1961

From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1961--

The 1961 Monarch Richelieu four-door hardtop retails for $3,850 before tax. Canadians have lost their love for big automobiles and the grand name will be retired at the end of the model year.

Uncle Bobby will be one of the first network stars on CFTO. His show, Kids Corner will be seen across Canada from 1962 to 1979 on CTV.

January 1: Folks in Toronto have a new television station to watch as CFTO—Canada’s Foremost, Toronto’s Own—takes to the airwaves on Channel 9. It is an independent station but will become part of the CTN network on October  1^st.

January 17: Prime Minister Diefenbaker and US President Dwight Eisenhower sign a $3 billion deal to develop hydroelectric power on the Columbia River. Residents of British Columbia and Washington will be sleep easier once flooding is under control.

January 18: Mark Douglas John Messier is born in Edmonton, Alberta. He will grow up to be a one of hockey’s greatest legends, being the only man to ever lead two teams to Stanley Cup victories.

January 26: It’s a boy for Walter and Phyllis Gretzky of Brantford Ontario. Their firstborn son, Wayne Douglas will lace up and skate his way into history as the world’s finest hockey player. “The Great One” will be induced into the Hockey Hall of Fame and appointed to the Order of Canada.

The Canadian Bank of Commerce in Brandon, Manitoba

February 3: Ottawa gives its blessing and the Canadian Bank of Commerce will wed the Imperial Bank of Canada. The new name will be the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

The Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker sits to the left of Her Majesty.

March 8: Prime Minister Diefenbaker is in London for the Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference. Dief blasts South Africa for its practise of apartheid.

Massey College is named in honour of Vincent Massey, the first Canadian to be appointed as Governor General.

March 14: Massey College is founded as the graduate studies centre at the University of Toronto.  Robertson Davies will be the first Master.

April 16: The Chicago Blackhawks skate their way to the Stanley Cup by beating the Detroit Redwings four games to two.

May 8: Greg Thomey is born in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The kid will grow up to be a comedian and dramatic actor, best known for his outrageous performances on the CBC comedies CODCO and This Hour has 22 Minutes.

US President Kennedy (left) and Prime Minister Diefenbaker (centre).

May 16: Newly elected president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, is in Ottawa with his wife, Jacqueline. At the white tie dinner held in their honour in Rideau Hall, Kennedy will tell the guests, “Geography has made us neighbours but history has made us friends.”

May 16: Kevin McDonald is born in Montreal. He will grow up to become a comedian best known for his role in the immortal CBC-TV comedy classic, Kids in the Hall.

May 27: Northern Dancer is born at Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Ontario. When he is three years old, the bay colt will win the Triple Crown and go on to be the most successful thoroughbred racing sire horse in history. Northern Dancer will die on November 16, 1990.

May 30: At odds with James Coyne, Governor of the Bank of Canada, over fiscal policy, the government demands his resignation. The governor refuses.

May 30: One of the worst rainstorms in history is recorded in Buffalo Gap, Saskatchewan as 25 centimetres of rain falls in less than an hour.

June 1: The Dominion Bureau of Statistics counts noses. Now we know that there are 18, 238,247 of us living in the ten provinces and two territories.

CUSO doesn't send money, it sends volunteers. By 2011, more than 15,000 volunteers will have served with CUSO in more than 40 countries.

June 6: The Canadian University Overseas Service, better known as CUSO, is founded at McGill University in Montreal. The non-profit organization recruits university students across Canada to make a difference in poverty stricken nations.

June 9: Michael Andrew Fox is born in Edmonton. He will change the Andrew to “J” and become a famous actor appearing on television and the silver screen. Stricken with Parkinson’s disease; he will retire from his craft in 1999 and devote his time to finding a cure for the debilitating illness. He will return to TV in 2013.

The Voodoo will serve from 1961 to 1987.

June 12: The Department of National Defense will do a little horse trading. The DND will receive 66 McDonnell CF-101 Voodoos from the US in exchange for American control of the Pinetree Line—a series of radar stations running roughly across Canada and the United States at the 50^th parallel of latitude—the stations are designed to protect North America from Soviet nuclear attack. 

The CF-104 will be built by Canadair in Montreal.

June 12: A Mutual Air Program for the purchase of 200 CF-104 Starfighters is announced.

June 13: National Capital Commission creates a 16,590-hectare Greenbelt. Nature's buffer surrounds Ottawa. In 2011, the Greenbelt will have grown to 203.5 square kilometres, making it the largest urban park in the world.

