Member of Parliament ever; he resigned in 1977 to become a Priest.

                    Born today was..

                    1786
                    Philippe Aubert de Gaspé 1786-1871

                    novelist, was born on this day at Quebec City in 1786; died in Quebec Jan. 29, 1871. De Gaspé wrote Les Anciens canadiens, the first important French-Canadian novel.

                    also..

                    Sir John William Dawson 1820-1899
                    geologist, was born on this day at Pictou, Nova Scotia in 1820; died in Montreal Nov 20, 1899. Dawson studied at Edinburgh university, and became Principal and Professor of Geology at McGill from 1855 to 1893, and built that university into a world-class institution. He founded the royal Society of Canada and made many brilliant contributions to paleobotany (the study of fossil plants) and greatly extended our knowledge of Canadian geology.

                    1992 Iqaluit NWT - Tom Siddon signs Accord with Inuit; Ottawa to finance 2.2 m sq km Eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut; Inuit to get clear title to 350,000 sq km, $1.15 b grants over 14 years.

                    1991 Ellesmere Island, NWT - Canadian Forces Hercules C-130 crashes on Ellesmere Island in the high Arctic while on a routine supply mission; 5 of the 13 passengers die from injuries or hypothermia before rescuers can reach them over 33 hours later.

                    1991 Ottawa Ontario
                    - Judith Maxwell reports that Quebec sovereignty will cost province between 1.4 and 3.5% of lost output; head of the Economic Council of Canada.

                    1952 Korea
                    - 3rd Battalion of Princess Patricia' s Canadian Light Infantry arrives in Korea; to replace 1st Battalion.

                    1942 North Atlantic - RCAF planes of Eastern Air Command destroy two German U-Boats in one day.

                    1899 Quebec Quebec - William Dillon Otter 1843-1929 sails from Quebec with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, with 57 officers and 1,224 men, to South Africa; first Canadian Contingent to join British forces in the Boer War.

                    1869 Montreal Quebec
                    - Georges-Édouard Desbarats 1838-1893 publishes first issue of the Canadian Illustrated News in Montreal; makes the world's first use of half-tone photo reproduction technique in a newspaper.

                    1759 Montreal Quebec
                    - First Spanish trading ship arrives at Montreal.

                    1727 Quebec - First timber business starts in New France; export of wood to France follows.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      OCTOBER 31st

                      1908 CANUCKS WIN LAST GOLD MEDAL IN LACROSSE

                      London England - The 4th modern Olympiad ends in London. Canada's first true national Olympic team of 84 athletes attended. Canada's Gold Medals were in Lacrosse (a game that has not been recognized since), the 200 Metre Race (Robert Kerr) and Shooting (Walter Ewing).

                      1869
                      Montreal Quebec
                      - Georges-Édouard Desbarats 1838-1893 publishes the premiere issue of his 'Canadian Illustrated News'; world's first periodical to use the half-tone technique to reproduce a photograph - in this case, an image of Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VI.

                      One of the greatest Comedians ever was born on Halloween.

                      John Franklin Candy 1950-1994
                      comedian, TV/movie actor, comedy writer, director, was born on this day at Toronto, Ontario in 1950; dies of a heart attack at age 43 on Mar 4, 1994 in Durango, Mexico. Candy began his career at CBC Toronto appearing in such children's shows as Coming Up Rosie. In 1972 he moved to Chicago in 1972 and joined the Second City comedy troupe. Shortly afterwards, he helped set up the Toronto branch of Second City, and then the SCTV Network show, where he performed from 1977-83 as TV personality Johnny La Rue, ghoulish Dr. Tongue and polka clarinetist Yosh Shmenge. He then went to Hollywood, starring such films as Spaceballs (1987); Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987); Uncle Buck (1989) and Home Alone (1990). In 1991, he joined Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall in purchasing the Toronto Argonauts football team.

                      1995 Canada - Canada's dollar and stock exchanges soar while interest rates fall after the No side narrowly wins the Quebec referendum.

                      1982 Vatican City - Pope John Paul II canonizes Marguerite Bourgeoys 1620-1700, founder of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame de Montréal as Canada's first woman Saint; cites her heroism and concern for family life; arrived in Quebec 1653 and opened her first school for girls in a Montreal stable in 1658.

                      1962 Montreal Quebec - Founding of a secret revolutionary group in Montreal called the Front de libération de Québec (FLQ).

