From the big scrapbook of time, here's a look at Canada in 1923--
The McLaughlin
Master Six Special 5-passenger Touring Car sells for $1,725 f.o.b. Oshawa but
government taxes are extra. The GM
division builds 17,255 cars during the calendar year.
January 1: One more sign that
Canada is no longer a mere colony of the UK, the Department of National Defense
comes into being. The new entity is an amalgamation of the existing Department
of Naval Services, the Air Board and the Department of Militia and Defense. It
is hoped the new administrative body will save taxpayers' dollars.
January 12: It's New Brunswick's first radio station. Citizens living in
Fredericton can tune in to a new local radio station, 10AD but the name will
quickly be changed to CFNB. By 1959 the 50,000-watt powerhouse will reach all
of the Maritimes. The call letters and the AM frequency will be retired on June
11, 1996 when CIBX replaces it on the FM dial.
An Irving Oil station ca. the 1970s. |
January 30: The financially
troubled Grand Trunk Railway is absorbed in to the government-owned Canadian
National Railway system. The only
private sector railway left in the country is the Canadian Pacific Railway.
February 11: Susan August Maxwell is dead at the age of
117 in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Canada’s oldest citizen was once a slave who
escaped from the United States more than 70 ago. Until recently she was a
washerwoman.
March 1: Members of Parliament defeat a Labour motion
to scrap the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP is efficient and well
worth the money, though critics point out
the national police force now costs a whopping $4 million a year to
operate.
March 2: Without British officials at his side, Prime Minister Mackenzie King signs an international fishing treaty with the United States. The Halibut Treaty marks the first time that Canada exercises its rights to pursue foreign policy independent of Mother Britain.
CKCK will still broadcast hockey games in 1974. |
March 14: Brooks Steam Motors
Limited of Stratford, Ontario is registered under the laws of Ontario. The
company will produce 180 handsome and lightening-fast steam-powered automobiles
before throwing in the towel in 1929.
CKY studio circa 1930. |
March 19: Henry Morgentaler is born in Poland. He will
survive Nazi concentration camps and come to Canada to practise medicine in
1950. The physician will come to believe that women should have the right to
abortions and become a leader of the cause. In 2006 he will be active in
opening abortion clinics in the Arctic.
Hewett Foster stands in front of a replica of the broadcast booth from which he broadcast his first hockey game. |
A state-of-the-art 1923 Ducratet radio receiver. |
March 31: The Ottawa Senators
beat the Vancouver Millionaires AND the Edmonton Eskimos in two separate series
to capture Lord Stanley’s Cup for the fourth year in a row.
April 1: Commissioner Aylesford Perry retires after 41 years of service with the North-West Mounted Police--23 were spent as Commissioner.
April 6: It is estimated that
there are 18,000 automobiles operating in Nova Scotia. This year the license
plates have red numerals on a grey background.
April 15: At two o’clock this
morning, automobiles operating in Nova Scotia must drive to the right side of
the road and overtake on the left—the opposite of longstanding tradition. The
government will hand out large stickers that say, “Keep to the right.” They are
to be posted on automobile windshields for safety’s sake.
The Bootlegger's Bride will tell the story of Emilio Picariello and Florence Lassandro in 1993. |
May 8: The 27 passengers of the steamer SS Kyle reach the shores of Nova Scotia. The ship was ice bound for
ten days, so the folks on board walked nearly 13 kilometres over the ocean on
chunks of ice.
The Bank of Montreal at the corner of Front and Yonge Streets in Toronto was designed by Frank Darling and S. George Curry. In 1993, the Beaux-Arts building will become the Hockey Hall of Fame. |
May 23: John Thompson and James Good open the first
Supertest gasoline station in London, Ontario. The business will grow to become
a major player with filling stations in Quebec and Ontario and a refinery in
Alberta. The company will be sold to British Petroleum in 1971. The Supertest
name will disappear by 1973.
Dominion Day: The RCMP capture the Veda M. McKeown off the coast of Nova Scotia. The Mounties seize nearly 8,000 litres of rum, and 190 cases of scotch found aboard the fast ship.
June 22: Folks in Manitoba can purchase alcohol legally as
the legislature scraps prohibition in favour of a government operated liquor
commission.
June 24: A deadly twister touches down near Hornby, Ontario and
churns eastward for a good 20 kilometres, killing four people.
June 29: Troubled or not, the Newfoundland Government
Railway marks an important anniversary. The train’s first regular
1,600-kilometre run from St. John’s to Port-aux-Basques took place 25 years ago
today.
July 1: Under the Railway Settlement Act, the Dominion government of Newfoundland spends $2 million to take possession of the country’s railway system from the Reid Newfoundland Company.
