1952 in Canada explained

Events from the year 1952 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George VI (until February 6)^[1] then Elizabeth II^[2]

Federal government

• Governor General – the Viscount Alexander of Tunis (until February 28), then Vincent Massey^[3]
• Prime Minister – Louis St. Laurent
• Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
• Parliament – 21st

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• • • • • • • • • • Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John J. Bowlen Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Clarence Wallace Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Leonard Outerbridge Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy (until September 1) then Alistair Fraser Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Ray Lawson (until February 18) then Louis Orville Breithaupt Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Thomas William Lemuel Prowse Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Gaspard Fauteux Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – William John Patterson

Premiers

• • • • • • • • • • Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning Premier of British Columbia – Byron Johnson (until August 1) then W.A.C. Bennett Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair (until October 8) then Hugh John Flemming Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Macdonald Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• • Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Fraser (until November 5) then Wilfred George Brown Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Hugh Andrew Young

Events

• January 24 – Vincent Massey appointed first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada
• February 6 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of Canada upon the death of her father George VI.
• June 11 – Saskatchewan election: Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation wins a third consecutive majority
• May 25 – Korean War: Canadian troops are dispatched to the troubled Geoje POW Camp
• July 16 – Quebec election: Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale wins a third consecutive majority
• August 1 – W.A.C. Bennett becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Byron Johnson
• August 5 – Alberta election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a fifth consecutive majority
• September 6 – The first CBC Television station, CBFT, goes on the air in Montreal, Quebec
• September 8 – CBLT (CBC Toronto) goes on air
• September 11 – Volkswagen of Canada is founded.
• September 16 – The Boyd Gang is captured
• October 2 – Korean War:, while shelling an enemy train in Korea, is hit by return fire from shore batteries. Three sailors were killed and 10 wounded: the only Royal Canadian Navy casualties of the war.
• October 8 – Hugh John Flemming becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing John McNair
• October 14 – Lester B. Pearson is elected President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Full date unknown

• Fighting in the Korean War drags on as the factions attempt to negotiate an armistice.
• The pension system is reformed with the introduction of the Old Age Security Act.
• Roy Thomson acquires The Scotsman and emigrates to Britain
• Painters Eleven founded.
• Atomic Energy Canada founded.
• Manitoba women were first permitted to serve on juries. (New Brunswick women become jurors in 1954, and PEI women in 1966).^[4]

Arts and literature

New books

• Thomas B. Costain

The Silver Chalice

Awards

• See 1952 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award

Jan Hilliard, The Salt Box

Sport

• February 24 – Canada men's national ice hockey team (represented by the Edmonton Mercurys) win their 7th (consecutive and last until 2002) Gold Medal at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway
• April 15 – The Detroit Red Wings win their fifth Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 0.
• May 2 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Regina Pats 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
• November 29 – The Toronto Argonauts win their tenth (and last until 1983) Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos 21–11 in the 40th Grey Cup played at Toronto's Varsity Stadium

Births

January to June

• January 1 – Rosario Marchese, Italian-Canadian educator and politician
• January 19 – Michel Plante, ice hockey left winger
• February – Kathy Dunderdale, politician and 10th Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
• February 3 – Wayne Erdman, judoka
• February 18 – Bernard Valcourt, politician and lawyer
• February 27 – Maureen McTeer, author and lawyer
• March 4 – Svend Robinson, politician, Canada's first openly homosexual elected official and prominent activist for gay rights
• May 13 – Mary Walsh, actress and comedian
• May 17 – Howard Hampton, politician
• June 2 – Ferron, folk singer-songwriter and poet
• June 6 – Jean Hamel, ice hockey player
• June 22 – Graham Greene, actor
• June 29 – David Dingwall, politician, Minister and civil servant

July to September

• July 1
  • Dan Aykroyd, comedian, actor, screenwriter and musician
  • Sam George, native rights activist (d. 2009)
  • Deborah Grey, politician
• July 3 – Rohinton Mistry, author
• July 6 – George Athans, world-champion water skier
• July 7 – David Milgaard, wrongfully convicted of murder (d. 2022)
• July 13 – Rosemary Dunsmore, actress
• July 25 – Nancy Allan, politician
• July 31 – Kent Angus, businessman (d. 2021)
• August 9 – Gary Kowalski, politician
• September 8 – Sue Barnes, politician
• September 10 – Vic Toews, politician
• September 12 – Neil Peart, drummer and author (d. 2020)

October to December

• October 2 – Marie Deschamps, jurist and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada
• October 4 – Angela Coughlan, swimmer and Olympic bronze medalist (d. 2009)
• October 22 – Peggy Baker, dancer
• November 10 – Jim Maloway, politician
• November 16 – Candas Jane Dorsey, poet and science fiction novelist
• November 27 – Sheila Copps, journalist and politician
• December 12 – Herb Dhaliwal, politician and Minister
• December 24 – Lorne Calvert, politician and 13th Premier of Saskatchewan
• December 27 – Jay Hill, politician

Full date unknown

• Di Brandt, poet and literary critic
• David Macfarlane, journalist, playwright and novelist
• Bob McLeod, politician and 12th Premier of the Northwest Territories

Deaths

• February 6 – George VI, King of Canada (b. 1895)
• June 21 – Wilfrid R. "Wop" May, World War I flying ace and pioneering bush pilot (b. 1896)
• July 6 – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, politician and 14th Premier of Quebec (b. 1867)
• August 31 – Henri Bourassa, politician and publisher (b. 1868)
• October 6 – Walter Stanley Monroe, businessman, politician and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (b. 1871)
• October 18 – Joseph-Mathias Tellier, politician (b. 1861)
• November 8 – Harold Innis, professor of political economy and author (b. 1894)

Full date unknown

• James Breakey, politician (b. 1865)

See also

• 1952 in Canadian television
• List of Canadian films

Notes and References

1. Web site: King George VI The Canadian Encyclopedia . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca . 4 December 2022.
2. Web site: Queen Elizabeth II The Canadian Encyclopedia . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca . 4 December 2022.
3. Book: Lentz . Harris M. . Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 . 4 February 2014 . Routledge . 978-1-134-26490-2 . 142 . en.
4. Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. http://criaw-icref.ca/millenium