Today’s Feature:

  • 1908 Opening of the Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint of Canada; today’s Royal Canadian Mint.
  • 1988 Brian Mulroney Signs Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with US President Reagan.

List of Facts for January 2

  • 1759 Intendant Bigot cuts the bread ration in New France to half a pound per person per day. Montréal, Québec
  • 1826 Founding of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1832 William Lyon Mackenzie 1795–1861 wins back his seat in the Upper Canada Assembly in a by-election, 119 votes to 1. He had been expelled from the Legislature and was expelled again a few days later. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1849 First gaslit streets in Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1872 Canada and the US First share telegraphed weather reports. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1884 Railway accident at the Humber, west of Toronto, claims 31 lives. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1892 Bank of Montreal opens an office in Stanley/Nelson.
  • 1894 Joseph and James Tyrrell return to Winnipeg after surveying the Keewatin district for the Geological Survey of Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1896 Politics — Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell tries to void the Manitoba Schools Act, which abolished French as an official language in the province, and removed funding for Catholic schools. In 1896, the Privy Council upheld the Manitoba act, but left the federal government with the option to declare it void; Bowell, former head of the Protestant Orange Order, chose to uphold the terms under which Manitoba had entered Confederation in 1870, and issued an Order-in-Council in support of the Catholics. The Manitoba Government rejected Ottawa’s decision; Bowell promised to call an election on the issue, but when he dithered, three French Canadian cabinet ministers resigned in July. A further seven of his cabinet ministers also resign on January 4. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1900 Emile Berliner starts manufacturing 7, single-sided gramophone records at a plant in Montréal; took out a Canadian patent on his invention in 1897; manufacturing 10 discs in 1901, 12 in 1903; double-sided records in 1908; plant taken over by the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1924. Montréal, Québec
  • 1900 E. Verlinger began manufacturing 7 single-sided records in Montréal.
  • 1902 Le Roi Mining and Smelting Company declares bankruptcy.
  • 1908 Currency — Opening ceremony for the Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint of Canada, as a branch of the British Royal Mint; Governor General Earl Grey strikes the Dominion’s first domestically produced coin, a silver 50¢ piece bearing the effigy of King Edward VII; today’s Royal Canadian Mint. The Ottawa Mint’s Refinery is completed in January 1911. By year’s end, a record number of gold sovereigns — more than 256,000 — will be coined at the new facility. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1912 Calgary Library opens its doors. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1917 Royal Bank of Canada takes over the Québec Bank, founded in 1882. Montréal, Québec
  • 1918 Montréal Wanderers’ hockey arena burns down; marked the end of the NHL team. Westmount, Québec
  • 1929 Canada and the US sign treaty to preserve Niagara Falls; limits daytime diversion of water through their hydro-electric power stations to keep the spectacle for tourists. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1929 First World War ace Wop May takes off with fellow bush pilot Vic Horner to deliver diphtheria vaccine to Fort Vermilion, Alberta, 1600 km north. The pilots make the trip in an open aircraft, with oil burners to keep the vaccine from freezing. A crowd of 10,000 greet the heroes on their return. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1929 The United States and Canada reached agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.
  • 1935 Prime Minister R.B. Bennett outlines his New Deal programme. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 Canada signs declaration of unity with 26 other countries at war with the Axis; allies pledge not to make a separate armistice or peace. Washington, DC
  • 1943 Government brings in newsprint rationing. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1944 CBC’s Dominion Network starts broadcasting coast to coast, with lighter programme in the evening hours; discontinued in 1962.
  • 1945 Victor Barbeau chosen founding president of the Académie Canadienne-Française; other members are François Hertel, Gustave Lamarche, Guy Frégault, Rina Lasnier, Robert Rumilly, Robert Choquette and Roger Brien. Québec, Québec
  • 1950 Mgr. Joseph Charbonneau ordered by Rome to retire. Québec
  • 1951 Trade Minister C.D.Howe announces construction of a $30 million-dollar atomic reactor facility at Chalk River, Ontario. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1957 Locomotive conductors go on strike nationwide.
  • 1958 James Garfield Gardiner dies; teacher, farmer, politician; Premier 1926-29 and 1934-35. Saskatchewan
  • 1959 RCMP open their new offices in Keremeos, BC.
  • 1960 Paul Sauvé dies after 100 days as Québec Premier succeeding Maurice Duplessis; succeeded by Antonio Barrette as Premier and Union nationale leader. Québec

  • 1963 City of Eastview, now Vanier, incorporated. Ottawa, Ontario

  • 1969 FLQ bombs discovered in Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Joe Clark resigns as Leader of the Opposition after getting support of only 2/3 of delegates at Winnipeg; Erik Neilsen interim leader; calls leadership convention. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Pierre Elliott Trudeau starts 18-day mission to Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines; returns January 19. Vancouver, BC
  • 1986 New York Islanders’ right wing Mike Bossy scores his 500th goal, into an empty net, in a 7-5 win over the Boston Bruins; 11th player in NHL history to reach 500 goals, did it in fewer games (647) than any other player in NHL history to that point; Gretzky will later better his record, scoring 500 goals in 575 games. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1988 Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signs Free Trade Agreement with US President Ronald Reagan; to ease trade restrictions between the two countries. Washington, DC
  • 1988 Montréal Metro opens 4 new subway stations, bringing the total to 65. Montréal, Québec
  • 1997 Thirteen inmates and several guards are injured in a riot at Alberta’s Drumheller Institution. Drumheller, Alberta
  • 1998 Mel Lastman becomes mayor of the new municipality of Metropolitan Toronto.
  • 1998 Three separate avalanches in British Columbia kill a total of nine people.
  • 2005 Canada confirms discovery of a second case of mad cow disease, just days after the US said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef.