Highlights of the day

  • 1923 United Farmers of Alberta start up the Alberta Wheat Pool; first in North America; 25,719 members.
  • 1924 Doukhobor leader Peter Verigin and eight other passengers killed by a bomb on the Kootenay Express.

List of Facts for October 29

  • 1629 Samuel de Champlain freed from the fortress at Gravesend where he had been brought by the Kirke brothers; urged return of New France to France, without success. Gravesend, England
  • 1634 Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf travels to the Petun (Neutral) nation; baptizes a 40 year old native man. Ontario
  • 1764 Petition - 94 merchants of Québec draft a petition to Britain complaining that certain Britons want to impose on the colony a system of government that is not acceptable to the inhabitants. Québec, Québec
  • 1808 Theatre - Performance of Molière’s play ‘L’Avare’ at Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1864 Québec Conference delegates leave after passage of The 72 Resolutions; many travel to Ottawa for a reception. Québec, Québec
  • 1886 Crime - Robert Sproule hanged in Victoria for the murder of Thomas Hammill. Victoria, BC
  • 1889 Stanley Park dedicated in Vancouver; named after the Governor General, Irish peer Charles Stanley, 4th Lord Stanley. Vancouver, BC
  • 1898 St-Jean-de-Dieu incorporated. St-Jean-de-Dieu, Québec
  • 1900 Rodmond Roblin sworn in as Premier of Manitoba, replacing Hugh John Macdonald. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1910 Football - Bob Simpson of the Hamilton Tigers kicks a record 11 singles in a rugby football game. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1912 W. J. Roche appointed Minister of the Interior and Superintendent General of Indian Affairs. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1914 First World War - Québec Cavalry School holds First exercises as a civil guard. Québec, Québec
  • 1922 Farming - Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District (LNID) project declared complete. Lethbridge, Alberta
  • 1923 United Farmers of Alberta open the head office of the Alberta Wheat Pool; the First grain pool in North America; the Pool starts operations as an agricultural cooperative to try and stabilize prices, which had dropped severely in the past few years; has 16 elevator lines, 25,719 members and over 1 million hectares under contract. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1923 Alberta Wheat Pool accepts its First load of grain, from John Martin of Dalroy. Dalroy, Alberta
  • 1923 Sailing - Bluenose defeats the American schooner Columbia in an international boat race. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1924 Crime - Doukhobor leader Peter Verigin and eight other passengers are killed and eight injured in a bomb blast at 00:55 aboard car 1586 of the Kootenay Express, No.11 westbound, down Farron Hill from Brilliant, BC to Grand Forks, BC. Although never proven, it is alleged that Verigin was assassinated by a time bomb placed on the train. Farron, BC See Doukhobor Leader Peter Verigin Killed in a Bomb Blast
  • 1925 Federal Election - Mackenzie King wins only 99 seats in the 15th general election, but does not resign; stays in power with the support of 24 Progressives and 6 Labour MPs. Arthur Meighen’s Conservatives, who win 116 seats, are left out in the cold, as the Progressives back King when he promises to cut tariffs and bring in old age pensions. King loses his own seat in York North; a safe seat will be found at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Canada
  • 1925 Federal Election - Arthur Meighen 1874-1960 wins a plurality of 116 seats in the election; but King holds onto power with Progressive and Labour support; re-elected in his own seat. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1925 Federal Election - Earl Rowe elected for the Conservatives; MP for Dufferin-Simcoe for 37 years, 30 days; Lieutenant Governor of Ontario 1963-1968. Alliston, Ontario
  • 1925 Federal Election - Henri Bourassa reelected to Parliament, but as an Independent, not a Liberal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1925 William Egbert installed as Lieutenant-governor of Alberta; serves to May 5th, 1931. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1928 Newfoundland Election - Richard Squires leads Liberals to victory in provincial election. Newfoundland
  • 1929 Finance - Montreal Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange share prices plummet in their worst drop ever, as the New York market crash spreads quickly around the Globe. The Calgary Stock Exchange closes for a few hours on Black Tuesday, but reopens when traders think the situation is only temporary. World governments quickly impose tariffs to protect their native industries from dumping, but this causes a collapse in world trade, which ushers in the Great Depression. Canada
  • 1929 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council rules in the Persons Case that women are eligible to be senators. London, England
  • 1930 Football - Oshawa plays Toronto Balmy Beach in First football game in eastern Canada played under floodlights. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1932 Theatre - Founding of the Dominion Drama Festival of amateur and semi-professional theatre groups; First competition takes place in April, 1933. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1936 Politics - John Diefenbaker chosen leader of the Saskatchewan Conservative Party; Dief’s party will go seatless in the 1938 election; later Canada’s 13th Prime Minister. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1936 Nova Scotia country singer Hank Snow cuts his First records for RCA Victor. Montréal, Québec
