Table of contents

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

Incumbents

• Prime Minister - Jean Chretien
• Governor General - Adrienne Clarkson

• Premier of Alberta - Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia - Glen Clark then Dan Miller
• Premier of Manitoba - Gary Filmon then Gary Doer
• Premier of New Brunswick - Camille Thériault then Bernard Lord
• Premier of Newfoundland - Brian Tobin
• Premier of Nova Scotia - Russell MacLellan then John Hamm
• Premier of Ontario - Mike Harris
• Premier of Prince Edward Island - Pat Binns
• Premier of Quebec - Lucien Bouchard
• Premier of Saskatchewan - Roy Romanow

• February 9 - Brian Tobin's Liberals are reelected in Newfoundland
• February 13 - the last hockey game is played at Maple Leaf Gardens as the team moves to the new Air Canada Centre
• April 1 - Nunavut becomes the newest territory. Paul Okalik becomes its first premier
• April 6 - A disgruntled employee kills four in Ottawa before killing himself
• April 16 - Wayne Gretzky retires from hockey
• April 28 - A student kills two classmates in Taber, Alberta
• May 1 - Sponsorship scandal: The federal government issues a $615,000 contract for a report from Groupaction into its own activities.
• May 11 - Chevron announces a major natural gas find in the Northwest Territories
• May 17 - The Saskatchewan government awards David Milgaard after he was jailed for 23 years for a murder he did not committ
• May 20 the Supreme Court expands gay spusal rights
• May 27 - Julie Payette becomes the first Canadian to board the International Space Station
• June 3 - Ontario election: Mike Harris's PCs win a second consecutive majority
• June 3 - Canada and the United States sign a treay to divide the Pacific salmon fishery
• June 4 - An agreemnt on split-run magazines prevents looming trade war with the states
• June 7 - Bernard Lord's Conservatives win a surprise election victory in New Brunswick
• June 10 - The Reform Party of Canada votes to become the Canadian Alliance
• June 17 - Canadian citizen Stanley Faulder is executed in Texas, despite diplomatic complaints by the Canadian government
• June 21 - Bernard Lord becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Camille Thériault
• June 30 - A British Columbia court strikes down Canada's child pornography laws
• July 23 - August 8 - The Pan-American games are held in Winnipeg
• July 27 - The Conservatives win a majority government in Nova Scotia
• August 16 - John Hamm becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Russell MacLellan
• August 20 - The Surpme Court rules that Quebec cannot seceed unilateraly, but that Canada is obligated to recognize a clear yes vote
• August 20 - Eaton's files for bankruptcy
• August 24 - Onex announces a plan to buy and merge Air Canada and Canadian Airlines
• August 25 - Dan Miller, as interim leader of the NDP, becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Glen Clark who resigend on the 21st
• September 15 - Louis Arbour appointed to the Supreme Court replacing Antonio Lamer
• September 19 - Saskatchewan election: Roy Romanow's NDP wins only a minority but forms a coalition with the Liberals to maintain control of the Legislative Assembly
• September 25 - The federal government refuses requests for aid by the six remaining Canadian NHL franchises
• October 5 - Gary Doer of the NDP becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Gary Filmon of the Conservatives
• October 7 - Adrienne Clarkson becomes Governor General
• October 15 - Robert Mundell wins the Noble Prize for economics
• October 19 - Air Canada, backed by other airlines, announces a takeover bid for Canadian Airlines
• November 3 - Beverley McLachlin becomes the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court
• November 5 - A Quebec court decides that Onex's bid for Air Canada is illegal
• November 5 - Quebec sign law is overturned
• November 13 - Lennox Lewis defeats Evander Holyfield to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World
• December 8 - Air Canada takes over Canadian Airlines
• December 14 - Montreal resident Ahmed Ressam is arrested in Seattle and found with large quantities of explosives

• Russell Smith - Young Men
• Bonnie Burnard - A Good House
• Antonine Maillet - Chronique d'une sorcière de vent

• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Bonnie Burnard, A Good House
• See 1999 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Andre Alexis, Childhood
• Gerald Lampert Award: Stephanie Bolster, White Stone: The Alice Poems
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Iain Lawrence, The Wreckers
• Marian Engel Award: Janice Kulyk Keeger
• Norma Fleck Award: Andy Turnbull and Debora Pearson, By Truck to the North: My Winter Adventure
• Pat Lowther Award: Hilary Clark, More Light
• Stephen Leacock Award: Stuart McLean, Home from the Vinyl Cafe
• Trillium Book Award English: Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief
• Trillium Book Award French: Andrée Christensen and Jacques Flamand, Lithochronos ou le premier vol de la pierre
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Joan Clark

• Céline Dion, Alanis Morissette, and Shania Twain win major Grammy Awards

Deaths