1935

 From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1935- 

 With more than a million workers on the dole, those who do have jobs are grateful to work. Ford of Canada sells 6,955 new trucks and six buses in 1935.

A new hobby springs up as listeners write to radio stations in order to collect QSL cards--proof that they received the stations' signals.

January 1: Radio is the hot new medium. Private stations are springing up left, right and centre. Prince Edward Island now boasts three, including CHGS in Summerside. New Brunswick also has three, counting CFNB in Fredericton. Nova Scotia has five broadcast houses including CJLS in Yarmouth. Quebec now boasts 11 stations including VE9EK in Montmagny and Ontario has 24 including CKRC in Windsor. Manitoba has three broadcasters including CKX in Brandon, Saskatchewan has seven including CHAB in Moose Jaw and Alberta has seven, counting CJOC in Lethbridge. British Columbia has an even dozen private broadcasters including CFPR in Trail.  The Northwest Territories has CJCU in Aklavik. The Dominion of Newfoundland has five stations including VOAC in St. John’s.

1935 Hudson Special Eight Touring Brougham HT

February 7: The Hudson Motor Company of Canada, Limited reports that it has ten dealers in the Picture Province. Herring Chokers can buy Hudsons in Woodstock, Fredericton, Moncton, Bathurst, Newcastle, Edmunston, Grand Falls, Perth, St. Andrews and Saint John.

Reindeer is also known as caribou.

February 21: It took five years for them to finally get here but the federal government accepts delivery of 2,300 reindeer. Lapp herders guided them across Siberia. It is doubtful that they will help Santa but Ottawa intends for locals to develop an industry around the animals. The reindeer will live on the eastern side of the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories.

March 2: Albert Samuel Waxman is born in Toronto. When he grows up he will become an actor appearing more than 1,000 productions on stage, radio, TV and movies. He is best remembered for starring in the CBC sitcom King of Kensington that aired from 1975 to 1980. He will also be known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Bert Samuels on the CBS drama Cagney & Lacey. He will die in 2001.

March 11: The Bank of Canada is open for business under Governor Graham Towers. The central bank is a private institution but it will be the sole institution to print currency.  It issues a new bank notes including a $500 bill. Sepia in colour, the bill is printed in French or English. It depicts Sir John A. MacDonald on the front and a young woman said to be the “fertility allegory” on the backside.

MASH will start in 1972 and air for 11 seasons.

March 19: actor, producer, director Burt Metcalfe is born in Saskatchewan. He will be best known for directing the movie Father of the Bride and for producing the popular TV series, MASH.

March 27: Lord Tweedsmuir is named Governor General of Canada. He is the author of many novels including 39 Steps, a spy thriller that will be made into a movie by director Alfred Hitchcock. Upon learning of his appointment Tweedsmuir tells reporters, “I am extremely proud to have been chosen as His Majesty’s representative in Canada, and not less proud to be given a chance of serving Canada.”

March 28: The Canadian Radio Broadcast Commission will no longer air commercials on Sunday. It is in contravention of the Lord’s Day Act--laws that forbid any kind of commerce on Sundays.

April 2: Sharon Acker is born in Toronto. She will grow up to become an actor working in television and Hollywood. She will rack up a long string of credits to her name but will be best remembered for her appearance in the 1967 thriller, Point Blank.

This is the first all-Canadian playoff since 1926.

April 9: The Montreal Maroons need only three games (best of five) to whip the Toronto Maple Leafs into submission and win the Stanley Cup.

April 23: Vancouver police do battle with 2,000 hungry and unemployed men who have barricaded themselves inside of the Hudson Bay store. The men want food and jobs. One out of every ten Canadians is out of work.

 May 2: Beer parlours open in Saskatchewan. The rules are strict. Patrons must sit at tables and not move around. No food can be served and the surroundings are required to be drab. 

May 7: His Majesty’s Royal Canadian Post Office issues a statement condemning the latest craze sweeping the country: chain letters. The letters say that the receiver must send copies of the letter to ten friends or something awful will happen.

May 6:  The Bank of Canada issues a $25 bill to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V. The bills are in French only or English only and are royal purple in colour with Windsor Castle depicted on the back.

May 12: Mary Margeurite Leneen Kavenagh is born in Ottawa. She will grow up and move to Australia, marry the Prime Minister’s son, Francis Forde, and be appointed Governor of Queensland in 1992.

May 17:  Wilbert Keon is born in Sheenboro. Quebec. When he grows up he will become a heart surgeon, successfully performing the first artificial heart transplant in a patient in Ottawa. He will be appointed to the Senate on the advice of PM Mulroney in 1990.

