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.

1987

-From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1987--

The all-new Volvo 740 series gets underway in December in the new assembly plant in Halifax. This is the Swedish automaker’s third factory in Nova Scotia since it opened up shop in 1963.

January 1:  The settlement of Frobisher Bay in the Northwest Territories changes its name to Iqualuit. The new name reflects the city’s Inuit heritage and means ‘where the fish gather.” 

The Stone Angel will be made into an Oscar-winning movie in 2007.

 January 5: Margaret Laurence is dead at the age of 60. The award-winning novelist suffered from lung cancer and committed suicide when she learned the disease was terminal. She will be best remembered for her immortal books The Stone Angel and The Diviners.

 

January 26: Norman McLaren is dead in Montreal at the age of 72. The animator and filmmaker joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1941. He won 147 awards, including a 1952 Oscar--more than any other filmmaker in the history of cinema. 

February – Fresh coffee always tastes good. The 300^th Tim Horton’s opens in Calgary.

Brian Orser and Brian Boitano.

March 12:  Brian Orser wins the world figure skating title, beating out Brian Boitano of the US. The Ontario native, a.k.a. Mr. Triple Axel, is the first Canadian to win the title since 1963. He will bring home silver in the 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympics. 

Claude Jutra

March 11: A body washes up on the shores of the St. Lawrence River near the village of Cap Sante. The remains will be identified as those of celebrated filmmaker Claude Jutra who disappeared last year. It is believed he committed suicide.

March 16: The Toronto Globe & Mail reports sales of condoms are skyrocketing as a result of people’s fears of contracting AIDS. 

March 17: Tory MPs in the House of Commons vote in favour of free trade with the United States. The motion is firmly opposed by the Grits and the New Democrats.

March 27: Talks break down as Ottawa, the provinces and aboriginal leaders fail to agree on important issues. There will be no constitutional amendment for native self-government for now. 

This drawing shows the structure of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

 April 3: The insurance industry announces that any Canadian buying large amounts of life insurance must now take a blood test to prove they are HIV-negative. 

April 9: The Supreme Court rules that the right to strike is not guaranteed by the constitution.

Prime Mnister Mulroney places his signature on the Meech Lake Accord.

 April 30: After 19 hours of non-stop deliberations, the First Ministers sign the Meech Lake Accord. The document recognizes Quebec as a distinct society. A beaming Prime Minister Mulroney says, “Today we welcome Quebec back into the Canadian constitutional family.”  Former PM Trudeau shares his displeasure with the press.

May 3: Sweden mops the floor with Canada for a 9 to 0 victory and the World Hockey Championship. It’s the first time in 25 years that the Nordic nation has beat Canada.

May 22:  Super athlete Rick Hansen completes his 40,000-kilometre Man in Motion, round-the-world tour. He has been on the road—in his wheelchair--for 26 months raising more than $10 million for spinal chord research. 

 May 27:  Alice Munro wins her third Governor-General’s Award for literature. This time the novelist wins for her astonishingly gripping book, The Progress of Love.

 

May 29: The Reform Party of Canada is formed in Vancouver. Preston Manning is elected party leader. Reform will win 60 seats in the House of Commons in 1997--enough to give the party status as Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. The political party will disappear in 2000, becoming part of the Alliance Party.

The 1987  Championship ring.

May 31:  It takes seven games but the Edmonton Oilers skate to the Stanley Cup on the backs of the Philadelphia Flyers.

June 10: Statistics show that a million Canadian women are abused each year. Most are between the ages of 21 and 34. Many are pregnant. More than 20,000 are turned away from shelters for lack of space. In 2012 domestic violence will cost taxpayers $7.4 billion a year.

June 23: The National Assembly in Quebec City is the first government to ratify the Meech Lake Accord.

The Alouettes played home games in the Olympic Stadium.

June 24: The Montreal AIouettes are bankrupt. This is not good news as the Canadian Football League season is just about to kick off. The club has lost $17 million in past four years.

June 30: Say “good-bye” to the dollar bill. In its place is a gold-coloured, bronze-plated one-dollar coin. Queen Elizabeth II appears on the front but because of the loon on the backside, it is quickly dubbed the “loonie.”

Parliament abolished captial punishment on July 14th, 1976. A total of 710 criminals had met their end with the hangman's noose since 1759.

June 30: After eight days of heated debate, MPs in the House of Commons defeat a bill that would reinstate the death penalty.

Hyundai's Stellar is built on a Ford Cortina chassis. The CXL version is sold only in Canada.

July --  GM and Ford file a joint lawsuit against Hyundai Auto Canada, Inc., accusing the Korean automaker of dumping its cars in Canada.

The Premier, built by American Motors in Bramalea, Ontario will now be branded as Eagle since Chrysler has purchased AMC.

July 1:  Renault sells American Motors to Chrysler. The new super factory in Bramalea, Ontario will now built cars under the Eagle brand name.

Quebec City's skyline at night.

July 3: Quebec City becomes the first city in North America to be declared a UNESCO heritage site. Explorer Jacques Cartier built the first fort here in 1535.

