Today’s Features

  • 1933 Depression finances force Newfoundland to give up Dominion status and revert to being a Colony.
  • 1962 Winnipeg Blue Bombers win 50th Grey Cup; beat Hamilton Tiger Cats 28-27 on day 2 of the Fog Bowl.
  • 1989 Audrey McLaughlin wins NDP leadership, replacing Ed Broadbent; first woman to lead national party.
  • 2006 Liberal Party delegates select Stéphane Dion as new leader over MIchael Ignatieff and Bob Rae.

List of Facts for December 2

  • 1615 Religion - Father Jean Dolbeau departs from Québec to minister to the Montagnais. Québec, Québec
  • 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion - John Rolph advances date of the Upper Canada coup to December 4, 1837; causes confusion among the rebels; a late convert to William Lyon Mackenzie’s Rebellion, Rolph is later forced to flee to the US. Toronto, Ontario
  • December 2 - Lower Canada Rebellion - Louis-Joseph Papineau and his followers meet with Wolfred Nelson; they break from Nelson’s more radical republican wing of the rebellion. Middlebury, Vermont
  • December 2 - Lower Canada Rebellion - Lt-Col. Charles Gore returns to St-Denis after earlier standoff by the Patriote rebels; troops sack and burn the village; heads to St-Charles, Québec the following day, then to St-Hyacinthe, Québec. St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Quebec
  • 1841 Religion - Arrival of the First priests of the Oblate Order (Oblats de Marie) in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1853 David Cameron appointed First Chief Justice of new Supreme Court of Vancouver Island; founded by Governor James Douglas. Victoria, BC
  • 1872 Alexander Morris proclaimed Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and Commissioner of the North-West Territories. Manitoba
  • 1881 Crime - Bomb discovered in the Palais de Justice in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • December 2 - Québec Election - J-A Chapleau re-elected Premier of Québec. Québec
  • 1883 Rail - CPR starts First regular passenger service to Calgary, Alberta. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1893 Health - Lord Aberdeen, Governor General of Canada, officially opens the Royal Victoria Hospital; funded by Lord Strathcona. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1902 James Hamilton Ross is elected as a Member of the House of Commons for the Yukon Territory; a pioneer of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Yukon
  • 1907 Boxing - Tommy Burns from Hanover, Ontario, KOs Gunner Moir in the 10th round to defend his world heavyweight boxing title. Burns was the smallest champion ever, at only 162 lbs and 5’7; captured the crown from Marvin Hart in Los Angeles February 23, 1906. London, England
  • 1911 John Mathieson sworn in as Premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Palmer. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1922 Football - Queen’s University defeats the Edmonton Eskimos, 13-1, in the 10th Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • December 2 - Emilio Picariello and his mistress Filumena Lassandro convicted of the murder of A.P.P Constable Stephen Lawson at Coleman, Alberta on September 21, 1922; they will be hanged on May 2, 1923. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1933 Constitution - Newfoundland gives up self-governing Dominion status and suspends constitution; independence is revoked due a disastrous financial situation during the Great Depression. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1937 Rowell-Sirois Commission - Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations recommends that the three prairie provinces become a single political unit. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1939 Mining - Hillcrest-Mohawk Collieries seals the Hillcrest mine. Hillcrest, Alberta
  • 1942 Second World War - RCAF bomber crew get key data on German airborne radar; prelude to big bomber offensive; return badly shot up. Germany
  • December 2 - External Affairs - Mackenzie King proposes new world order based on human rights and universal rule of law. Ottawa, Ontario 1946- December 2 - Military - HMCS Middlesex runs aground and becomes a total loss near Halifax. - Marine Heritage Database
  • 1949 Constitution - British Parliament gives Canada the power to make changes to the British North America Act. London, England
  • 1954 Mining - Hillcrest-Mohawk Collieries buys Consolidated M&S’s stake in Coleman Collieries, Limited. Coleman, Alberta
  • 1959 Education - Murray Ros appointed First President of York University in Toronto; Ontario’s 10th university. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1960 Strike - Parliament passes Act halting national rail strike; continues rail service until May 15, 1961. Ottawa, Ontario
  • December 2 - Premiers Conference - Provincial premiers meet at First Interprovincial Conference of Premiers; discuss national cooperation at provincial level. Québec, Québec
