2000

From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 2000-

The best-selling car this year is the Honda Civic. It will earn the dubious distinction of being the Number One most stolen automobile in 2012.

Chief Justice McLaughlin

January 7: The Right Honourable Beverly McLaughlin is sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Born in Pincher Creek, Alberta, the University of British Columbia professor is the first woman to hold the position. She is also Deputy Governor General and will serve in that capacity when Governor General Clarkson has heart surgery in 2005.

January 22: Author Anne Hebert is dead of bone cancer in Montreal at the age of 83. An Officer of the Order of Canada, she is most famous for her blockbuster novel Kamouraska.

The Genie award was created in 1949.

January 30:  The 20^th Annual Genie Awards are held tonight Sunshine wins as Best Motion Picture. Bob Hoskins takes a Best Actor Genie for Felicia’s Journey and Sylvie Moreau earns a Best Actress Genie for her role in Post Mortem.

February 7: Magician Doug Henning is dead of liver disease at the age of 52. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Oakville, Ontario, the illusionist’s fresh presence and style brought him fame as he reinvented magic shows for the public.

February 25: Bell Canada Enterprises launches a $2.3 billion bid for ownership of CTV. The deal will be complete on September 15^th.

March 12: The Juno Awards are held at the SkyDome in Toronto. Best Single is Bobcaygeon by the Tragically Hip. Best Album is Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie by Alanis Morissette. Bryan Adams wins a Juno for Best Male Artist and this year’s Best Female Artist Juno goes to Chantal Kreviazuk.

February 15: Thomson Corporation divests itself of all its newspapers except the Globe & Mail. Touted as Canada’s national newspaper, it boasts a circulation of 2 million copies a week. 

The Kingston Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario.

May 8: The last inmate leaves the Kingston Prison for Women. The maximum security facility opened in 1934. The building is slated for demolition and the land will become part of the Queen’s University campus.

March 15: Members of the House of Commons votes “yea” for the Clarity Act. This piece of legislation outlines the rules for an acceptable referendum question in any future Quebec referendum on sovereignty.

March 27:  The Canadian Alliance is formed out of the ashes of the Reform Party. It will merge with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003 to become the Conservative Party. 

May 15: Many people in Walkerton, Ontario have suddenly become ill with bloody diarrhea. In a few days nearly 2,500 people are affected and seven will die. The culprit is traced to contamination of the water system by the bacteria E coli. A book, Well of Lies: The Walkerton Water Tragedy, will be published in 2002 and a CBC movie, Betrayed, will tell the sad tale in 2005. 

"Rocket" Richard on the ice.

May 27: Flags fly at half-mast for Maurice Richard, dead at the age of 78. “The Rocket” played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1942 to 1960. The hockey hero is one of the greatest athletes of all time.

May 28: The body of an unidentified Canadian soldier, killed in World War One at Vimy Ridge in France, is brought to Canada and buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa. Governor General Clarkson, Prime Minister Chretien, members of the RCMP and the armed forces attend the ceremony at the National War Memorial.

June 10: The New Jersey Devils beat the Dallas Stars four games to two and skate home with Lord Stanley’s Cup.

June 17: Seagram’s of Montreal—the world’s largest distiller of alcohol—is sold to Vivendi of France. Grand names like Chivas Rigal, Captain Morgan and Crown Royal will live on but the 143-year old conglomerate will be broken up and sold.

July 3: A fierce summer rain storm delivers more than a year’s worth of rainfall (375 mm) during a six-hour period in Vanguard, Saskatchewan, resulting in substantial damage to property and crippling transportation.

Preston Manning (left) and Stockwell Day.

July 8: With 63.4 percent of the vote, Stockwell Day beats Preston Manning to become the first leader of the Canadian Alliance Party. 

Matthew Coon Come will receive an honourary doctorate from Trent University in 1998 for his contributions to Canada.

July 12: Politician and Cree leader, Matthew Coon Come, is elected National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

July 14: An F3 tornado slams the hamlet of Pine Lake, Alberta at 7.15 pm MDT. The furious wind cuts a swath through the Green Acres Campground and trailer park. The death toll is twelve and a hundred people are injured. 

August 6: Citizens of Pine Lake, Alberta are gathered at church to honour those who died in the deadly tornado when a second twister tears through town. No one is killed this time.

September 9: After being refused a community license by the CRTC, Star Ray TV, a.k.a. Channel 15 in Toronto, begins to broadcast illegally. The pirate station will be shut down on November 15.

September 10: Ben Wicks is dead at the age of 73. His witty cartoon strip, The Outcasts, was carried by 84 newspapers in Canada and 100 more in the United States.

The Right Honourable Pierre Trudeau was Canada's 15th Prime Minister.

September 28: Pierre Elliot Trudeau dies at his home in Montreal at 3 o’clock this afternoon with his sons and former wife, Margaret, by his side. Canada’s 15^th Prime Minister was 80 years old.

October 3: Flags fly at half-mast throughout the nation. More than 60,000 have paid respects to Pierre Trudeau as he lay in state in Ottawa and Montreal. Today, 3,000 mourners gather at the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal for the funeral of the former Prime Minister. An RCMP honour guard carries the maple leaf-draped casket. Mr Trudeau is interred at the family plot at the St-Remi-de-Napierville Cemetery.

October 27: RCMP officers arrest Sikh separatists Ripdaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri and charge them with the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 that killed all 329 people on board. The trial will cost $130 million—the most expensive in history—and the two men will be acquitted.

November 21: Anik F1 is launched from Guyana. The latest generation of Canadian communications satellite is the most powerful ever built, blanketing North, Central and South America with radio and television signals. Its customers include the CBC, Star Choice and CHUM.

Canada Post will honour 100 years of the Grey Cup in 2010 with this stamp. The trophy is the Holy Grail of the Canadian Football League.

November 26: Calgary plays host to the 88^th Grey Cup. Rock legend, The Guess Who, entertains the crowd and the BC Lions win the Cup by beating the Montreal Alouettes 28 to 26.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II mark Canada Day in Ottawa, 1997.

November 27: Voters have spoken loud and clear. They return Jean Chretien and his Grits to Ottawa with 172 of the 301 seats in the House of Commons. It is the third majority government for the Liberals. Stockwell Day, as leader of the Canadian Alliance Party, will be Leader of the Queen’s Loyal Opposition.

Commander Garneau became the Member of Parliament for the riding of Westmount (QC) after retirement from the CSA.

November 30: Astronaut Marc Garneau is on board the space shuttle Endeavour. This is his third trip into outer space. He has logged a total of 678 hours in space and will retire from the Canadian Space Agency.

December – The 2,000^th Tim Horton’s opens. This doughnut delight is located at the corner of Richmond and Sherbourne Streets in Toronto. 

The ninth best-selling car in Canada is the Pontiac Grand Am. The General Motors brand will be discontinued in 2010.

December 31: The top-ten selling cars this year are the Honda Civic, the Ford Focus, the Chevy Cavalier, the Pontiac Sunfire, the Toyota Corolla, the Plymouth Neon, the Mazda Protégé, the Ford Taurus, the Pontiac Grand Am and the Honda Accord.

Copyright 2009 James C. Mays

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