July 13: Folks in Shelburne County Nova Scotia are surprised when 174 south Asian boat people land on the province’s fog bound coast after 17 days at sea. In the best of Maritime hospitality, residents feed their surprise guests peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hot dogs and Kool-Aid. Federal authorities will detain the refugees until sponsors can be found for them.

July 31: At 3.25 pm an F4 force tornado rips through Edmonton, killing 27 people and injuring more than 300 more. Damage is estimated at $558 million. It is the second worst tornado in national history and will come to be known as Black Friday.

August 7:  Vicki Keith of Kingston, Ontario swims across Lake Ontario in 56 hours and 13 minutes. Her biggest problem was all the water pollution.

August 7:  It’s a boy for Troy and Trina Crosby of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. Sidney will teach himself to skate at the age of three and be the first draft choice for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2005.

Chrysler Canada's state-of-the-art super plant in Bramalea, Ontario.

September 17:  The CAW signs an historic three-year contract with Chrysler Canada that—for the first time ever--includes a cost of living allowance adjustment for retirees.

The Volvo 740 station wagon.

October --  Volvo closes its 12-year old plant in Halifax. It takes longer than expected to move machinery to the new building and assembly of the new 740 models will not begin again until December. The automaker will build 8,190 cars this year, down from 9,625 units built last year.

October 20: The stock market crashes around the world. The Dow Jones alone loses $507 billion. The Toronto Stock Exchange loses 11 percent and the Montreal Stock Exchange loses 9.5 percent of its value.

Ben Johnson in the lead.

August 30:  Ben Johnson is the fastest man in the world, winning the 100-metre dash in Rome in 9.83 seconds. He believes he can win gold for Canada at the Olympics in Seoul next year.

September 4:  Scientists in Alberta tell the press they have found dinosaur eggs with fetuses. They now know that dinosaurs lived in colonies and mothered their offspring.

Lorne Green was the principal newsreader for the CBC. This photo is from 1942.

September 11:  Lorne Green is dead of pneumonia at the age of 72. The star of the long-running American TV drama Bonanza was born in Ottawa. For many years he was the principal newsreader for the CBC. His deep tones earned him the nickname ‘the voice of doom’ during World War Two.

The Pontiff wears a white leather chausuble, a gift from the Dene people.

September 20:  Pope John Paul II arrives in Fort Simpson, NWT to meet and worship with the people. His Holiness urges the government of Canada to give Aboriginal People self-government.

Canada Post honoured Ethel Catherwood's Olympic achievement with a stamp in 1966.

September 26: Ethel Catherwood is dead at the age of 79. The field and track athlete was part of the Matchless Six who represented Canada at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. The press called her 'Saskatoon Lily' and the name stuck. It was the first time women were allowed to compete and Ethel won gold by jumping 1.59 metres.

October 4:  In Washington, D.C., representatives of Canada and the United States agree on the terms of the new free-trade agreement.

The Honourable Francis Joseph "Frank" McKenna is the 27th Premier of New Brunswick.

October 13:  Voters in the Picture Province make a clean sweep, turfing out all of Richard Hatfield’s Tories. Every one of the 58 seats in the provincial legislature goes to the Grits. Premier-elect Frank McKenna says he will appoint some of his Liberal members to act as the Queen’s Loyal Opposition.

November 1:  Rene Levesque is dead of a heart attack in Montreal at the age of 65.  He dreamt of an independent Quebec and founded the Parti Quebecois to make Quebec a sovereign nation.

Glass Tiger is one of the hottest rock, pop and New Wave groups around.

November 2: the Juno Award Show is hosted by Howie Mandel for the second year in a row. The celebration of the best of Canadian music is held at the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto. Luba and Bryan Adams win Best Male and Female Vocalists for the third year in a row. Album of the Year Juno goes to Kim Mitchell for Shakin’ Like a Human Being and Glass Tiger earns the Single of the Year Juno for their hit, Someday.

The first map of the Great Lakes was published in 1688 as  part of New France.

November 11:  Canada and the United States sign an accord to clean up the Great Lakes. This supercedes the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and will now cover leaking dumps and fertilizer runoff from farmers’ fields.

The Queen of Canadian Cuisine reigned over our kitchens for more than 40 years.

November 24: Legendary chef Madame Jehane Benoit is dead in Sutton, Quebec at the age of 83. The Order of Canada recipient wrote more than 30 cookbooks and starred in her own TV cooking shows on Radio-Canada and the CBC.

November 27:  Cowboy Junkies record their classic album The Trinity Session—at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto.

YTV is a network geared to kids.

November 30: Now we have more Canadian TV channels to watch as YTV, The Weather Network, Vision TV and CBC Newsworld take to the airwaves.

November 29:  Vancouver hosts the Grey Cup. Edmonton squeaks by the Toronto Argonauts to win in front of a crowd of 59,478 fans. The final score is 38 to 36. It's the Eskimos' first Grey Cup since 1982.

 

December 11:  The text is 2,500 pages long and Prime Minister Mulroney tables the proposed free-trade agreement in the House of Commons. If the bill passes, it will give Canadian businesses and industries access to American markets.