1982

 From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1982- 

January 1: The average annual salary for a woman is $17,439 while a man’s average salary is $31,655. StatsCan reports 17.5 percent of families bring less than $20,000 a year and that 64 percent bring home more than $50,000 annually.

January 11: Big changes for news junkies as the CBC moves The National to 10 pm. The evening newscast is followed by The Journal at 10.22 pm.

January 12: The recession is bad enough that Ottawa unveils a new Ministry of State for Economic Development. Numerous other regional economic agencies are drastically overhauled.

Clifford Olsen will spend the rest of his behind bars in the Special Handling Unit of the Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines Correctional Facility in Quebec.

January 14: Clifford Olden is sentenced to life in prison. The country’s most notorious serial killer’s family received $100,000 because Olden cooperated and showed the RCMP where his victims were buried. He will die in 2011.

January 17: Record cold temperatures blanket much of the nation. The day will be remembered as “Cold Sunday.”

January 20: Buses and the Metro are rolling, again. Montrealers are thankful that the 6,800 transit employees at the MUCTC have voted to end their six-day illegal strike.

February – The first cases of AIDS are reported in Canada.

February 15: Ocean Ranger, an oil drilling rig located 265 kilometres off the east coast of Newfoundland, is toppled during a wild storm. The structure collapses, killing 84 workers. An inquiry will later determine there were inadequate safety procedures in place and minimal safety equipment on the rig.

Ticket to Heaven is nominated for 14 Genies. It will win four

 March – The Genie Awards are held at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto.  Best picture is Ticket to Heaven. Best Actor is Nick Mancuso who played the lead in Ticket to Heaven. Best Actress goes to Margot Kidder for her role in Heartaches.

The Supreme Court of Canada has sat in this building since 1946.

March 4: The Supreme Court of Canada gets its first woman justice as Prime Minister Trudeau appoints Bertha Wilson to the bench.  

March 5: Steve Padborski wins the World Cup Downhill Championship in Aspen Colorado. He’s the first North American to ever win the prestigious prize.  He will retire from professional sport in 1984 at the age of 26.

March 25: Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky becomes the first NHL player to score 200 points in a season. He sets the record when he scores two goals and two assists against the Calgary Flames.

March 26: Catherine and Ian Rankin of Oakville, Ontario become the proud parents of the world’s first test tube babies when twin boys are born to them.

March 31: The nation’s first fibre optic cable factory opens in Saskatoon.

Loverboy wins six Junos, a recodrd that still stands in 2013.

April 14: The Juno Awards are held in Toronto.  Loverboy cleans up with best album and best group of the year. Bryan Adams is best male vocalist and Carole Pope is best female vocalist. Single of the year is Eyes of a Stranger by the Payola$. Anne Murray is best female country singer and Eddie Eastman earns a Juno as best male country performer.

April 15: Protests by animal rights groups manage to shut down the annual spring seal hunt in Newfoundland. The traditional hunt has been taking place for hundreds of years.

April 17: Queen Elizabeth II is on hand in Ottawa to declare the constitution repatriated to Canada. Enshrined in the new constitution is the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Quebec does not sign the deal.

April 20: Business tycoon Peter H. Pocklington and his wife Eva are held hostage in their Edmonton home for nearly twelve hours by a man who demands $1 million. Police storm the house, wounding Pocklington.

May 6:  Kyle Shewfelt is born in Calgary. He will grow up to be a gymnast winning gold for Canada at the 2004 Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece.

May 9: Gilles Villeneuve, the country’s fabled Formula 1 race car driver, is killed while qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. He is 32 years old. Son Jacques will follow in his father’s footsteps.

May 16: The New York Islanders beat the Vancouver Canucks four games to zip and earn the right to keep Lord Stanley’s Cup for the next year.

May 18: CCM, the sporting goods giant, is floundering in $20 million of debt. Workers are asked to take a $3-an-hour pay cut, pay half of their health insurance and cut holiday pay. Fed up with years of poor management, they go on strike. The plant will never reopen and CCM will be eventually be sold to Proycle in St. George de Beauce, Quebec.

May 18: Bombardier Inc. of Montreal wins a $1 billion contract to build 825 subway cars for the New York City Transit Authority. It is the biggest export contract in history for a Canadian manufacturer.

May 21: After having been arrested and accused of murdering four children in a Toronto hospital, nurse Susan Nelles’ case is dismissed by a judge who rules that the Crown’s evidence is too weak. She will be exonerated and the government will be required to pay her legal fees.

May 23: Brother Andre is beatified by Pope John Paul II. This is the first step toward sainthood. During his lifetime Brother Andre was a member of the Holy Cross Brothers order in Montreal and was reported to have healed thousands of sick people.

