1993

 From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1993-

The Ford Tempo is the fifth best-selling car this year. Stablemate Taurus owns fourth place in sales and Tempo's twin, the Mercury Topaz takes the number six spot.

The Honourable Catherine Callbeck was Premier of Prince Edward Island from 1993 to 1996.

January 25: Catherine Callbeck is appointed to be the 28th Premier of Prince Edward Island when longtime Liberal leader Joe Ghiz steps down from office. She is the first woman to lead the province.

The official portrait of Her Excellency, the Governor General of Canada hangs in Rideau Hall, the residence of the Governor General.

January 26: Her Excellency, Madame Jeanne Sauve, is dead in Montreal after a long battle with cancer at the age of 70. Canada’s first woman Governor General was a Francophone born and raised in Prud’homme, Saskatchewan. The distinguished broadcaster and journalist brought a special graciousness everywhere she went as the nation’s vice-regal. 

January 26: Cameron Douglas Bright is born in Victoria, British Columbia. He will grow up to become an actor starring in movies that include Godsend, Birth, Running Scared, Ultraviolet, X-Men: The Last Stand, Thank You for Smoking and the Twilight series.

 

January 28: Hollie Lo is born in Hong Kong. She will move to Canada with her family and make British Columbia her home. Hollie will grow up to be a Hollywood star, best known for her performance in Eve and the Fire Horse.

The Right Honourable Kim Campbell was the 19th Prime Minister of Canada and the first woman to hold the office.

February 24: Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announces his intention to step down from office. The reigns of power will be handed to Kim Campbell, born and raised in British Columbia.

Ruby Keeler and her husband, Al Jolson.

February 28: Actress Ruby Keeler is dead at the age of 82 of cancer. Born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, when she was 13 she lied about her age to get a job as a dancer. At the age of 19 she married singer Al Jolson. Ruby retired from Hollywood in 1941 to raise a family but came back to the stage triumphantly in the 1970s with No, No, Nannette.

The Supreme Court of Canada.

March 2: TV cameras are allowed into the Supreme Court of Canada for the first time.

The Airborne Regiment was based in Petawawa, Ontario.

March 4:  Canada’s elite Airborne Regiment is in Somalia on a humanitarian mission. Soldiers shoot and kill a man lurking outside their base. The incident is out of character for our troops and sparks controversy that will turn into a scandal and lead to the regiment being disbanded.

March 18: Master Corporal Clayton Matchee is arrested in connection with the beating death of Shidane Arone, a Somali teenager. The soldier subsequently attempts suicide and suffers massive brain damage. It is rumoured that the troops are being given mefloquine--a drug that may cause hallucinations in sensitive individuals—and this drug may have played a part in the soldier’s behaviour in what will become known as the Somali Affair.

This map of the three Maritime Provinces shows language usage: blue is Francophone and red is Anglophone.

March 12: Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn proclaims a constitutional amendment that guarantees equality between English and French-speaking citizens of New Brunswick.

Stompin' Tom will be honoured by Canada Post in 1992.

Bud the Spud and Other Favourites was released in 1969.

May 17: Country singing legend Stompin' Tom Connors is awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Stompin' Tom will write 300 songs, record nearly 50 albums and sell four million of them. One of his biggest hits is his 1969 classic, Bud the Spud, the tale of a transport driver hauling potatoes from PEI up to Toronto. The ballad will be made into a children's book in 1994.

Well it's Bud the Spud, from the bright red mud,
Rollin' down the highway smilin',
The spuds are big on the back of Bud's rig,
There from Prince Edward Island,
There from Prince Edward Island.

March 21: Celine Dion plays host to the Juno Awards held in Toronto. She wins a Juno for Best Female Vocalist and shares a Single of the Year Juno with Peabo Bryson for Beauty and the Beast. Leonard Cohen wins a Juno for Best Male Vocalist. A Best Album Juno goes to k.d. lang for Ingenue. Anne Murray is inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame—a fitting accolade for her 25^th year on the music scene.

The threeoak trees (left) in Prince Edward Island's flag represent the three counties into which the province has been divided since 1767.

March 29: Catherine Callbeck and her Liberals sweep to power in PEI. She is the first woman to lead her party to victory in a general election.

Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia.

April 13: The government of British Columbia authorizes limited logging of on Clayoquot Sound. Many are outraged because this is the last major old-growth rainforest left on Vancouver Island.

The NAFTA logo.

May 27: Members of Parliament pass a bill that will bring Canada into the North American Free Trade Agreement. When the accord comes into effect, Mexico, the United States and Canada will be the largest free-trade zone in the world.

The Montreal Canadiens' home was the Forum from 1924 to 1996.

June 9:  The Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings four games to one. The Habs get to drink champagne from Lord Stanley’s cup. The 15.5-kilo silver and nickel alloy prize marks its 100th anniversary as the Holy Grail of hockey.

June 16: An era ends as Canada winds down its United Nations peacekeeping mission on the Cyprus. For 29 years some 35,000 Canadian soldiers have kept the peace on the war-torn Mediterranean island.

June 29: Kim Campbell is sworn in as the nation’s 19^th Prime Minister. She makes history by being the first woman to lead the federal government.

Tim Horton's has served doughnuts and coffee since 1964.

October – The 700^th Tim Horton’s opens for business. This one is in Moncton, New Brunswick.

October 4: The Krever Commission begins to look into the tainted blood scandal in which improperly screened blood caused thousands of transfusion recipients to be unknowingly infected with HIV and hepatitis C. The inquiry will be painfully slow, finally reporting in 1997. When Justice Horace Keever does submit his landmark report, the Red Cross will be disgraced and no longer be permitted to handle the collection or distribution of blood products in this country.

October 23: The Blue Jays do it again as they win the World Series for the second year in a row. This year they take down the National League's Philadelphia Phillies in front of a sold-out hometown crowd in Toronto.

September -- This Hour has 22 Minutes debuts on the CBC. The fast-paced sketch comedy will win all kinds of awards. The pseudo-newscast proves popular with viewers and be on the air for more than a decade.

Jean Chretien will be Canada's 20th Prime Minister.

October 25: The dust has settled on the federal election and the results are startling. Jean Chretien and his Grits win by a huge majority. The Liberals will form the next government. The Bloc Quebecois is the Queen’s Loyal Opposition in the House of Commons. After years a decade of being in power, the Tories are decimated. The Progressive Conservatives are reduced to two seats in the House of Commons. Only Elsie Wayne, the former Mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick and Jean Charest of Sherbrooke, Quebec win their ridings. Even Prime Minister Campbell loses her riding. Pundits joke that the PCs can hold its entire caucus meetings in a phone booth.

Winning the Grey Cup is the ultimate prize in the Canadian Football League.

November 28: Calgary plays host to the Grey Cup for the second time in CFL history. The weather cooperates as the mercury sits on +6C. In the 1975 match, the temperature was -15C. The Edmonton Eskimos take down the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 33 to 23.

December – The nation’s first case of Mad Cow Disease is discovered in an imported animal on a ranch near Red Deer, Alberta. Taking no chances, the entire herd is slaughtered. There will be 16 more cases reported.

The 1993 Toyota Tercel.

December 30: The top ten selling cars in the country this year are the Chevrolet Cavalier, the Honda Civic, the Pontiac Sunbird, the Ford Taurus, the Ford Tempo, the Mercury Topaz, the Honda Accord, the Pontiac Grand Am, the Toyota Camry and the Toyota Tercel.

December 31: Citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador end the year on a sour note as unemployment hits 20.4 percent, the highest in the province’s history.