                      1950 Thunder Bay, Ontario - Completion of 1,770 km oil pipeline from Edmonton to Lake Superior.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        NOVEMBER 1st

                        1939 TCA STARTS CROSS-CANADA FLIGHTS

                        Montreal Quebec - Trans-Canada Air Lines starts daily coast-to-coast flights between Montreal and Vancouver.

                        1952
                        Montreal Quebec
                        - Foster Hewitt calls the play-by play on CBLT-TV, Toronto as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 in an NHL game; this is Canada's' first English-language hockey telecast. Here is Hewitt before a radio mike in the late 1930s

                        Born Today was one of Canada's most entertaining politicians!

                        Ralph Klein 1942-
                        Premier of Alberta, was born on this day at Calgary in 1942. After 10 years as a broadcaster, Klein started his political career as Mayor of Calgary, and was instrumental in bringing the Winter Olympics to that city in 1988. In 1989 he was elected to the Alberta Legislature, and in 1992 succeeded Don Getty as Leader of the Conservatives and provincial Premier.

                        1991 Ottawa Ontario
                        - Ottawa announces $6 million, 2 year study for high speed train corridor between Windsor, Ontario and Quebec City; estimated cost $7 billion shared by Ottawa, Ontario, Quebec.

                        1952 Toronto Ontario
                        - Toronto Mayor Lamport debates with opponent Nathan Phillips in the first political debate on Canadian TV.

                        1955 India - Lester Bowles L. B. Pearson 1897-1972 opens Canada Dam in India, built with Canadian aid.

                        1924 Montreal Quebec - National Hockey League awards a hockey franchise to the Boston Bruins; the NHL's first US team.

                        1813 Sackets Harbor, New York - American invasion of Lower Canada begins, as James Wilkinson sets out with 8,000 men from Sackets Harbor to attack Canada down the St. Lawrence; Wade Hampton gathers 4,200 at Lake Champlain to attack Montreal from the south.

                        1610 James Bay, Quebec - Henry Hudson realizes it is too late to leave for England; orders Prickett and Staffe and his crew to haul the Discovery aground at the bottom of James Bay near the mouth of the Nottaway River and prepare winter quarters; they are not able to leave until June 18, 1611.

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                        • #13
                          NOVEMBER 2nd

                          1971 HERZBERG WINS NOBEL PRIZE

                          Stockholm, Sweden - National Research Council scientist Gerhard Herzberg wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in molecular spectroscopy.

                          1959
                          New York City
                          - Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante the first NHL goalie to wear a mask on a permanent basis; after getting hit by shot from Rangers' Andy Bathgate.

                          1973 United Nations, New York - Canada agrees to share support role with Poland on UN Middle East peacekeeping force.

                          1964 Ottawa Ontario - 23 nations attend four-day conference at Ottawa to review UN peace-keeping operations.

                          1952 Korea
                          - Chinese launch two-day offensive against Royal Canadian Regiment in Korea.

                          1944 Knokke Netherlands - Canadian troops occupy Knokke.

                          1916 London England
                          - Judicial Committee of the Privy Council rules Regulation #17 valid; bans French in Ontario schools past Grade 1.

                          1899 Ottawa Ontario - 1,281 more volunteers organized into two battalions of Mounted Rifles and artillery brigade to South Africa; second Canadian Contingent to Boer War depart in January from Halifax.

                          1869 Winnipeg Manitoba
                          - Louis Riel 1844-1885 takes over Hudson's Bay Company headquarters in Fort Garry with a force of 120 armed men; three days after the National Committee of the Metis of Red River prevented Lieutenant Governor designate William McDougall from entering the territory.

                          1775 St-Jean, Quebec - American invaders capture Fort St. John on the Richelieu River.

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                          • #14
                            NOVEMBER 3rd

                            1863 Halifax Nova Scotia - Covered skating rink opens in Halifax; first covered skating rink in Canada. Up to this time, skating was all done out of doors, such as in this early version of hockey - lacrosse on ice.


