1981 in Canada
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Events from the year 1981 in Canada.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- Monarch - Queen Elizabeth II
- Governor General - Edward Schreyer
- Prime Minister - Pierre Trudeau
- Premier of Alberta - Peter Lougheed
- Premier of British Columbia - Bill Bennett
- Premier of Manitoba - Sterling Lyon then Howard Pawley
- Premier of New Brunswick - Richard Hatfield
- Premier of Newfoundland - Brian Peckford
- Premier of Nova Scotia - John Buchanan
- Premier of Ontario - Bill Davis
- Premier of Prince Edward Island - Angus MacLean then James Lee
- Premier of Quebec - René Lévesque
- Premier of Saskatchewan - Allan Blakeney
For more see: 1981 Canadian incumbents
[edit] Events
- January 1 - Gasoline and diesel are sold by the litre rather than the gallon.
- February 5 - More than three hundred men are arrested after police sweeps of Toronto bathhouses. The arrests create an outcry among Canada's gay population, and become a historic turning point in Canadian LGBT history. See 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids.
- March 19 - Ontario election: Bill Davis's PCs win a majority
- June 4 - NABET employees at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation hold a long strike, disrupting programming for much of the Spring.
- July 17 – The government of British Columbia named a 2,639-metre (8,658 foot) peak in the Rocky Mountains after Terry Fox.
- July 30 – The 83-kilometre (52 mile) section of the Trans-Canada Highway in Ontario where Terry Fox was forced to end his run, was re-named in his honour
- September 1 - Quebec's French language sign law comes into effect
- September 1 - The Albertan and federal governments sign an energy agreement
- September - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission holds pay-tv hearings in Hull, Quebec
- October 16 - Canada Post becomes a crown corporation.
- November 5 - Canadian government and all provinces, except Quebec, agree on how to patriate the Canadian Constitution
- November 13 - The Canadarm is first deployed aboard the Space Shuttle
- November 17 - James Lee becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Angus MacLean
- November 30 - Howard Pawley becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Sterling Lyon.
[edit] Full date unknown
- Power Corporation sells Canada Steamship Lines Inc. to Paul Martin and Laurence Pathy
- News media: NOW created
[edit] Arts and literature
[edit] New works
- Margaret Atwood - True Stories
- Bill Bissett - Northern Birds in Coulour
- W.O. Mitchell - How I Spent My Summer Holidays
- Gordon R. Dickson - Lost Dorsai
- Nancy Huston - Les Variations Goldberg
[edit] Awards
- See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
- Books in Canada First Novel Award: W.D. Valgardson, Gentle Sinners
- Gerald Lampert Award: Elizabeth Allan, The Shored Up House
- Marian Engel Award:
- Pat Lowther Award: M. Travis Lane, Divinations and Short Poems 1973-1978
- Stephen Leacock Award: Gary Lautens, Take My Family...Please!
- Vicky Metcalf Award: Monica Hughes
[edit] Film
- David Cronenberg's Scanners is released
- James Cameron's Piranha II: The Spawning, his first directing effort, is released
- Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is released
- Joy Kogawa's Obasan is released
[edit] Sport
- September 28 - Calgary is awarded the 1988 Winter Olympics.
[edit] Births
[edit] January to June
- January 11 - Jonathan Mandick, rower
- January 15 - Dylan Armstrong, shot putter
- January 16 - Nic Youngblud, water polo player
- January 20 - Owen Hargreaves, soccer player
- January 21 - Dany Heatley, ice hockey player
- February 13 - Kristina Kiss, soccer player
- March 14 - Isabelle Pearson, judoka
- April 6 - Auburn Sigurdson, softball player
- April 19 - Hayden Christensen, actor
- May 20 - Morgan Knabe, swimmer
- June 21 - Kevin Mitchell, water polo player
[edit] July to December
- August 9 - Lauren Bay Regula, softball player
- August 19 - Taylor Pyatt, ice hockey player
- September 7 - Annie Martin, beach volleyball player
- September 26 - Kaila Holtz, softball player
- October 4 - Justin Williams, ice hockey player
- October 9 - Chad Hankewich, swimmer
- November 20 - Christian Bernier, volleyball player
[edit] Deaths
- January 5 - Lomer Brisson, politician and lawyer (b.1916)
- January 16 - John Oates Bower, politician, businessman and executive (b.1901)
- April 10 - George Carlyle Marler, politician, notary and philatelist (b.1901)
- May 4 - Samuel Rosborough Balcom, politician (b.1888)
- May 23 - David Lewis, lawyer and politician (b.1909)
- May 29 - Walter Russell Shaw, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1887)
- June 28 - Terry Fox, humanitarian, athlete and cancer treatment activist (b.1958)
- September 23 - Dan George, actor and author (b.1899)
- November 3 - Thérèse Casgrain, feminist, reformer, politician and Senator (b.1896)
- December 28 - Allan Dwan, film director, producer and screenwriter (b.1885)