German Shepherds are skilled at finding lost people and sniffing out drugs.

May 25: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have gone to the dogs. Literally. Black Lux and his father, Dale, join the force as the first official four-legged Mounties. The highly trained German shepherds are deputized to fight crime. By 1999, the Horsemen will have 108 dogs in the force.

May 31: The David Dunlap Observatory at the University of Toronto is ready to take on the mysteries of the starry night sky. The 188-centimetre reflector telescope is the largest in Canada and the second largest in the world. The Royal Astrological Society of Canada will purchase the observatory in 2010. 

June 12: The On-to-Ottawa Trek is over. More than 2,000 homeless and unemployed men have been bumming rides on Canadian National Railways freight cars from Vancouver to Ottawa. They are demanding an audience with Prime Minister Bennett. The PM will not meet with them, claiming they are Communists. RCMP officers round up the men when they get to Regina, Saskatchewan today and forcibly confines them in a makeshift camp set up on the Exhibition Grounds.

June 14: The city council in St. Catherines, Ontario passes a law requiring horses to wear rubber horseshoes. The new ordinance is intended to cut down on irksome noise.

July 1: The nation turns 68 but there is no jubilation on this Dominion Day. Jobs are scarce; hundreds of thousands are out of work. A riot at the internment camp in Regina breaks out tonight. The RCMP and 500 CPR police attempt to quell the On-to-Ottawa trekkers. The death toll is one officer killed and dozens are injured on both sides of the fracas.

Grain elevators in Alberta.

July 5: The Canadian Wheat Board comes into existence by royal decree. The Crown Corporation will guarantee a minimum price for grain and market it for farmers, too.

July 21: Washington apologizes to Canada for sinking the rum running schooner, I’m Alone. The US pays $25,000 in compensation for the 1929 incident that took place in international waters, 321 kilometres off the coast of Louisiana.  

The Classical Revival style Province House has been home to Prince Edward Island's legislature since 1847.

July 23: Election history is made tonight as voters in PEI send 30 Liberals to Charlottetown. Premier-elect Walter Lea is thrilled about the overwhelming victory but he faces a peculiar dilemma: there is not a single member to sit in Opposition. This has never happened before anywhere in the British Empire.

October 23: The Grits soundly trounce the Tories in the federal election. William Lyon Mackenzie King will be sworn in as Prime Minister for the third time in his political career. The Liberals take 165 seats in the House and the Conservatives are reduced to only 41.

October 25: Jack Bannon a.k.a. Three Fingered Abe is sentenced to 15 years in prison for kidnapping millionaire brewer John Labatt.

November: Ford opens its new assembly plant in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. The facility boasts an air-conditioned lunchroom for employees.

The 1936 Reo Flying Cloud. Reo stands for Ransom E. Olds, the man who created the vehicle and the Oldsmobile, as well.

November 25: The new 1936 cars are unveiled to the nation at the prestigious Salon de l’Auto in Montreal. Presenting this season are Auburn, Graham, Hudson, Hupmobile, Nash, Packard, Reo, Studebaker and Willys along with the Big Three. Sadly, the Great Depression will take its toll; Reo won’t return next year.

December 5: Police are called to break up a demonstration at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Inside the hotel, a reception is being held by the German Consul General and Nazi government officials who are attempting to promote Canadian interest in the Olympic Games. The protesters object to the politics of the Third Reich and do not want Canada to participate in the next summer’s event, to be held in Berlin. Fearing for the German officials’ safety, the police escort them to Montreal, their next stop.

December 7: The Grey Cup goes to Winnipeg as the Blue Bombers break the east's grip on the championship playoff. The Hamilton Tiger Cats lose the game 12 to 18.

December 3: A five-room house on Queen Street in the CPR section of Regina equipped, with a hot water heater, city sewage and water connections, sells for $1,800.

December 9: An underground explosion in Coalhurst, Alberta claims the lives of 16 coal miners.

A Christopher Pratt watercolour.

December 9: Christopher Pratt is born in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He will grow up to become one of the nation’s most famous artists, famous for his meticulous serigraphs, watercolours and paintings. He will also design Newfoundland and Labrador’s new provincial flag.

December 31: General Motors of Canada closes out the year with production of 33,721 Chevs, 5,794 Pontiacs, 6,356 Oldsmobiles, 3,272 McLaughlin-Buicks, 204 LaSalles and 81 Cadillacs. In addition there are 10,293 Chevrolet and Maple Leaf trucks as well as 847 GMCs.