1951

From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1951-

 Workers at the Studebaker Corporation of Canada Limited, in Hamilton, Ontario will build 11,180 Champions, 1,853 Commanders and 1,824 trucks during the model year. Studebaker is the eighth best selling automobile in the Dominion.

January 17: Folks in Colchester, Nova Scotia will no longer be paid $1 for the nose of each porcupine brought in by hunters. Last year the officials paid out $34,000 to rid the county of the destructive critters.

January 28: The Labour Progressive Party wraps its political convention in Toronto. The RCMP is keeping a close eye on this organization; the party is nothing more than thinly disguised Communism.

The Duplessis Bridge connects Trois-Rivieres with Quebec City.

February 1: The three-year old Duplessis Bridge spanning the St. Lawrence and St. Maurice rivers at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec collapses at 2.55 in the morning, killing three workers. A fourth will die later. Witnesses all report a blinding light followed by an earthquake-like rumble.  Sabotage by Communists is suspected but an inquest will reveal shoddy workmanship and substandard steel.

The CBC's International Service broadcasts from this building from 1944 to 2012.

February 4: Radio Canada begins regular shortwave service in the Russian language. The powerful transmitter in Sackville, New Brunswick will transmit programs of freedom and hope to millions of Soviet citizens who live behind the Iron Curtain.

February 16: Although it is still hotly debated issue, the fluoride committee in Brantford, Ontario notes that since the community added the substance to the town’s drinking water, tooth decay among children has dropped considerably.

February 24: Helen Shaver is born in St. Thomas, Ontario. She will grow up to be an actress appearing in television and movies. In 2003 she will star in the crime thriller The Keeper. She will earn a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2004. A Gemini and Emmy will be bestowed upon her for her directing and producing skills.

March: Folks who warm up their Northern Electrics and tune to the CBC in Newfoundland and Labrador hear a new program, The Fisherman’s Broadcast. The name will change to the Fisheries Broadcast in the 1980s but “The Broadcast” is part of daily life and will still be going strong in the 21^st Century, one of the longest-running shows in radio broadcast history.

This monument in Busan, South Korea honours the 516  brave Canadians who died in the Korean War.

March 2: The Department of National Defense releases the names of the first six Canadian soldiers to die in combat in the Korean conflict.

March 8: As of today, women who hold the same jobs as men in Ontario are entitled to equal pay. Employers who break the law will be fined $100.

March 9: MPs vote to approve incorporation of TransCanada Pipelines. The company will construct a 5,000 kilometre-long pipeline to bring natural gas from Alberta to Quebec. The cost to taxpayers is estimated to cost $80 million.

April 8: Sara Botsford is born in the tiny mining community of Dobie, Ontario. She will grow up to be a soap opera star as well as playing roles in many TV shows and movies including Trudeau, The Fog and Eulogy.

April 21: Every game goes into overtime but Toronto whips Montreal four games to one for the biggest prize in hockey, Lord Stanley’s Cup.

April 22: Canadian soldiers hold back the enemy in the three-day Battle of Kapyong. The fighting is fierce, Chinese soldiers outnumber Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry eight to one. Ten soldiers are dead and another 23 wounded but their brave defense on Hill 667 keeps the South Korean capital of Seoul from falling into enemy hands.

April 24: The ever-deepening Cold War demands big changes in the armed forces. The Minister of Defense announces that it will recruit women this for selected military positions. Although recruited during World War Two, the program for female recruitment was cancelled in 1946. Some 5,000 women serve during the Korean Conflict--60 are frontline nurses in Korea and another 40 are Flight Nurses accompanying wounded soldiers from Japanese hospitals to Canada.

May 4: The 27^th Canadian Infantry Brigade is formed. It will be deployed to Europe where it will serve with other NATO forces.

June -- The Indian Act is overhauled for the first time in more than a century. The centrepiece of the new legislation is still the assimilation of natives into mainstream culture.

June 1: The Dominion Bureau of Statistics says there are 14,009,429 of us in the country spread out coast-to-coast-to-coast.

June 1: The Massey Royal Commission on the Arts is released. It outlines the current state of Canadian culture and strongly urges that Ottawa make grants available to artists through a mechanism to be called the Canada Council.

The Royal Vic opened its doors in 1893. It has been associated with McGill University as a teaching hospital since 1920.

June 21: The first folks in the country to watch colour television are the 2,000 doctors attending a medical convention in Montreal. They view from the Hotel Mount Royal as abdominal surgery is performed—live--at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

July 1: Canada turns 84 years old. Dominion Day is marked by 14 million of us with picnics, parades and fireworks. The country has a little present for Prime Minister St. Laurent, an official residence. Located at 24 Sussex Drive, the gracious three-storey, 34-room mansion will be home to future Prime Ministers.

July 10: Parliament declares war with Germany to be officially over. A formal peace pact is signed.

September 20: Guy Lafleur is born in Thurso, Quebec. He will be passionate about hockey and his thrilling NHL career will span more than 30 years.

October 1: Charlotte Whitton is acclaimed as Mayor of Ottawa. She steps into the shoes of the recently deceased Mayor, His Worship, Grenville Goodman. The 1917 graduate of Queen’s University is the first woman in the nation to lead a large urban centre. Whitton will be elected to the Mayor’s office four times.

October 27: In cooperation with Atomic Energy Canada Limited, cobalt therapy is tested for the first time, anywhere in the world, as part of cancer treatments at the Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario.

November 11: Princess Elizabeth is in Newfoundland this Remembrance Day. She says au revoir to Canadians at the end of a whirlwind, five-week tour of the country that took the Princess and the Duke of Edinburgh to every province.

Celie Franca will lead the National Ballet until 1975.

November 12: The National Ballet of Canada debuts at the Eaton Auditorium in Toronto. The programme includes Les Sylphides and Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor.

Caskets of fallen soldiers in Korea are draped in Canada's national flag, the Red Ensign.

November 22: The conflict in Korea escalates as the Van Doos are attacked by the Chinese in rain and freezing weather. The Battle of Un-Gol will rage for 96 hours, non-stop. Fighting for freedom from Communism, our soldiers will stubbornly hang onto their position between Hills 210 and 355.

November 24: The Ottawa Rough Riders whip the Saskatchewan Roughriders 21 to 14 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto to win the 39th Grey Cup championship..

December: Natives in British Columbia may now legally drink alcohol in bars and clubs.

December 12: The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority comes into existence. Marine traffic will start using Highway H2O in eight years.

December 31: The Top Ten selling automobiles in Canada this year in order are: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, Meteor, Dodge, Plymouth, Buick, Studebaker, Oldsmobile and British Ford.