July 9: Folks attending the Calgary Stampede are treated to the first-ever Chuckwagon Race. The event is billed to the public as “the half-mile of hell.”
July 21: Rudolph Marcus is born in Montreal. He will grow up
to earn the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1992 for his theory of electron
transfer.
July 22: Drinking alcohol becomes legal in Manitoba with the
passage of the Government Liquor Control Act in the legislature. Permits will
cost $1 a year and a written record will be kept of purchases made.
July 23: Sir Richard Squires, the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Newfoundland, resigns from the House of Assembly in St. John’s in the midst of scandal. Not so honourable, he will soon be arrested for theft of public funds.
July 26: American president Warren G. Harding visits
Vancouver. He is the first US head of state to visit Canada. He attends a civic
luncheon held in his honour by the mayor and the Premier of British Columbia at
the Hotel Vancouver.
July 31: Ford Canada announces it sold 70,328 passenger cars
and 3,395 tractors to folks throughout the Dominion in 1922.
August 3: Robert Campeau is born in Chelmsford, Ontario. He
will grow up to be one of the most controversial multi-millionaire businessmen in Canadian history. He will buy
out Bloomingdale’s in the 1980s and go bust. Because his assets are sheltered
in his wife’s name, he will escape the worst of the setback.
August 17: After 20 years in business, the Home Bank of
Montreal is bankrupt. The financial institution was riddled with “bad and
doubtful debts.”
Studebaker is built in Windsor, Ontario |
September 1: Queen’s Park announces free insulin for
diabetic Ontarians who cannot afford the life-saving drug.
September 1: Kenneth Thomson is born in North Bay, Ontario.
The son of newspaper magnate Roy Thomson, he will grow up to be the Second
Baron Thomson of Fleet and be the ninth richest person in the world with an
estimated wealth of $20 billion. Thomson will die of a heart attack in his
Toronto office in June of 2006.
September 14: A spokesman for Ford of Canada announces the
company’s plants in Windsor and Toronto are valued at $10 million.
September 18: Bertha Wilson is born in Scotland. She and her
husband will immigrate to Canada in 1949. Bertha will graduate with a law
degree from Dalhousie University in 1957. She will become the first woman
appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1982.
October 7: Jean-Paul
Riopelle is born in Montreal. He will grow up to become one of the planet’s
most famous artists. The painter and sculptor’s works are on display the world
over. Riopelle will die in 2002.
October 25: Doctor Banting and biochemist J. R. Macleod receive the Nobel
Prize in Medicine for their discovery of insulin. The honour puts $40,000 in
their pockets.
October 22: Prime Minister Mackenzie King is in London for
the Imperial Conference of the Dominions. The PM wants to cut the apron strings
with Britain. He is demanding independence for Canada.
October 29: The United Farmers of Alberta form the Alberta
Wheat Pool in Calgary. Backed with a $15-million line of credit, the coop will
handle wheat sales for members.
October 30: Andrew Bonar Law is dead in London at the age of
65. Born in Rexton, New Brunswick, Law became Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom only last year but was forced to resign because of throat cancer that
claimed his life today.
November 1: Gordon R. Dickson is born in Edmonton. He will
grow up to become a science fiction writer, best known for his Childe Cycle
books. He will win three Hugo Awards before his death in 2001.
November 2: Harold Horwood is born in St. John’s,
Newfoundland. He will grow up to become
an important author. His most widely known work will be White Eskimo published in 1972. The Order of Canada recipient will
die of cancer in April 2006.
November 5: Folks in Wild Rose Country can soon raise a
glass of cheer. Prohibition is over in Alberta as Members of the Legislative
Assembly in Edmonton vote to establish a provincial liquor control board.
November 15: There are more than 1,500 claim seekers for
land in and around Wainright, Alberta since British Petroleum announced it has
struck oil in the neighbourhood.
November 22: Arthur Hiller is born in Edmonton. He will grow up to become one of the greatest Hollywood directors of all times and will serve as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1993 to 1997.
December 1: The 11th Grey Cup goes home with Queen’s University as they trounce the Regina Roughriders 54 to zip.
December 5: Railway
mogul Sir William Mackenzie is dead at the age of 74 in Toronto. He was a
visionary who believed that railways would make Canada great. His Canadian
Northern Railway stretched from Cape Breton to Vancouver Island but went
bankrupt in 1918. The failed enterprise was absorbed into the Crown corporation, Canadian National
Railways.
The Willys-Knight is built in Toronto. |
The elegant
Chalmers 5-passenger Sport Sedan weighs in at a hefty 1 403 kilos (3,095 pounds). A total of 102 of these posh motorcars will
be built in Windsor, Ontario in 1923 but the marque will not return in 1924. It
will be replaced by a new brand of car called Chrysler.
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