1946

From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1946--

 New on the automotive scene for 1946 is the Monarch. The four-door sedan costs $1,526 f.o.b Windsor, Ontario. Sold by Ford dealers, Monarch will rack up 3,858 sales during the calendar year.

January 14: The first post-war Ford is built in Windsor, Ontario now that the bitter 99-day strike is over. A new dealer network is announced: Lincoln and Mercury will be sold through one while Ford and a new, Canada-only passenger car, the Monarch, will be sold through the other. Monarch is slotted between Mercury and Lincoln on the Ford company's ladder. This doubles the company’s presence throughout the Dominion.

January 15: It is the birth date of Veronica Tennant who will grow up to be the prima ballerina at the National Ballet of Canada.

January 21: The world’s fastest schooner, the Bluenose, strikes a reef and sinks off the coast of Haiti. The America Cup winner has been immortalized on the back of our dime since 1937.

January 22: Serge Savard is born in Montreal and hockey will run through his blood. “The Senator” will spend 17 years with the Canadiens and three more with the Winnipeg Jets before retiring in 1983.

January 29, Supreme Court Justice Ivan Rand rules that while Ford employees may not have a closed shop union, all workers must pay union dues since they benefit from the UAW’s efforts on their behalf.

February 6: Kate McGarrigle is born in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Quebec. She will grow up to become a folk singer and songwriter. Her duo act with sister Anna will be unforgettable. Kate will give birth to music stars Rufus Wainright and Martha Wainright.

February 15: In light of startling information about Soviet spies in Canada, Mounties are already arresting Canadians who have passed secrets to the Soviets. Prime Minister Mackenzie King orders a royal commission to gather all the facts.

March 4: The SS Empire Brent docks in Halifax Harbour. Aboard are 800 war brides, ready to begin their new life in Canada. Yesterday 1,046 war brides arrived, and last Friday another 800 disembarked. One out of every five bachelor Canadian soldiers married overseas during World War Two.

March 16: Two boys out playing on Hamilton Mountain discover human remains. The arms, legs and head appear to have been sawn off. Identified as streetcar conductor John Dick, a police investigation will lead to his beautiful and estranged wife, Evelyn. She will be acquitted of the grisly murder but convicted of manslaughter when police find the couple’s mummified baby boy buried in cement in a suitcase. After serving 11 years, she will be released from prison and disappear. The movie Torso will tell the lurid tale in 2002 and a film noir musical Black Widow will be released in 2005.

March 20: Ford announces a new line of Mercury trucks. They are for Canada only and will be sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers.

March 23: The nation’s 750 Ford dealers take the wraps off the sparkling new Monarch automobile. The posh companion car is most welcome since the Mercury-Lincoln dealer body stand alone, now.

March 29: The Royal Commission on Espionage releases its third interim report. It names Canadians who have been involved in spying on Canada for the Soviet Union.

March 30: Ira Thompson of Truro, Nova Scotia closes his blacksmith and horeshoeing shop. He has been in the business for 55 years.

April 2: Kurt Winter is born. When he grows up he will be the guitarist for The Guess Who. He will die of kidney failure in 1997 at the age of 51.

The Al-Can Highway will be completely paved in 1992.

April 3: Ottawa cuts a cheque for $108 million. We now own the 1,966-kilometre stretch of the Al-Can, a.k.a. the Alaska Highway that runs through British Columbia and the Yukon. Included in the deal are the buildings, airports and telephone lines, too. The gravel military road starts in Dawson Creek, British Columbia ends in Fairbanks, Alaska. Built in eight months by 37,000 workers in 1942, the supply route was a vital overland link should the Imperial Japanese army invade of Alaska.

April 3: Richard George Manuel is born in Stratford, Ontario. He will grow up to be a rock star, singing, playing keyboards and drums with the great ones until he hangs himself in a motel room on October 28, 1986.

April 9: The Boston Bruins give up their chance for the Stanley Cup in the fifth game against the Montreal Canadiens.

April 12: Lord Athlone steps down as our 16th Governor General. The King’s representative in Ottawa will be Sir Harold Alexander, the First Earl Alexander of Tunis . The military genius is a popular choice among Canadians.

April 18: Alexander “Skip” Spence is born in Windsor, Ontario. He will grow up to be a

rock singer, guitarist and drummer for Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. He will be diagnosed with schizophrenia and die of lung cancer on April 16, 1999, two days shy of his 53rd birthday.

April 28: Ginette Reno is born in Montreal. Her beautiful singing voice will make her a much loved pop idol and she will move to the silver screen with roles in the Laura Cadieux movies and Mambo Italiano.