May 30: The Big M Drug Store in Edmonton opens for Sunday business in defiance of the Lord’s Day Act of 1906 that prohibits commerce on Sunday. The national blue law will be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada on April 24, 1985.

June 10: Montreal has a new CFL team, owned by distillery king Charles Bronfmann. The Concordes replace the defunct Allouettes. Despite the hometown advantage, they lose to the Toronto Argonauts in their first game.

June 12: The first Lotto 6/49 draw-- with a jackpot of $500,000-- takes place tonight. It is the national lottery allows people to choose their own numbers.

June 28: Parliament passes the Freedom of Information Act, giving Canadians access to private information previously denied to them.

July 8: The Toronto Stock Exchange hits a four-year low. The nation is in the worst business slump since the Dirty Thirties and 11 percent of Canadians are looking for jobs. On the bright side, inflation drops from 12.5 percent to 10.8 percent. The dollar will continue to drop, skidding to 76.8 cents US by year’s end.

Anik is the Inuit word for brother.

July 15: Anik 1, the nation’s first communication satellite, is retired after ten years’ of faithful service.  It will be replaced by Anik D.

July 26: Karen Dianne Baldwin of London, Ontario is crowned as the 31st Miss Universe. The 18-year old, 175-centimetre tall model comes home with $150,000 in cash and prizes.

Igor Gouzenko's story was made into a 1948 Hollywood thriller.

June 28: Igor Gouzenko is dead of a heart attack in Mississauga, Ontario at the age of 63. He was a Soviet spy who defected to Canada in 1945. The stories he told officials about the Soviet Union’s plans to take over the world triggered the Cold War.

August 23: The Turkish military attaché to Canada is assassinated in Ottawa by Armenian terrorists while on his way to work. The murder of Colonel Altikat has yet to be solved.

October 4: Pianist Glenn Gould is dead today at the age of 50. The universally acclaimed artist has 65 albums to his credit. He is best known for his ingenious interpretations of J.S. Bach.

October 5: Laurie Skreslet becomes the first Canadian to reach the top of Mt. Everest. The expedition had been five years in the making and cost $3 million.

The Honourable John Robarts was the 17th Premier of Ontario.

October 18: After a series of major strokes, former Ontario Premier John Robarts uses a shotgun to take his own life. 

October 26: By Royal assent, the Governor General declares that from this day forward,  July 1^st, formerly known as Dominion Day shall now be called Canada Day.

October 31: Margeurite Bourgeoys is officially declared a saint by Pope John Paul II. The woman who devoted her entire life to serving the poor is Canada’s first female saint.

The Schefferville mine opened in 1954.

November 2: Brian Mulroney, president of the Iron Ore Company of Canada, Limited, announces that the firm’s mining operation in Schefferville, Quebec will be closed for good. Thousands will lose their jobs.

November 5: Some 10,000 Chrysler Canada workers walk off the job at plants in Windsor, Brampton and Bramalea. The CAW members want higher wages.

Canadian content, a.k.a. Cancon, is often referred to as 'the maple syrup law' by those who don't like it.

November 16: The Applebaum Report to the House of Commons recommends higher Canadian content on domestic television.

November 28: Despite a driving rainstorm and bitter cold at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, the Edmonton Eskimos take home the Grey Cup for the fifth year in a row, having beaten the Toronto Argonauts 32 to 16.

November 29: Olympic gold medalist Percy Williams is dead in Vancouver at the age of 74. Despite a rheumatic heart he won two gold medals for Canada at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. In 1929 he won 21 of 22 races during a 21-day span on the US indoor circuit and in the following year won the 100-yard dash at the British Empire [Commonwealth] Games held in Hamilton, Ontario.

December 4: Prisoners riot at the Archambault Federal Penitentiary in Laval, Quebec. Before it’s over, three guards will be murdered—one who was finishing his last shift before retiring. The two prisoners who started the fracas commit suicide.

December 10: Canada is one of 160 nations signing the UN’s Convention of the Law of the Sea. Our coastal jurisdiction now begins 370 kilometres offshore.

December 12: The 38-day strike at Chrysler Canada is over as employees vote in favour of a new contract.

December 17: The federal government will pay Yukon natives $183 million to settle all outstanding land claims.

December 30: Kristen Kreuk is born in Vancouver. She will grow up to become a
n actress best known for her role as Clark Kent’s love interest in the TV series Smallville.

December 31: Autoworkers built 1.29 million vehicles this year and a full 86 percent of them are exported. We buy 713,000 new cars and trucks but just a shade more than two thirds of them are domestic. A full 25 percent of Canadians will buy a new car that is made in Japan. There are 14.3 million vehicles registered for daily driving.