1949 in Canada

Years in Canada:	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952

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Events from the year 1949 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Head of state (monarch) – King George VI (consort – Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon)

Federal government

• Governor general – Earl Alexander of Tunis (viceregal consort – Margaret Alexander, Countess Alexander of Tunis)
• Prime minister – Louis Saint Laurent

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Charles Arthur Banks
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Albert Walsh (until September 15) then Leonard Outerbridge
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Ray Lawson
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Joseph Alphonsus Bernard
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – John Michael Uhrich

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – Boss Johnson
• Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell
• Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Macdonald
• Premier of Ontario – Thomas Laird Kennedy (until May 4) then Leslie Frost
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – John Edward Gibben
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside

Events

Joseph Smallwood signs the document bringing Newfoundland into Confederation

• March 31 - Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province at a fraction of a second from April 1, April Fools' Day.
• April 1 - Joey Smallwood becomes the first premier of Newfoundland as a Canadian province
• April 4 - Canada joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• May 4 - Leslie Frost becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Thomas Kennedy
• June 27 - Federal election: Louis Saint Laurent's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority
• August 22 - Queen Charlotte earthquake: Canada's largest earthquake since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake
• September 9 - Albert Guay affair: in-flight bombing of a Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau
• September 14 - The Noronic, the largest Canadian passenger ship on the Great Lakes, is destroyed by a fire while docked in Toronto, killing 118.

Full date unknown

• Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are abolished, making the Supreme Court of Canada the country's top court
• British Columbia gives Asian-Canadians the vote

Arts and literature

Pauline Marois

Awards

• See 1949 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Angeline Hango, Truthfully Yours

Births

January to March

Marc Garneau

• January 24 - Guy Charron, ice hockey player
• February 14 - Denis Rocan, politician
• February 23 - Marc Garneau, astronaut, engineer and politician
• March 3 - Elijah Harper, politician
• March 16 - Victor Garber, actor and singer
• March 16 - Jane Haist, discus thrower and shot putter
• March 29 - Pauline Marois, social worker, civil servant and 30th premier of Quebec
• March 30 - Liza Frulla, politician

April to June

Ray Henault

• April 4 - Nava Starr, chess player and a Women's International Master
• April 6 - Réginald Bélair, politician
• April 8 - Claudette Bradshaw, politician
• April 14 - Percy Mockler, politician and Senator
• April 16 - Sandy Hawley, jockey
• April 18 - Jean-Paul Saint-Pierre, politician, Mayor of Russell, Ontario (since 2010) (d.2014)
• April 26 - Ray Henault, general and Chief of Defence Staff
• May 6 - Diane Ablonczy, politician
• May 20 - Sheldon Oberman, children's writer (d.2004)
• May 20 - Dave Thomas, comedian and actor
• June 21 - Jane Urquhart, writer
• June 22 - Wayne Easter, politician

July to September

Danny Williams

• July 3 - Jan Smithers, actress
• July 11 - Liona Boyd, classical guitarist
• August 4 - Danny Williams, politician and 9th Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
• August 13 - Bobby Clarke, ice hockey player
• August 21 - Larry Fisher (murderer)
• August 30 - Don Boudria, politician and Minister
• September 6 - Carole-Marie Allard, politician
• September 12 - Kevin Major, author
• September 26 - Marie Tifo, actress

October to December

• October 25 - Laurie Skreslet, mountaineer, first Canadian to reach the summit of Mount Everest
• October 27 - Garth Drabinsky, film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur
• November 27 - Nick Discepola, politician

Jim Flaherty

• November 28 - Paul Shaffer, musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian and composer
• November 29 - Stan Rogers, folk musician and songwriter (d.1983)
• December 13 - Denise Leblanc-Bantey, politician (d.1999)
• December 19 - Larry Bagnell, politician
• December 21 - John Loewen, businessman and politician
• December 30 - Jim Flaherty, politician and Minister

Full date unknown

• Zahra Kazemi, photographer, died in Iranian custody (d.2003)

Deaths

January to June

• January 9 - Tom Longboat, long-distance runner (b.1887)
• January 11 - John Wesley Brien, physician and politician (b.1864)
• February 12 - Pegi Nicol MacLeod, artist (b.1904)
• June 2 - François Blais, politician (b.1875)

July to December

• July 7 - Fred Wellington Bowen, politician (b.1877)
• August 23 - Herbert Greenfield, politician and 4th Premier of Alberta (b.1869)
• September 2 - Ian Alistair Mackenzie, politician and Minister (b.1890)
• December 7 - Stanislas Blanchard, politician (b.1871)
• December 16 - Albert Edward Matthews, 16th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b.1873)
• December 16 - Sidney Olcott, film producer, director, actor and screenwriter (b.1873)