1961 Suzuki Bellel with Diesel engine.

June 22: The Bladen Commission releases its report on the state of the domestic automobile industry. As a result, Volvo, Renault, Peugeot, Isuzu and Toyota will open assembly plants in Canada.

A federal excise stamp is proof that tax has been paid in full.

June 22: Ottawa rescinds the Federal Excise Tax on cars. It is welcome news throughout the auto industry and will spur sales.

The Governor of the Bank of Canada and his wife, Meribeth, walk to the Bank of Canada. Mr. Coyne will die in 2012 at the age of 102.

July 13: The Governor of the Bank of Canada resigns to protest the Diefenbaker government’s loose monetary policies. James Coyne is of the opinion that expansionism is fiscally unsound. The press calls the very public disagreement The Coyne Affair.

July 14, 1961: in Castlegar, British Columbia, the thermometer hits a nation-wide record high of 53.4C with the Humidex factored in. The record will almost be equaled on July 5^th, 2007 when the temperature in Carmen, Manitoba reaches 53C.

1921 Brock Six

July 22: Automotive pioneer William Stansill dies in his hometown of Courtland, Ontario. He was the genius behind the Brock Six built in Amherstburg, Ontario and the sleek and racy London Six automobile of which 98 were built before the company slid into bankruptcy in 1925.

August 3: The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Party is no more. Delegates to the political convention in Ottawa change the name to the New Democratic Party and elect silver-tongued Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas to be its leader.

August 26: Prime Minister Diefenbaker is on hand at the CNE Fairgrounds to officially open the Hockey Hall of fame and the Sports Hall of Fame. Among those attending the ceremony are hockey heroes Maurice “Rocket” Richard and Babe Pratt.  The Hall of Fame will move to downtown Toronto at the corner of Front and Yonge Streets in 1993.

September 7: The threat of nuclear war grows closer. Addressing the House of Commons, Prime Minister Diefenbaker announces funding to train 100,00 men to handle emergency survival operations for the civilian population. Shelters are to be built outside of large urban centres and stocked with emergency supplies of food and medical supplies.

Canada Post will honour Bob Hayward with a stamp in 2011.

September 10: World champion powerboat racer Bob Hayward is killed instantly when his boat, Miss Supertest II, flips over at 280 kilometres-per hour during the Silver Cup Regatta on the Detroit River. The soft-spoken, 33-year old chicken farmer from of Embro, Ontario won the Harmsworth Trophy for the past three years in a row. After Hayward’s death, the international competition is cancelled permanently.

Electrohome has been building televisions in Kitchener Ontario since 1949.  This is a Kirby Console model. The company will get out of  television manufacturing in 1984, though the Electrohome name will be used under license by several Japanese manufacturers well into the 21st Century.

October 1: The CBC gets some competition is the Canadian Television Network, a.k.a. CTN, signs on the air for the first time. Backed by Marconi and Electrohome, the privately owned broadcaster has affiliates in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. It will change its name to CTV within months.

k.d. lang in 1989

November 2: Kathryn Dawson Lang is born in Edmonton but grows up in the Prairie town of Consort, Alberta. Known as k.d., she will grow up to become a velvety voiced torch singer, a Juno and Grammy winner and be invested as an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1996.

Protesters and doctors will gather at the provincial legislature in Regina next summer when Medicare becomes law on July 1st.

November 17: The Saskatchewan legislature passes its universal free Medicare bill. To pay for the scheme, the provincial sales tax will jump from three to five percent and citizens will pay $12 a year of $24 per family. Doctors threaten to go on strike.

December 2: The Hamilton Tiger Cats face off with  the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in front of 32,651 fans at the CNE Stadium in Toronto. At the end of regulation play, the score is tied, 14 to 14. It's the first time a Grey Cup match has gone into overtime. Quarterback Ken Ploen makes a touchdown for the Bombers making the final  score 21 to 14.

December 18: Born at 7.30 in the morning in Belleville Ontario, Brian Orser will skate home with Olympic silver in 1984 and 1988, be the World Freestyle Champion from 1984 to 1988 and be made an officer of the Order of Canada.

December 28: The first Bomarc Missile Squadron is formed. Prime Minister Diefenbaker scrapped the Avro Arrow for this joint defense program with the US. The government will dither over whether the Bomarcs on Canadian soil will carry nuclear warheads or not. The controversy will split Diefenbaker’s cabinet and cause the Tories to lose the federal election in 1963.

December 30: Benjamin Sinclair Johnson is born in Falmouth, Jamaica. He will immigrate to Canada when he is fifteen. The world’s fastest man will be the centre of a steroid scandal and be stripped of his 1988 Olympic gold medal when he tests positive.

The mid-sized Ford Fairlane has a wheelbase of 115.5 in 2 934 mm (115.5in).  It is built in Oakville, Ontario.

December 31: The Top Ten selling cars this year are the full sized Chevrolet, the full sized Pontiac, Volkswagen, Ford Fairlane, Ford Falcon, Mercury Comet, Plymouth, Meteor, Dodge and Rambler.

Chrysler Canada’s Valiant is sold as a stand-alone brand, replacing DeSoto in the Chrysler family. In its second year on the market, the compact brand rings up 9,831 sales during the calendar year. The 1961 Valiant V-200 two-door hardtop sells for $2,596 f.o.b. Windsor, Ontario.

1988

 From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1988— 

January 2:  Prime Minister Mulroney and US President Ronald Reagan sign the Free Trade Deal. Now it must pass the House of Commons and get through the US Congress as well before it becomes law. If ratified, the treaty will be phased in over a ten-year period.

Acid rain affects much of the forestland in central and Atlantic Canada.

January 11: External Affairs Minister Joe Clark meets with US secretary of State to discuss acid rain. George Schultz claims Canada is making the issue appear worse than it really is.

January 15: More than 10,000 Canadians have tested positive for the AIDS virus, according to a survey conducted of provincial health laboratories.

January 28: The Supreme Court of strikes down the abortion law, ruling that free access to abortion is a woman’s right.

The RCMP perform their famed Musical Ride at the opening of the Winter Olympics.

 February 13: Her Excellency, Governor General Jeanne Sauvé, is on hand to open the XV Olympic Winter Games in Calgary.

February 25: The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Saskatchewan must either translate its laws into French and permit French to be used in the legislature and the courts.

The flag is lowered in Calgary for the last time as the Olympic torch passes to Albertville, France for the XVI Winter Olympiad.

 February 28: The Olympic Games are over. After sixteen days of glory, Canada has taken home more medals than any other country but no gold. Brian Orser and Elizabeth Manley have captured silver.

March 1: The chair of the Olympic Organizing committee tells the press the Calgary Olympic Games earned an unprecedented $32 million in profit. 

Hydro-Quebec's headquarters are on Boulevard Rene-Levesque in Montreal.

March 8: Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa announces Phase II of the James Bay hydroelectricity project by utility giant Hydro-Quebec. The cost will be $7.5 billion and the resulting dams will generate 2,500 megawatts of power. Most of the surplus hydro will be sold to New York, Vermont and Maine who expect delivery in 1995. 

March 22: It’s Genie night and Un Zoo la Nuit captures 13 Genie Awards. The gripping story about a son’s love for his father will become a film classic. 

Kurt Browning's figure skates that he wore at the championships in Budapest.

March 25: Kurt Browning becomes the first person in the world to execute a quadruple jump at the world figure skating championships in Budapest. 

The first Canadian-built Honda Civic is decked out for the occasion.

April:  Civic production begins at the Honda plant in Alliston, Ontario.  The $280 million factory only opened a year ago. 

April 1: Robert Campeau purchases the Federated Department Stores for $6.64 billion. It’s the biggest business deal ever cut by a Canadian business mogul. FDS is the holding company for Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Marshall Fields--all high-end retail shops in the United States.

The flag of Saint-Pierre & Miquelon.

April 18:  France recalls its ambassador to Canada after the fishing vessel Croix de Lorraine is seized for fishing in Canadian waters. Both countries claim jurisdiction over waters off the coast of Newfoundland and the French Department of Saint-Pierre & Miquelon, located 20 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland.

April 12: The Tory government tables legislation in the House of Commons to sell 45 per cent of Air Canada's shares to the public. The remainder of the Crown corporation’s stocks are to be sold at a later--unspecified date.

The HMCS Halifax in 2009.

 April 30:  The HMCS Halifax is launched in Saint John, New Brunswick. The 4,750-tonne frigate will still be on active duty in 2013. 

May 18: Ryan Cooley is born in Orangeville, Ontario. He will grow up to be an actor, best known for his character JT Yorke, in Degrassi: The Next Generation, aired on CTV here at home and around the world as well. 

May 21:  The National Gallery of Canada opens in Ottawa. The stunningly beautiful glass and granite building was designed by famed architect Moishe Safdie.