                            Born today was one of the Greatest Hockey Players ever

                            Robert Marvin 'Bobby' Hull 1939-
                            hockey player, born on this day at Point Anne, Ontario in 1939. Hull started skating at age 3. He played for the NHL Chicago Black Hawks for 16 seasons, from 1957-72. In 1962 he joined Rocket Richard and Bernie Geoffrion as the only NHLers to score 50 goals in a season (54), a feat he achieved four more times, and was the first player to record more than 50 goals a season. Hull revived hockey in Chicago and led his team to the 1961 Stanley Cup. With his blistering slap shot - one was measured at 118.3 mph, 35 mph above the NHL average - he won the Art Ross Trophy leading the NHL in scoring 3 times, was 2-time Hart Memorial Trophy MVP (1965, 1966), and was an NHL first team all-star 10 times. The Golden Jet jumped to the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA in 1972, giving that League instant credibility, and was 2-time MVP there (1973, 1975), playing with Swedish stars Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. Hull scored a lifetime 913 goals with 895 assists in both leagues. He won the Lady Byng Trophy for good sportsmanship in 1965, and spoke out often against hockey violence. When he retired in 1980 the Chicago and Winnipeg teams both retired his #9 sweater. Hull is the father of Brett Hull.

                            1943 Algeria - Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa.

                            1901 Toronto Ontario
                            - Winston Spencer Churchill speaks at Massey Hall during book tour of Canada; talks about his adventures and exploits in Boer War

                            1862 Saint John New Brunswick
                            - The Rifle Brigade lands at Saint John.

                            1793 Montreal Quebec - British decree abolishes slavery in Canada.

                            For those of you who are enjoying Today in History. I may not be able to update this thread, as I am moving to a new apartment tomorrow. I should have internet access in a short while, when I return I will continue with Today in Canadian History.

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                            • #15
                              NOVEMBER 11th

                              1918 LEST WE FORGET

                              Compiègne France
                              - French Field Marshal Foch and the members of the German Armistice Commission sign a formal surrender to end World War I at 5 am in Marshal Foch's railway car in the Forest of Compiègne, to take effect at 11 am, as Sir Arthur Currie's Canadian troops chase the last Germans out of Mons, Belgium. Over 750,000 Canadians served in the four years of the Great War; 424,589 went overseas; 60,661 were killed. In all, over 10 million people died in the war, including 6 million civilians. In 1931, November 11 was renamed Remembrance Day and declared a legal holiday.

                              1813
                              Morrisburg Ontario -

                              British Col. Joseph Morrison and Royal Navy Captain William Mulcaster defeat an American invasion force of over 7,000 led by General James Wilkinson at the Battle of Crysler's Farm. Wilkinson's flotilla left Sackett's Harbor in late October and landed on the Canadian side of the Long Sault rapids. With only 800 British regulars of the 49th and 89th Regiments, plus some Canadian militia and Indians, Morrison moves to attack 1,800 Americans of the 25th Infantry Regiment under Brown at Crysler's Farm 30 km west of Cornwall; at the same time, Captain William Mulcaster's gunboats fire shrapnel and grapeshot on General John Park Boyd's flotilla of 4,000 American troops trying to descend the rapids toward Montreal, which helps Morrison land his troops at Crysler's Farm. In the first skirmish, the Americans take 400 casualties to the British 200. Wilkinson could have pressed on against Morrison, but when he gets a message that General Wade Hampton and his army of 4,200 were defeated at Châteauguay Oct. 26, he calls off the invasion, since Hampton was supposed to meet him downstream for the attack on Montreal. Hampton later resigned when Wilkinson blamed him for the failure of the campaign; Wilkinson was then relieved of his command.

                              1982 Rome Italy
                              - Pope John Paul II announces visit to Canada in fall of 1984; first papal visit to Canada.

                              1974 New York City
                              - Winnipeg's Bachman-Turner Overdrive have a Billboard #1 hit with 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet/Free Wheelin'.'

                              1967 St. John's, Newfoundland
                              - Clinton Shaw arrives from Victoria BC, setting the world's distance record for roller skating, a trip of 7,885 km, started April 1.

                              1914 France
                              - Arrival of first Canadian Stationary Hospital, Unit #2 in France.

                              1871 Quebec Quebec - Royal Canadian Rifles depart Quebec for Britain; last British troops in Canada, except for small naval garrison at Halifax; some RCRs stay to train Canadian militia.

                              1871 Quebec Quebec- Founding of the institution of Tribune de la presse du Parlement de Québec; possibly the oldest press ombudsman in the world.

                              1837 Quebec Quebec - Authorities start arresting Patriotes; Louis-Joseph Papineau goes into hiding, escapes from Montreal on the 13th; prelude to outbreak of rebellion.

                              1775 Montreal Quebec
                              - Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester 1724-1808 evacuates Montreal for Quebec as the American invaders land at Île St-Paul, then the following day at Pointe St-Charles, capturing the city on the 13th.

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