His Majesty's Royal  Canadian Post Office will issue this stamp next year to commemorate our citizenship as Canadians.

May 14: Parliament passes the Canadian Citizenship Act. When it comes into effect next year, we will no longer be “Britons born abroad.” We will still be loyal subjects of His Majesty but we will be Canadians first, citizens of an independent state and no longer a British colony.

June 13: The Canadian Library Association is chartered today at a gathering in Ottawa.

June 17: A little after six o’clock in the evening a tornado with a force of F4 skips across the Detroit River and roars into Windsor, Ontario, destroying everything in its 30-metre wide path. There are 17 dead and damage is estimated at more than $10 million. Ironically, another deadly twister will take the same path again in 1974.

 June 21: Gordon Macdonald arrives in St. John's to serve as Newfoundland's last 

Governor. The 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor, will return to the UK in 1949 when Newfoundland joins Canada in confederation.

The twin towns of Fort Frances, Ontario and International Falls, Minnesota will become the fictitious town of Frostbite Falls when the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon series appears on TV in 1959.

June 25: An F3 tornado strikes International Falls, Minnesota and Fort Frances, Ontario.

July 10: It is the birth date of Roger Abbott. He will grow up in Montreal and as a budding comic he will “enlist” in The Royal Canadian Air Farce in 1973. For 40 years he will make millions laugh at his sidesplitting impressions of Prime Minister Chretien and US President George W. Bush on CBC Radio and CBC Television. The comedian will die of leukemia in 2011.

July 16: There is violence on the picket line at the Stelco plant in Hamilton, Ontario. Workers want union recognition, a rise in wages and they want the workweek cut from 48 to 40 hours. Stelco responds with some 300 thugs with painted black faces who attack the strikers with chains, pipes and pick handles.

August: The 2-millionth Canadian built Ford rolls out the factory doors.

August 3: A deal is struck with Britain to purchase vast amounts of our wheat. Farmers aren’t happy; they will be paid a sum well below world market prices.

September 11: The National Convention opens in St. John’s, Newfoundland to determine the future of the government. Most delegates are anxious to return to self-governing Dominion status that was lost in 1933 when the country went bankrupt and reverted to colonial rule  from London.

October 14: The war is over. War Savings Bonds give way to the very first Canada Savings Bonds. They are available in $50, $100 and $500 denominations and carry an interest rate of 2.75 percent.

October 28: Delegates in St. John’s are shocked when Joseph R. Smallwood proposes the National Convention send delegates to Ottawa to find out what the terms and conditions might be if Newfoundland and Labrador were to join Canada.

1,029,510 brave men and women went to war for King and Empire and 30,808 gave their lives to keep Canada free.

November 25: The war interrupted their studies but now 35,000 veterans have enroled in the country’s 29 universities.

November 30: The Governor General kicks the opening ball at the 36th Grey Cup match. In front of 18,960 fans the Toronto Argonauts whip the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28 to 6 to claim victory at the end of the day.

November 30: The National War Labour Board is disbanded. The economy is stable and Ottawa will permit unions and the private sector to negotiate wages and working conditions without federal interference.

Workers build 79,657 haulers this year including GM Canada's Maple Leaf trucks.

December 4: The City of Toronto retires the last 25 Clydesdales used to haul garbage. The draft horses are replaced with trucks.

December 6: Max Ferguson begins his broadcasting career. He starts as a staff announcer at CBH in Halifax. Known and loved by millions of listeners from coast to coast, the brilliant comic will entertain us on the CBC for nearly 52 years, signing off for the last time on September 5, 1998. Max will die in 2013 at the age of 89.

Eugene Levy speaks to the graduating class of 2012.

December 17: Eugene Levy is born in Hamilton, Ontario. He will grow up to be a standup comic and an actor. He will star in SCTV and many Hollywood flicks including American Pie, Splash and Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

The 1946 Dodge Special Deluxe Coupe sells for $1,464 f.o.b Windsor, Ontario. Dealers sold 8.624 Dodge passenger cars throughout the Dominion during calendar 1946.

1947

From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1947--

  The 1947 Pontiac Fleetleader Four-door Sedan sports a new grille and lists for $1,516 f.ob. Oshawa.  Production will be only 515 units for the calendar year because of material shortages.

January 1: As of today we have Canadian—not--British passports. We are still British subjects but we are now officially Canadians, no longer merely classified as Britons born abroad.

January 1: Long distance operators will now dial any of 86 three-digit area codes to help subscribers reach their parties. The three Maritime Provinces, and Bermuda share area code 902; Quebec and Ontario are large enough to require two area codes each while the Prairie Provinces and British Columbia get one each. When Newfoundland and Labrador join Canada in 1949, the province will share area code 902 with its Maritime cousins.