Wayne Gretzky hoists the Stanley Cup.

May 26: Lord Stanley’s Cup goes home with the Edmonton Oilers after they knock the socks off the Boston Bruins in four games. This is the Oilers' third win in four years.

May 28: The aerosol industry announces a voluntary ban on adding chloro-fluorocarbons to spray cans. Scientists have proven that CFCs destroy the ozone layer.

Export A is one of the nation's best-selling cigarette brands. Macdonald Tobacco Limited is based in Quebec City.

May 31: Parliament decrees that the tobacco industry must begin to phase out advertising. 

June 1: There is trouble in Kahnawake, Quebec as 200 Mounties, armed with submachine guns, raid stores on the First Nations reserve. The RCMP is looking for nearly $500,000 worth of smuggled cigarettes.

Auschwitz was a concentration and extermination camp operated by the Nazis in Poland from 1940 to 1945. It is estimated that 1.3 million prisoners, mostly Jewish, died here. The sign says, "Work Sets One Free."

June 6: The Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Jim Keegstra. The one time teacher and mayor Eckville, Alberta was convicted of teaching children that the Holocaust didn’t happen and that Jews influenced world events through an evil conspiracy. The Supreme Court ruled that the Criminal Code under which Keegstra was charged violated his right so free speech under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

June 7: Michael Austin Cera is born in Brampton, Ontario. He will grow up to be an actor appearing in such TV shows as Tom Goes to the Mayor and Arrested Development. He will also be the voice of Brother Bear in the Berenstain Bears cartoon series. 

The Churchill Falls hydro-electricty complex is the third largest in North America.

June 9: The Supreme Court of Canada denies Newfoundland's 12-year legal pursuit to renegotiate a fairer contract with Quebec for the hydro-electric power that comes from Churchill Falls in Labrador.

July 21: Parliament replaces the War Measures Act with an up-to-date Emergencies Act.

August 9: Wayne Gretzky is traded to the Los Angeles Kings in what may be the biggest deal ever made in hockey. 

 

August 21: a warehouse filled with PCBs catches fire, forcing the residents of St. Basile le Grand, Quebec to flee from their homes. The toxic waste will burn for days.

September 2: Statistics Canada reports the wheat harvest will be off by more than 40 percent as a result of this summer’s drought. 

September 21: Ottawa will compensate the 21,800 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly evacuated from sensitive areas—particularly along the West Coast—during World War Two.

September 24: Ben Johnson is the fastest human being in the world, winning gold for Canada after running the 100-metre dash at the Seoul Olympics in 9.79 seconds. 

September 24: Barry Phillip Nichol is dead at the age of 43. The poet went by the name bpNichol—no spaces—and completely changed the way we think about poetry.  He was a co-writer of the popular CBC-TV kids’ show Fraggle Rock. His best known work is The cosmic chef.

September 27: Ben Johnson is stripped of his gold medal when he tests positive for illegal drugs.

September 30: In St. John’s, Newfoundland, Father James Hickey is sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting boys and young men. The press hints that this is just the tip of the iceberg and more priests will soon be charged with sexual assault.

The United Nations' Security Council Chamber.

 October 26:  Canada is elected to a seat on the UN Security Council. 

The 18th Prime Minister will publish his Memoirs in 2007.

November 21: The voters have spoken. The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney and his Progressive Conservative Party are returned to power in today’s election.

November 27: The Grey Cup is the property of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers after they down the BC Lions 22 to 21.

 December--  The MacDonald Tunnel is complete. The 35.5-kilometre long engineering marvel burrows under Mt. MacDonald and Mt. Cheops and through the infamous Rogers Pass in the Rocky Mountains. The cost of the project was $500 million. 

December 15: The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec’s French-only language laws are illegal. Premier Bourassa threatens to use the ‘notwithstanding’ clause of Charter of Right to make sure only French is used in Quebec.

December 18: Some 12,000 people jam the Paul Sauvé Arena in Montreal and another 6,000 stand outside in the bitter cold to support Bill 101 and a French-only Quebec.

The Canadian Auto Workers represents most of the people who build our vehicles.

December 31:  Auto workers in this country have built 1,976,896 cars and trucks during the calendar year—the highest number ever.

 The Chevrolet Sprint and Pontiac Firefly share everything but labels with the Suzuki Swift. A new factory for these Basic-Small cars from General Motors and Suzuki is under construction now and will open in Ingersoll, Ontario next year.

Copyright 2009 James C. Mays
All rights reserved.