1946 in Canada
Events from the year 1946 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
- Monarch – George VI
Federal government
- Governor general – Alexander Cambridge then Earl Alexander of Tunis
- Prime minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret
- Parliament – 20th
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
- Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
- Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – William C Woodward then Charles Arthur Banks
- Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
- Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren
- Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Ernest Kendall
- Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Albert Edward Matthews then Ray Lawson
- Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Joseph Alphonsus Bernard
- Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
- Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Reginald John Marsden Parker
Premiers
- Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
- Premier of British Columbia – John Hart
- Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson
- Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
- Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Macdonald
- Premier of Ontario – George A. Drew
- Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
- Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
- Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas
Territorial governments
Commissioners
- Controller of Yukon – George A. Jeckell
- Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Charles Camsell
Events
- January 21 – The Bluenose sinks off Haiti.
- May 14 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 is passed. It creates a Canadian citizenship separate from the British.
- May 31 – All Japanese-Canadians ordered deported to Japan.
- April 12 – Sir Harold Alexander appointed the new Governor General of Canada, replacing the Earl of Athlone.
- June 23 – The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake affects Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia.
- June 27 – Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 is enacted, defining a Canadian citizen and including a reference to being a British subject.
- July 15 – A royal commission investigates a Soviet spy ring in Canada. Secret information was found to be leaked and among the Canadians held suspect was the one parliamentary delegate of the Labor-Progressive Party.
- August 3 – A Canadian wheat agreement provided for British purchases of large amounts of Canadian wheat at prices considerably below the world market.
- October 14 – Canada Savings Bonds introduced for the first time.
- November 1946 - Viola Desmond refuses to leave her seat in the movie theater and is arrested.
- The Canadian Army Command and Staff College is established.
Arts and literature
Sport
- April 9 - The Montreal Canadiens won their sixth Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins four games to one. The deciding Game 5 was played at the Montreal Forum.
- April 27 - The Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Winnipeg Monarchs won their third Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association Toronto St. Michael's Majors 4 games to 3. All games were played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
- November - The New York Knicks won the first National Basketball Association game by defeating the Toronto Huskies 68-66 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
- November 30 - The Toronto Argonauts won their seventh Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28 to 6 in the 34th Grey Cup at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.
Births
January to March
- January 10 – Alexis Nihon, Jr., real estate businessman, Olympic wrestler for The Bahamas
- January 15 – Veronica Tennant, ballet dancer and dance and performance film producer and director
- January 17 – Domenic Troiano, rock guitarist
- January 22 – Serge Savard, ice hockey player
- January 30 – Jean-Paul Daoust, writer
- February 6 – Kate McGarrigle, folk music singer-songwriter
- March 1 – Gerry Boulet, rock singer
- March 5 – Richard Bell, musician
- March 6 – Marcel Proulx, politician
- March 11 – Paul DeVillers, politician
- March 22 – Rivka Golani, viola player
April to June
- April – Doug Christie, lawyer and free speech activist
- April 11 – Donald Orchard, politician
- April 15 – David Chatters, politician
- April 26 – Lorne Nystrom, politician
- April 28 – Ginette Reno, author, composer, singer and actress
- May 17 – Joan Barfoot, novelist
- May 30 – Don Ferguson, actor and comedian
- June 6 – Judy Jarvis, dancer
- June 17 – Ernie Eves, politician and 33rd Premier of Ontario
- June 24 – David Collenette, politician
- June 25 – Andy Anstett, politician
- June 25 – Roméo Dallaire, senator, humanitarian, author and retired general
July to September
- July 1 – Rosalie Abella, jurist
- July 5 – Pierre-Marc Johnson, lawyer, physician, politician and 24th Premier of Quebec
- July 10 – Roger Abbott, comedian
- July 19 – Dennis Mills, politician and businessman
- August 8 – Richard Johnston, politician, educator and administrator
- August 29 – Leona Gom, poet and novelist
- August 31 – Lynne Harper, murder victim
- September 4
- * Eric Malling, television journalist
- * Greg Sorbara, politician
- September 9 – Lawrence MacAulay, politician
October to December
- October 16 – Elizabeth Witmer, politician
- October 28 – Sharon Thesen, poet
- November 4 – Robert Davidson, artist
- November 12 – Peter Milliken, lawyer and politician
- November 17 – Petra Burka, figure skater, Olympic bronze medallist, World Champion and coach
- November 17 – Bob McBride, singer
- November 22 – Anne Wheeler, film and television writer, producer and director
- November 26 – Andreas Schroeder, poet, novelist and nonfiction writer
- December 14 – Paul Forseth, politician
- December 17 – Eugene Levy, actor, television director, producer, musician and writer
Deaths
- February 15 – Ernest Howard Armstrong, journalist, politician and Premier of Manitoba
- February 21 – Howard Ferguson, politician and 9th Premier of Ontario
- August 17 – John Patrick Barry, politician and lawyer
- September 9 – Aimé Boucher, politician and notary
- October 23 – Ernest Thompson Seton, author and wildlife artist
- December 6 – Charles Stewart, politician and 3rd Premier of Alberta
- December 25 – Charles Ernest Gault, politician
- December 27 – John Babington Macaulay Baxter, lawyer, jurist and 18th Premier of New Brunswick
- December 29 – James Thomas Milton Anderson, politician and 5th Premier of Saskatchewan
Full date unknown
- John Queen, politician