January 2: Every vehicle operator in Newfoundland and Labrador will drive on the right side of the road instead of on the left.

January 11: Geologists have discovered vast deposits of thick tar sands along the Athabasca River, 32 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. No one knows how to get the tar out of the ground or turn it into petroleum products but where there’s a will, there’s a way. One day we will need the oil.

More than 22,000 Canadians of Japanese heritage were stripped of their homes, businesses and possessions and forced into labour camps in 1942.

January 24: As a result of widespread protests, the government backtracks on its previously announced plans to deport all Japanese-Canadians to Japan as undesirable aliens. However, they will not be allowed to move without reporting to the police and they may still not fish in the Pacific Ocean. Opposition MPs from British Columbia, where a third of all Japanese-Canadians live, are outraged at the change.

Fred Rose was MP for the Cartier Riding in Montreal.

January 30:  Members of the House of Commons expel MP Fred Rose. He has been convicted of selling state secrets to the Soviet Union. The only MP to ever be sentenced as a spy, he must serve six years in federal prison.

February 10: It is a girl for Bernard and Rose Arbour of Montreal. Daughter Louise will grow up to become a lawyer and a Supreme Court Justice. When Madame Justice steps down in 2004 she will be appointed as the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights.

February 13: The Alberta Minister of Mines is in Leduc to open a valve on a gusher that will turn out to be the biggest ever for Imperial Oil. The Number One Well opens a whole new oil field and ushers in prosperity for folks in Wild Rose country.

February 16: Teenager Barbara Ann Scott of Ottawa wins the World Figure Skating Championship in Stockholm tonight.

February 19:  In Toronto, Bell Telephone introduces its newest invention. The communications giant shows of a phone that works from a moving automobile. It is good for police and the press speculates that perhaps one day ordinary citizens may have such devices in their personal vehicles.

March 1: Alan Thicke is born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. He will grow up to be an actor, best remembered for his role as Jason Seaver in the TV show Growing Pains.

March 4: The Federal Government announces its intention to establish nine weather stations across the Arctic.

March 10: Avril Phaedra Douglas Campbell is born in Port Alberni, B.C. “Kim” will grow up to become Canada’s 19^th Prime Minister and the first woman to lead our nation. Her tenure in office will be short lived, however. In 2005 she will lecture at Harvard University and be named one of the 50 most influential women in the world.

March 11: Figure skater Barbara Ann Scott is feted with a ticker-tape parade down Bay Street after her well deserved win at the World Figure Skating Championship in Sweden. She is offered a new convertible but turns it down in order to maintain her amateur status as she wishes to compete in the Olympics next year.

April 2: The rules about serving liquor have changed at Queen’s Park and cocktail bars are now legal in Ontario.

April 4: The International Civil Aviation Organization is founded today. The United Nations agency will set up its world headquarters in Montreal.

April 15: Russian defector Igor Gouzenko has been made a British subject. The onetime cipher clerk at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa blew the lid off a major Communist spy ring that reached right into Parliament.

April 19: The Montreal Canadiens will not skate home the Stanley Cup for a second year straight. The Habs lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs four games to two.

Senator William Meawasige of Serpent River, Ontario and Senator John B. Tootoosis of Poundmaker Saskatchewan are founding members of the North American Indian Brotherhood. In 1982 the organization's name will be changed to the Assembly of First Nations.

April 21: The Federal government makes history when a parliamentary committee seeks advice from the newly organized NAIB on the future of policies that will affect native peoples.

May 1: Wartime rationing of butter ends nationwide, as do price controls. Butter immediately jumps 10 cents a pound almost everywhere.

May 2: Ottawa announces that it will accept 1,000 Jewish refugee children from Europe, all of them orphaned by the war.

May 3: Doug Henning is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He will become a budding magician, putting on his first magic show when he is 14. His fantastic act will awe hundreds of millions of fans the world over until he dies of liver cancer in 2000 at the age of 52.

May 14: The Chinese Immigration Act, a.k.a. the Exclusion Act of 1923 is repealed by Parliament. The old law prohibited people of Oriental background from entering Canada as permanent residents.

May 28: Lynn Johnston is born in Collingwood, Ontario. She will grow up to become a cartoonist, famous for her comic strip about the Patterson family who live in the fictitious town of Millborough, Ontario. The strip will go into syndication in 1979.  For Better or Worse will appear in 2,000 newspapers in 20 countries in eight languages in 2006 and be retired for good in 2007.

