1974 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

  Federal government

• Governor general – Roland Michener, then Jules Léger
• Prime minister – Pierre Trudeau
• Chief Justice – Gérald Fauteux, then Bora Laskin
• Parliament – 29th then 30th

  Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Grant MacEwan then Ralph Steinhauer
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Walter Stewart Owen
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – William John McKeag
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Hédard Robichaud
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Ewart John Arlington Harnum then Gordon Arnaud Winter
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Clarence Gosse
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Ross Macdonald then Pauline Mills McGibbon
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – John George MacKay then Gordon Lockhart Bennett
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Stephen Worobetz

  Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Peter Lougheed
• Premier of British Columbia – Dave Barrett
• Premier of Manitoba – Edward Schreyer
• Premier of New Brunswick – Richard Hatfield
• Premier of Newfoundland – Frank Moores
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Gerald Regan
• Premier of Ontario – Bill Davis
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell
• Premier of Quebec – Robert Bourassa
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Allan Blakeney

  Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – James Smith
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson

  Events

• January 1
• *Maurice Nadon is appointed as the 16th commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, becoming the first French Canadian to hold the post.
• *The Canadian Stock Exchange merges with the Montreal Stock Exchange, with the merged entity operating under the latter name.
• *Woodsworth College at the University of Toronto is founded, formally integrating part-time degree students into the University.
• January 6 – Global Television becomes Canada's third English-language television network when it begins broadcasting in southern Ontario.
• January 7 – Bora Laskin is sworn in as the 14th chief justice of Canada to replace the retiring Gérald Fauteux. In appointing Laskin, Prime Minister Trudeau breaks with tradition by passing over the more senior justice, Ronald Martland.
• January 14 – Jules Léger is sworn in as the 21st governor general of Canada, succeeding the retiring Roland Michener.
• January 15 – The Knight Street Bridge opens, joining Vancouver and Richmond, British Columbia.
• January 17 – Pauline McGibbon of Ontario becomes the first female lieutenant governor of a province.
• March 13 – A treaty between Canada and Denmark is ratified, establishing the maritime border between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. Measuring approximately, it is the longest negotiated international continental shelf boundary. However, the boundary line has a gap around Hans Island, with both nations claiming sovereignty.
• April 3 – A tornado strikes Windsor, Ontario, killing 9 people. The tornado was part of the 1974 Super Outbreak.
• May 23
• *New Brunswick becomes the first province to be officially bilingual.
• *The RCMP accepts applications from women for regular police duties for the first time. The first 32 women formed Troop 17, were sworn in on September 16, 1974, and graduated on March 3, 1975. Beverly Busson, a member of Troop 17, became the first female RCMP commissioner on December 16, 2006.
• June 29 – Soviet ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defects in Toronto.
• July 2 – Ralph Steinhauer becomes the first Aboriginal person to be a lieutenant governor when he is appointed lieutenant governor of Alberta.
• July 3 – Canada first demands that its territorial waters be extended to.
• Vote of no-confidence in parliament forces election.
• July 8 – Federal election: Pierre Trudeau's Liberals win a majority.
• July 31 – Bill 22 is passed making French the official language of government and business in Quebec.
• August 1 – The Elections Act is passed, limiting campaign contributions.
• August 9 – Nine Canadians are killed when Buffalo 461 is shot down during a peacekeeping mission in Syria.
• November 29 – An aircraft is hijacked over Saskatchewan. It is recovered in Saskatoon.

  Full date unknown

• Dorothea Crittenden of Ontario becomes Canada's first female deputy minister, Ministry of Community & Social Services.
• Paul Joseph Martin made president of Canada Steamship Lines.
• The Waffle disbands.
• The report of the Le Dain Commission argues marijuana should be decriminalized.
• Robert Cliche chairs a Royal Commission investigating corruption in Quebec's construction industry. Brian Mulroney, later to become prime minister, first comes to national attention as a panelist on the commission.

  Arts and literature

New works

• bill bissett – Living with the
• Irving Layton – The Pole-Vaulter
• Margaret Atwood – You Are Happy
• Alice Munro – Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You
• Margaret Laurence – The Diviners

  Awards

• See 1974 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Donald Jack, That's Me in the Middle
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Jean Little

  Sport

• March 16 – The Waterloo Warriors win their first University Cup by defeating the Sir George Williams Georgians, 6 to 5. The final game was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
• May 12 – The Regina Pats win their fourth Memorial Cup by defeating the Quebec Remparts, 7 to 4. The final game is played at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.
• May 19 – Montreal's Bernie Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
• September 22 – Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi wins the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario.
• November 21 – The Western Ontario Mustangs win their second Vanier Cup by defeating the Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 19–15.
• November 24 – The Montreal Alouettes win their third Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos, 20 to 7. The 62nd Grey Cup was played at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. Montreal's Don Sweet won the game's Most Valuable Player award and Edmonton's Don Barker won the game's Most Valuable Canadian award.

  Births

January to March

• January 14 – Hugues Legault, swimmer
• January 19 – Diane Cummins, middle distance runner
• January 21 – Robert Ghiz, politician and 31st Premier of Prince Edward Island
• January 23 – Joel Bouchard, ice hockey player
• January 24 – Kristy Sargeant, pair skater
• January 25 – Robert Budreau, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
• January 29 – Kris Burley, artistic gymnast
• February 7 – Steve Nash, basketball player
• February 21 – Mary Fuzesi, rhythmic gymnast
• March 20 – Kevin Sullivan, runner and coach

  April to June

• April 11 – Tricia Helfer, model and actress
• April 26 – Jacinthe Pineau, swimmer
• May 9 – Stéphane Yelle, Canadian ice hockey player
• May 10 – Jon Beare, rower and Olympic bronze medalist
• May 16 – Yannick Keith Lizé, water polo player and scientist
• May 18 – Chantal Kreviazuk, singer-songwriter
• May 18 – Carolyn Russell, squash player
• June 1 – Alanis Morissette, singer-songwriter, record producer and actress
• June 6 – Anson Carter, ice hockey player
• June 9 – Jackie Lance, softball player

  July to September

• July 4 -Kevin Hanchard actor
• July 6 – Steve Sullivan, ice hockey player
• July 7 – Patrick Lalime, ice hockey player
• July 13 – Deborah Cox, singer-songwriter and actress
• July 26 - Daniel Negreanu poker player
• August 9 – Mara Jones, rower
• August 15 – Natasha Henstridge, actress and model
• September 6 - Sarah Strange actress and voice actress
• September 8 – Becky Price, field hockey player
• September 18 – Nicole Haynes, heptathlete
• September 28 – Alison Parrott, murder victim

  October to December

• October 6 – Madonna Gimotea, rhythmic gymnast
• October 10 – Chris Pronger, ice hockey player
• October 11 – Jason Arnott, ice hockey player
• October 16 – Paul Kariya, ice hockey player
• October 22 – Paul Duerden, volleyball player
• November 4 – Amy MacFarlane, field hockey player
• November 10 - Michael Greenspan filmmaker and writer
• November 15 - Chad Kroeger singer
• November 21 – Casey Patton, boxer
• November 22 – David Pelletier, pair skater
• November 25 – David Cadieux, boxer
• December 7 - Nicole Appleton singer

  Deaths

• February 21 – Tim Horton, ice hockey player and businessman
• April 2 – Douglass Dumbrille, actor
• April 5 – A. Y. Jackson, painter, one of the Group of Seven
• April 8 – James Charles McGuigan, Cardinal
• June 21 - Merton Yarwood Williams, geologist and academic
• August 25 – Major James Coldwell, politician