==Incumbents==fart
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Events
- January 1: An avalanche destroys a school gymnasium during New Year's celebrations in Kangiqsualujjuaq in far northern Quebec, killing 9.
- February 9: Brian Tobin's Liberals are re-elected 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- April 28: W. R. Myers High School shooting: In Taber, Alberta, a 15-year-old boy, who has recently been withdrawn from public school to escape bullying, walks into W.R. Myers High School and shoots two students with a .22 rifle, killing one (Jason Lang) and injuring the other.
- 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 commit
- May 20 the Supreme Court expands gay spousal 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 treaty to divide the Pacific salmon fishery
- June 4: An agreement on split-run magazines prevents looming trade war with the United 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 Supreme Court rules that Quebec cannot secede unilaterally, but that Canada is obliged 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 resigned on the 21st
- September 15: Louise 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 8: Bill Clinton dedicates the new Embassy of the United States in Ottawa
- October 15: Robert Mundell wins the Nobel 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
- November 21: Nimiq 1 Canada's first direct broadcast digital TV satellite launched by a Proton K Blok DM-3 rocket from the Tyuratam launch centre in Kazakhstan.
- December 8: Air Canada takes over Canadian Airlines
- December 11: The verdict in the Just Desserts shooting case is handed down. Two of the accused are found guilty, the third is acquitted.
- December 14: Montreal resident Ahmed Ressam is arrested in Seattle and found with large quantities of explosives
Arts and literature
- New Works:
- Awards
- Music
Births
Deaths
- January 8: James William Baskin, politician
- January 10: Walter Harris, politician
- February 18: Neil Gaudry, Manitoba politician
- March 3: Gerhard Herzberg, scientist
- March 9: Harry Somers, composer
- March 24: Edmund Tobin Asselin, politician
- April 4: Greg McConnell, indie rock musician (Lost Dakotas)
- May 23: Owen Hart, WWF wrestler
- June: Gordon Towers, politician
- June 17: Stanley Faulder, murderer
- June 30: Tyrell Dueck
- July 16: Alan Macnaughton, politician
- August 12: Jean Drapeau, mayor of Montreal
- September 24: Robert Bend, Manitoba politician
- October 14: Ian Wahn, politician
- October 31: Greg Moore, racing car driver
- December 2: Matt Cohen, author
- December 11: Big Ben, race horse
- December 20: Hank Snow, country singer
- December 30: Rick Danko, musician
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