Table of contents

1 Incumbents 1.1 Events 1.2 Arts and literature 2 Births 3 Deaths

Incumbents

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

• Premier of Alberta - Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia - Ujjal Dosanjh then Gordon Campbell
• Premier of Manitoba - Gary Doer
• Premier of New Brunswick - Bernard Lord
• Premier of Newfoundland - Beaton Tulk then Roger Grimes
• Premier of Nova Scotia - John Hamm
• Premier of Ontario - Mike Harris
• Premier of Prince Edward Island - Pat Binns
• Premier of Quebec - Lucien Bouchard then Bernard Landry
• Premier of Saskatchewan - Roy Romanow then Lorne Calvert

• January 21 - Chris Jericho wins Intercontinental Championship from Chris Benoit
• February 8 - Lorne Calvert becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Roy Romanow
• February 13 - Roger Grimes becomes premier of Newfoundland, replacing Beaton Tulk
• March 8 - Bernard Landry becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Lucien Bouchard
• March 12 - Alberta election: Ralph Klein's PCs win a ninth consecutive majority
• May 18 - Conrad Black renounces his Canadian citizenship
• May 21 - Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit win WWF Tag Team Championship
• May 23 - Federal Ethics Commissioner releases a report which clears Alfonso Gagliano of any wrongdoing in the sponsorship scandal
• May 28 - Chris Jericho wins Hardcore title losing it that day
• June 5 - Gordon Campbell becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Ujjal Dosanjh
• July - Canada becomes the first country in the world to legalize medical marijuana
• July 17 - Infighting in the Canadian Alliance forces out leader Stockwell Day
• August 24 - Conrad Black sells the National Post to Izzy Asper's CanWest
• September 11 - Canada closes its border with the United States in the aftermath of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in the United States. Canadian government initiates Operation Support. All commercial airplanes flying over the United States are diverted to Canadian airports and passengers are welcomed to stay in Canada (some invited into strangers homes) until they are allowed back into the U.S
• October 7 - the 2001 Attack on Afghanistan begins. Canadian fighter pilots and ground troops are involved in the war
• October 21 - Chris Jericho wins WCW Championship
• October 22 - Chris Jericho and The Rock win the WWF Tag Team Championship
• December 9 - Chris Jericho becomes first to unify WWE and the WCW Championships hence becoming first ever Undisputed Champion
• Chris Hadfield becomes the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk
• CTV purchases the Globe and Mail

• Dolce Agonia - Nancy Huston
• Life of Pi - Yann Martel
• The Stone Carvers - Jane Urquhart
• Eunoia - Christian Bök
• Discipline of Power - Jeffrey Simpson

• Shadows - Timothy Findley

• Alistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief wins the lucrative IMPAC Award
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Richard B. Wright - Clara Callan
• See 2001 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Michael Redhill, Martin Sloane
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Sharon McKay, Charlie Wilcox
• Gerald Lampert Award: Anne Simpson, Light Falls Through You
• Griffin Poetry Prize: Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours
• Marian Engel Award: Elizabeth Hay
• Norma Fleck Award: Gena K. Gorrell, Heart and Soul: The Story of Florence Nightingale
• Pat Lowther Award: Sharon Thesen, A Pair of Scissors
• Stephen Leacock Award: Stuart McLean, Vinyl Café Unplugged
• Trillium Book Award English: Richard B. Wright, Clara Callan
• Trillium Book Award French: Michèle Matteau, Cognac et Porto
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Linda Granfield

• March 4 - Bruce Cockburn is inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame

• Ten New Songs - Leonard Cohen
• Silver Side Up - Nickelback
• Pretty Together - Sloan
• All Killer No Filler - Sum 41

• Rick Mercer leaves; Colin Mochrie joins This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Deaths