  • 1939 Hockey - NHL All-Stars beat Montréal Canadiens 5-3 in the NHL Babe Seibert Memorial Game; the First NHL all-star benefit game with proceeds going to the children of Babe Siebert; First true all-star game will be played October 13, 1947. Montréal, Québec
  • 1942 Second World War - First traffic rolls over the 2,575 km Alcan Military Highway from Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks Alaska, built to move supplies and munitions rapidly north in case of Japanese invasion. Kluane Lake, Yukon
  • 1945 Second World War - Les Fusiliers du Mont-Royal return home from service in Europe. Montreal, Québec
  • 1952 Energy - International Joint Commission approves joint Canada-United States application for permission to develop 2.2-million horsepower of hydroelectric energy in the international rapids of St. Lawrence River. Washington, DC
  • 1955 Military - HMCS St. Laurent commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy; First of series of 14 new RCN destroyer escorts. Montréal, Québec
  • 1957 Theatre - John Hirsch revives professional theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
  • 1958 Disaster - Rescue workers in Springhill find 12 more coal miners alive after underground coal gas explosion and rock surge in the Number Two Cumberland mine; 7 more will be brought out on Nov. 1, but 74 die in the deepest coal mine in North America; last body recovered November 6, 1958 from the 3,960 metre depth. Springhill, Nova Scotia
  • 1958 Politics - Martin Pederson elected leader of the Saskatchewan Conservative Party; Hawarden, Saskatchewan area farmer. Saskatchewan
  • 1962 Finance - Founding of the Canadian Mutual Funds Association; open-end Canadian funds eligible; membership now 98% of the industry. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1965 The Rolling Stones open their third North American tour with a concert in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1967 Expo ‘67 closes in Montréal, after hosting 50,306,648 visitors over six months; opened April 27, 1967. Montréal, Québec
  • 1967 Montreal composer Galt McDermott’s soft-rock musical Hair, with lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, opens off-Broadway at the Shakespeare Festival’s Public Theater in New York’s East Village; provoked controversy for its Act I finale which was performed naked; billed as the The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, it will move to the Biltmore Theater on Broadway April 28, 1968 for a successful 1,729 show run; original cast recording album spawns hit singles Aquarius, Let the Sun Shine In and Good Morning Starshine. New York, New York
  • 1968 Politics - Dr. Gaston Tremblay quits the Union Nationale to sit as an Independent member of the Québec National Assembly. Québec, Québec
  • 1970 Jean Cournoyer replaces Pierre Laporte as Québec Labour Minister after Laporte’s murder by the FLQ. Québec, Québec
  • 1971 Media - English-language Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph decides to publish weekly instead of daily. Québec, Québec
  • 1971 Strike - Riot erupts during protest against lockout and strike at Montréal newspaper La Presse; leaves 160 people injured. Montréal, Québec
  • 1973 Québec Election - Robert Bourassa reelected Premier of Québec, with 102 seats for his Québec Liberal Party, 6 for the Parti québécois, and 2 Crédit social; no Union nationale members are elected. Lise Bacon wins a seat for the PQ, who become the official opposition, but party leader René Lévesque loses his own seat. Québec
  • 1975 Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue opens in the 1,800-seat Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts; backed by Toronto group The Band; the troupe’s name comes when one night while Dylan was waiting for inspiration, he heard thunder rolling across the sky. Plymouth, Massachusetts
  • 1975 Weather - Vancouver has one of its greatest one day October rainfalls, as 60.7 mm falls. Vancouver, BC
  • 1980 Media - Anik III satellite used to publish the Globe & Mail edition in Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1983 Kingston, Ontario-born rocker Bryan Adams’ ‘This Time’ peaks at #24 on the Billboard pop singles chart. New York, New York
  • 1984 Kingston, Ontario-born rocker Bryan Adams’ album ‘Reckless’ released. New York, New York
  • 1986 Energy - Alberta government cuts oil royalties by $1 billion: up to 12% on existing production. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1987 Hockey - Montréal Canadiens goalie Patrick Roy suspended for 8 games for slashing. Montréal, Québec
  • 1987 Roland Morin elected leader of NPD-Québec by provincial New Democrats. Québec
  • 1988 Isabelle Brasseur & Lloyd Eisler win the gold medal in Pairs at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in Thunder Bay. Thunder Bay, Ontario
  • 1991 Fire destroys Yale Hotel in Grand Forks, BC.
  • 1992 Maurice Strong gets job as Chairman of Ontario Hydro, replacing Marc Eliesen; Secretary-General of UN Earth Summit in Brazil, ex head of Petro-Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Statistics Canada reports Canada spends 9.2% of GNP on health care - US$1,837 per capita; the USA spends 12.4% - $2,566 per capita; Canadians healthier than Americans, and spend less on health care. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1993 Céline Dion’s album, ‘Colour Of My Love’ released. New York, New York
  • 1994 Ottawa, Ontario-born comic/impressionist Rich Little marries Jeanette Markey. Las Vegas, Nevada
  • 2002 Security - Canada issues a travel advisory for all Canadians of Middle Eastern descent travelling to the United States. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2009 Energy - Premiers of New Brunswick and Quebec sign a memorandum of understanding to sell most assets of NB Power to Hydro-Quebec for C$4.75 billion; deal causes outrage, and leads to defeat of New Brunswick Liberals in next election.