2008 in Canada

yearbox
in?=in Canada
cp=20th Century
c=21st century
cf=22nd century
yp1=2005
yp2=2006
yp3=2007
year=2008
ya1=2009
ya2=2010
ya3=2011
dp3=1970s
dp2=1980s
dp1=1990s
d=2000s
dn1=2010s
dn2=2020s
dn3=2030s

Incumbents

Events

January

*January 3: In Montreal, a false bomb threat forces the closing of Victoria Bridge for four and a half hours.
*January 12: A road accident near Bathurst, New Brunswick leaves eight people dead, including seven teenagers and one woman. They were all members of the Bathurst High School basketball team.
*January 15: Europol Operation Koala arrests 9 Canadians in connection to an international paedophile ring.
*January 28: CTV's "Canada AM" adds a second hosting team in western Canada, expanding the program to six hours and becoming the first morning television program in North America to air live in all time zones.

February

*February 11: The first of three treatment facilities open in Halifax Regional Municipality a $400 million project to clean up the Halifax Harbour
*February 13: An explosion occurs at a Taco del Mar on Broadway Street in Vancouver.
*February 20: A large fire in Toronto, ON destroyed several buildings on the south side of Queen Street West, between Bathurst and Portland Streets. [ [http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/305586 Queen Street Fire Article] ]

March

*March: The Apple iPhone is expected to be released on Rogers Wireless service provider.
*March 3: 28th Genie Awards
*March 3: Alberta general election, 2008
*March 17: Federal by-elections in Toronto Centre, Willowdale, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River and Vancouver Quadra.
*March 28: The start of the 2008 Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt

April

*April 5: The Quebec City Armoury burns down.
*April 6: The Juno Awards of 2008 was held.
*April 26: The Toronto Transit Commission's union, the ATU Local 113 voted against a contract causing mayhem throughout the city as they gave only an hour's notice to Torontonians. Strike ended the day after when they were forced back to work through legislation. It also revived the debate as to whether the TTC is an essential service or not.

May

*May 30: Maxime Bernier resigned from his federal cabinet post as Minister of Foreign Affairs, after a scandal where it was discovered that he had left confidential NATO briefing documents at the home of his former girlfriend, Julie Couillard. She was a former model who had past romantic links with members of the Hells Angels.

June

* June 11: The federal government officially apologizes for the systematic abuses inflicted to Aboriginal children in the residential school system.
* June 14: Howard Hampton announces his resignation from the leadership of the Ontario New Democratic Party, resulting in the commencement of the Ontario New Democratic Party leadership election, 2009.

July

*July 1: Chief of the Defence Staff (Canada) General Rick Hillier's term is set to end; Hillier is replaced by Walter Natynczyk.

August

August 2008 - 2008 Canadian listeriosis outbreak.

eptember

*September 8: Federal by-elections in Westmount—Ville-Marie, Saint-Lambert and Guelph.
*September 29: The S&P/TSX Composite Index drops by 840.93 points, the most in eight years, in reaction to the American financial crisis.

October

* October 1: French-language debate for federal party leaders
* October 2: English-language debate for federal party leaders
* October 14: Canadian federal election, scheduled

November

December

Arts and literature

Film

Literature

Music

Television

ports

*16 January – 20 January: 2008 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
**Men's medalists: Patrick Chan, Gold; Jeffrey Buttle, Silver; Shawn Sawyer, Bronze.
**Women's medalists: Joannie Rochette, Gold; Mira Leung, Silver; Cynthia Phaneuf, Bronze.
**Pairs' medalists: Anabelle Langlois / Cody Hay, Gold; Jessica Dubé / Bryce Davison, Silver; Meagan Duhamel / Craig Buntin, Bronze.
**Dance medalists: Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir, Gold; Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje, Silver; Allie Hann-McCurdy / Michael Coreno, Bronze.

*11 February – 17 February: 2008 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
**Jeffrey Buttle won the silver medal in the men's singles division.
**Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold metal in Ice Dance.
**Joannie Rochette won the silver medal in the woman's singles division.

*17 March – 23 March: 2008 World Figure Skating Championships
**19 March: Jessica Dube/Bryce Davison won the bronze medal in pairs.
**21 March: Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir won the silver medal in Ice Dancing.
**22 March: Jeffrey Buttle won the gold medal and became World Champion in Men's singles.

*22 March – 30 March: The 2008 World Women's Curling Championship was held at the Wesbild Centre in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Jennifer Jones' rink from Canada won the gold medal and became World Champions.

*4 April – 14 April: The 2008 World Men's Curling Championship was held at at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota in the USA. Kevin Martin's rink from Canada won the gold medal and became World Champions.
*30 April: 2008 CFL Draft: Moose Jaw native and Saskatchewan Huskies Canadian football player Dylan Barker is chosen first-overall by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

*19 July – 3 August: 2008 Rogers Cup Canada Masters Tennis Tournament : Men event held in Toronto, women event held in Montréal.

Births

Deaths

January

* January 3 – Milt Dunnell, sportswriter
* January 4 – Mort Garson, composer
* January 10 – Allan McEachern, lawyer, judge and university chancellor
* January 19 – Don Wittman, CBC sportscaster [ [http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourview/2008/01/remembering_don_wittman.html#comments Your View: Remembering Don Wittman ] ]
* January 21 – Pam Barrett, former Alberta MLA and former leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party

February

* February 2 – Barry Morse, actor
* February 15 – Willie P. Bennett, folk singer-songwriter
* February 16 – Harry Flemming, journalist
* February 17 – Bill Juzda, hockey player
* February 17 – Val Ross, writer and journalist
* February 18 – Mickey Renaud, junior ice hockey captain
* February 23 – Denis Lazure, former Quebec MNA
* February 28 – Milt Harradence, lawyer, judge, former leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives

March

* March 2 – Jeff Healey, rock and blues guitarist
* March 8 - Donald C. MacDonald, former leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party
* March 9 – Simon Reisman, civil servant and chief negotiator of the original Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement
* March 18 - Geoffrey Pearson, diplomat

April

May

* May 3 - Charles Caccia, former Member of Parliament
* May 17 - Joyce Trimmer, former mayor of Scarborough, Ontario
* May 19 - Jack Duffy, actor and comedian

June

* June 2 – Sheela Basrur, former Chief Medical Officer of Health in Ontario who became best known for her role in managing the 2003 SARS crisis in Toronto
* June 6 - Edwin Tchorzewski, former Saskatchewan politician
* June 11 - James Reaney, writer
* June 20 - Bea Firth, former Yukon MLA

July

* July 3 - Oliver Schroer, fiddler and composer
* July 14 - Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite, writer and musician
* July 22 - Helen Gardiner, philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum

August

eptember

* September 18: Ron Lancaster, football player and coach

October

November

December

References