June 6: Canada Savings Bonds go on sale at all charted banks. Bearing 2.75 percent interest, they will mature in 1958. Federal law prohibits individuals from owning more than $2,000 worth of bonds at any time.

June 9: Wartime rationing winds down. Today the Price Board removes butter, cheese, canned soups, salt and honey from the list of rationed goods. Strawberry and raspberry jams are now ration free but Ottawa still controls the prices.

June 10: Harry S. Truman arrives in Ottawa for a two-day visit. He is the first American to ever visit Ottawa in his official capacity as president.

June 15: Canadians with Asian heritage may now vote in Federal elections.

June 24: The McColl-Frontenac Oil Company Limited and its chain of service stations have been bought by the American company, Texaco. No longer will motorists “fill ‘er up” at the sign of the Red Indian. On July 2^nd, the familiar logo will be replaced by the Red Star and the Green “T” of Texaco Canada Limited.

June 26: Former Prime Minister Richard B. Bennett is dead of a heart attack at the age of 77.  The New Brunswick native served as PM from 1930 to 1935. After leaving office he moved to Britain. The First Vicount Bennett died in his bath this morning.

Dominion Day: As of today, blind persons are eligible for disability pensions at the age of 21 instead of having to wait until they are 40 years of age. The Old Age Pension will be increased from $28 to $32.75 a month.

July 22: It is a boy for Jean Duceppe and his wife Helene in Montreal. Gilles will grow up to be a politician and leader of the Bloc Quebecois.

July 22: The nation’s first nuclear reactor--the  NRX--goes on line in Chalk River, Ontario. Although it is only 2.4 metres across and three metres tall, this amazing device generates 10 million kilowatts of power.

August 8: Kenneth Wayne Dryden is born in Hamilton, Ontario. He will grow up to be an NHL goaltender. Retiring after seven seasons, he will write a book that is nominated for the Governor General’s Literature Award. He will also become a politician, serving as MP for York Centre and as a federal cabinet minister in Paul Martin’s government.

August 10: Wallace R. Campbell is dead. He worked for the Ford Motor Company of Canada Limited for 42 years. Some say the former president and chairman of the board never recovered from the stroke he suffered during the 99-day strike in 1945.

August 21: The radical Sons of Freedom burn down the British Columbia homes and farms of Freedomite Doukhobor neighbours and relatives who refuse to join their extremist sect. The Doukhobors are conservative Protestants who came to Canada in the 1800s to escape religious persecution in Czarist Russia.

The most beautiful woman in the Dominion is Margaret Marshall, this year's reigning Miss Canada. She's being interviewed here by host Keith Sandy at CKEY in Toronto.

September 7: Miss Canada decides to compete in the Miss America Pageant and comes home from the flashy Atlantic City extravaganza as the second runner up. Margaret Marshall tells the press, “I’d so much rather be Miss Canada.”

October 6: Canada will accept 20,000 displaced persons instead of the original 10,000 envisioned by Ottawa. Many of the refugees are from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

October 27:  Workers picket the CCM plant in Weston, Ontario. They want a pay hike from 47c an hour to 76c. They want time-and-a-half for overtime, two weeks’ paid holidays and to be paid for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. It will take two weeks of negotiations and walking the picket line but UAW Local 28 will get what it wants from management.

Sentiments run high on all sides as the future of Newfoundland and Labrador are debated throughout the land.

November 6: The terms of confederation are spelled out today by Ottawa for delegates of the National Convention from Newfoundland. While negotiating with Canada, delegates are also secretly exploring the possibility of becoming the 49^th of the United States.

November 21: Vancouver’s first FM station signs on the air. The CBC introduces CBR-FM. The new station is found at 105.7 on the FM dial.

November 29: The Toronto Argonauts whip the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 10 to 9 to take home the Grey Cup for the second year in a row.

Bonheur d'Occasion will be translated into English and win the Governor General's Literature Award.

December 1: Gabrielle Roy wins the Prix Femina for her novel Bonheur d’Occasion, the story takes place in the slums of St. Henri, a  Montreal neighbourhood.  It is the first time a Canadian has won the prestigious literary prize from France. A movie will be made from the book in 1983.

December 31: Burton Cummings is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He will grow up to be a rock and roll legend spending ten years with The Guess Who. The group’s hits will include American Woman, No Time, Share the Land and These Eyes. When the band breaks up in 1975 Cummings will go solo. In 2005 he will own the Salisbury House restaurant chain.

The 1947 Mercury 8 Fordor Sedan sells for $1,459. Our Ambassador to the United States drives a classy, upscale Mercury.