1955 in Canada explained

Events from the year 1955 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – Vincent Massey^[2]
• Prime Minister – Louis St. Laurent
• Chief Justice of Canada – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
• Parliament – 22nd

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• • • • • • • • • • Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John J. Bowlen Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Clarence Wallace (until October 3) then Frank Mackenzie Ross Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – John Stewart McDiarmid Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Leonard Outerbridge Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Alistair Fraser Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – 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 – W.A.C. Bennett Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell Premier of New Brunswick – Hugh John Flemming Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood Premier of Nova Scotia – Henry Hicks Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alex Matheson Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• • Commissioner of Yukon – Wilfred George Brown (until June 8) then Frederick Howard Collins Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Robert Gordon Robertson

Events

• January 7 – The first television broadcast of the opening of parliament
• February 1 – The Bank of Toronto and The Dominion Bank merge to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank
• February 23 - Military exercise Operation Bulldog III in Yellowknife.
• March 17- Richard Riot
• April 2 – The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge connecting Halifax to Dartmouth opens.
• June 9 – 1955 Ontario general election: Leslie Frost's PCs win a fourth consecutive majority
• June 29 – 1955 Alberta general election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a sixth consecutive majority.
• July 11 – Seven teenagers die in a mountaineering accident on Mount Temple in Banff National Park.
• Cape Breton Island is connected to the mainland by the Canso Causeway

Arts and literature

New books

• Gabrielle Roy

Rue Deschambault

Awards

• See 1955 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award

Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

Music

• Glenn Gould's first recording of the Goldberg Variations is made.

Sport

• March 17 – A riot erupts in Montreal when Maurice Richard is suspended.
• April 14 - Detroit Red Wings won their Seventh (and last until 1997) Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 3.
• April 29 - Ontario Hockey Association's Toronto Marlboros won their Second (and First since 1929) Memorial Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Regina Pats 4 games to 1.All games were played at Regina Exhibition Stadium
• November 26 - Edmonton Eskimos won their Second(consecutive) Grey Cup by defeating the Montreal Alouettes by the score of 34 to 19 in the 43rd Grey Cup played at Empire Stadium in Vancouver
• The Canadian Sports Hall of Fame is created.

Births

January to June

• January 1 – Precious, wrestler and manager
• January 4 – John Nunziata, politician
• January 6 – Alex Forsyth, ice hockey player
• January 8 – Joan Kingston, nurse, educator, and politician
• January 10 - Eva Aariak, politician, and 2nd Premier of Nunavut
• January 28 – Odette Lapierre, long-distance runner
• February 23 – Jerry Holland, fiddler
• February 25 – Camille Thériault, politician and 29th Premier of New Brunswick
• February 27 – MaryAnn Mihychuk, politician
• March 16 – Andy Scott, politician and Minister
• April 6 – Cathy Jones, comedian and writer
• April 25 – Jane Stewart, politician and Minister
• May 10 – Robert Woodbury, Canadian former sailor athlete^[3]
• May 12 – Yvon Godin, politician
• May 14 – Marie Chouinard, dancer, choreographer and dance company director
• June 14 – Joe Preston, politician
• June 16 – J. Jill Robinson, writer

July to December

• July 7 – Gord Mackintosh, politician
• July 13 – Hubert Lacroix, lawyer and President and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• July 17 – Geneviève Cadieux, artist
• July 19 – Dalton McGuinty, lawyer, politician and 24th Premier of Ontario
• August 6 – Gilles Bernier, politician
• August 12 – Tooker Gomberg, politician and environmental activist (d. 2004)
• August 19 – Bev Desjarlais, politician
• August 31 – Sidney McKnight, boxer

• September 28 – Stéphane Dion, politician and Minister
• October 12 – Issa, singer-songwriter
• November 4 – Rodger Cuzner, politician
• November 10 – Ken Holland, ice hockey player
• November 11 – Teri York, diver^[4]
• December 13 – Pat Martin, politician

October 30-Metis and Reform Member of Parliament (MP) James A. Hart was born in Edmonton, Alberta

Full date unknown

• Vatche Arslanian, Canadian Red Cross worker, killed in Iraq (d. 2003)
• Kim Morrissey, poet and playwright

Deaths

• April 24 – Walter Seymour Allward, sculptor (b. 1876)
• April 26 – Lyman Duff, jurist and Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1865)
• May 10 – Tommy Burns, only Canadian born world heavyweight champion boxer (b. 1881)
• June 16 – Ozias Leduc, painter (b. 1864)
• August 5 – Izaak Walton Killam, financier (b. 1885)
• August 7 – Alexander Stirling MacMillan, businessman, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1871)
• October 1 – Charles Christie, motion picture studio owner (b. 1880)

See also

• 1955 in Canadian television
• List of Canadian films

Notes and References

1. Web site: Queen Elizabeth II The Canadian Encyclopedia . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca . 4 December 2022.
2. Book: Lentz . Harris M. . Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 . 4 February 2014 . Routledge . 978-1-134-26490-2 . 142 . en.
3. Web site: Olympics . 18 September 2011 . Canadian Olympic Committee. 2 January 2014.
4. Web site: Teri YORK - Olympic Diving Canada . International Olympic Committee . 14 July 2019 . en . 15 June 2016.