1971 in Canada

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See also: 1970 in Canada, other events of 1971, 1972 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

Table of contents

1 Incumbents
2 Events
3 Arts and Literature
4 Births
5 Deaths

Incumbents

Events

March 1 - Bill Davis becomes premier of Ontario, replacing John Robarts
March 4 - Prime Minister Trudeau weds Margaret Sinclair
March 31 - FLQ terrorist Paul Rose is sentenced to life in prison
April 5 - The first CANDU reactor begins operation at Gentilly, Quebec
May 4 - A sinkhole destroys much of St Jean Vianney, QuÃÂÃÂ©bec and kills 31
May 22 - Ontario Place opens in Toronto
June 3 The controversial Spadina Expressway project is cancelled
June 11 - Jack Davis becomes Canada's first Minister of the Environment, heading the new department of Environment Canada
June 14 - The Victoria Charter proposing constitutional reforms is written by the first ministers, it is later rejected by Robert Bourassa
June 23 - Saskatchewan election: Allan Blakeney's NDP wins a majority, defeating Ross Thatcher's Liberals
June 30 - Allan Blakeney becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Ross Thatcher
July 29 - The Bluenose II is donated to the province of Nova Scotia
August 15 - The first Banff Festival of the Arts opens
August 16 - Hurricane Beth hits Nova Scotia
August 30 - Alberta election: Peter Lougheed's PCs win a majority, defeating Harry Strom's Social Credit Party, which had governed for 36 years
September 10 - Peter Lougheed becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Harry Strom
October 4 - Petroleum is found under Sable Island
October 21 - Ontario election: Bill Davis's PCs win an eighth consecutive majority
November 1 - The Toronto Sun begins publication
November 2 - Gerhard Herzberg wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
November 12 - Paul Joseph Cini hijacks an Air Canada plane. He is later arrested without incident
December 1 - Two subway trains collide in Montreal killing one person
December 26 - An Air Canada plane was hijacked and flown to Cuba
Ontario Universities Application Centre founded
Harold Ballard gains full control of the Toronto Maple Leafs
The first edition of the The Canadian Rockies Trail Guide is published
Conrad Black and David Radler buy the Sherbrooke Record
Statistics Canada is formed to replace the Dominion Bureau of Statistics

Arts and Literature

New Works

Alice Munro - Lives of Girls and Women
Margaret Atwood - Power Politics
Milton Acorn - I Shout Love and On Shaving Off His Beard
Mordecai Richler - St. Urbain's Horseman
Joan Haggerty - Daughters of the Moon
Gordon R. Dickson - Tactics of Mistake
Brian Fawcett - Friends

Awards

See 1971 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Stephen Leacock Award: Robert Thomas, Allen Wives, Children & Other Wild Life
Vicky Metcalf Award: Kay Hill

Births

April 9 - Jacques Villeneuve, automobile racing driver
July 2 - Evelyn Wau, poet
July 10 - Adam Foote, hockey player
July 30 - Tom Green, actor
September - Chris Klein-Beekman, aid worker
November 1 - Glen Murray, hockey player

Deaths

January 5 - Douglas Shearer, sound designer
July 22 - W. Ross Thatcher, premier of Saskatchewan
Samuel Bronfman, businessman