  • 1961 Football - Bud Grant’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat Hamilton Tiger Cats 21-14 in overtime in the 49th Grey Cup game; the CFL’s First OT Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1962 Football - Fog Bowl - Bud Grant’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat the Hamilton Tiger Cats 28-27 in the 50th CFL Grey Cup game; officials had halted the game the day before due to severe lakefront fog with 9:22 remaining. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1963 Energy - Industry Minister Bud Drury announces heavy water plant, necessary for CANDU reactors, at Glace Bay. Glace Bay, Nova Scotia
  • December 2 - Communications - Queen Elizabeth II speaks by phone to Prime Ministers of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to inaugurate new 24,140 km COMPAC, the Commonwealth Pacific Cable System, multi-channel multipurpose undersea cable; event broadcast live on CBC-TV. London, England
  • 1967 Football - Ralph Sazio’s Hamilton Tiger Cats beat Saskatchewan Roughriders, 24-1, in the 55th CFL Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1968 Music - Gordon Lightfoot’s song, ‘Black Day in July’ is banned on many U.S. top 40 radio stations; song deals with the 1967 race riots in Detroit. USA
  • 1969 Aboriginal - Canada, US, Denmark and USSR set up permanent secretariat to deal with problems of the Inuit. Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 1970 Terrorism - James Cross discovered by police after they surround the house where is held captive; British Trade Commissioner in Montréal kidnapped by FLQ terrorists. Montréal, Québec
  • 1971 Fishery - Canada signs fishing and sealing agreements with Norway; the treaty ends Norway’s right to fish within Canada; seal harvest split between Canada and Norway. Oslo, Norway
  • 1972 Football - Jerry Williams’ Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat Saskatchewan Roughriders, 13-10, in the 60th CFL Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1973 Rock group The Who and some pals are jailed overnight for $6,000 worth of hotel damage, after a show at the Montréal Forum. The incident is later profiled in the John Entwistle song, Cell Block Number Seven. (1973) Montréal, Québec
  • 1979 Anne Murray has a #1 Billboard hit with her single, Broken Hearted Me. New York, New York
  • 1981 Constitution - House of Commons votes 246 to 24 to patriate the British North America Act from Britain; with amending formula and Charter of Rights. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 Québec Election - Robert Bourassa with the slogan la force de l’expérience, leads the Liberals back to power in Québec after 9 years of PQ rule, defeating René Lévesque’s successor Pierre-Marc Johnson; wins 56% of the vote and 99 seats; loses his own riding of Bertrand, but subsequently elected (January 20, 1986) in the riding of St-Laurent; puts forward list of five demands as Québec’s conditions for signing the Constitution. Bourassa was re-elected leader of the Liberals in the fall of 1983, replacing Claude Ryan. Québec
  • 1989 Politics - Yukon MP Audrey McLaughlin wins the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada after 5_ hours and four ballots, replacing Ed Broadbent; first woman to lead a national political party; McLaughlin won her Yukon seat for the NDP in a 1987 by-election; 1988 reelected, NDP caucus chair; she will spend six years as a national leader, before stepping down after heavy losses in the 1995 general election. At this convention, the NDP also retract their support for the Meech Lake Accord. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1991 Music - The Rolling Stones shoot their video, Almost Hear You Sigh, at Rawi Sherman Film Studio in Toronto. Toronto, Ontario
  • December 2 - External Affairs - Canada recognizes newly independent state of Ukraine. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1993 Banking - National Bank of Canada buys Central Guaranty Trust’s branches east of Ontario for $50 million; 48 retail branches plus $3.5 billion in deposits and loans. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1995 Literature - Robertson Davies dies at 82; journalist, playwright, novelist, born August 28, 1913 at Thamesville, Ontario, the third son of Senator William Davies; educated at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and Balliol College, Oxford; 1938 joined the Old Vic Repertory Company, and taught drama at the Old Vic Theatre School; 1940 literary editor of Saturday Night Magazine; 1942 editor of the Peterborough Examiner newspaper; 1960-81 taught literature at Trinity College, University of Toronto; 1963 appointed Master of the new Massey College at the University of Toronto; novels include: the A Mixture of Frailties (1958); Fifth Business (1970), The Manticore (1972), World of Wonders (1975); Rebel Angels (1981), What’s Bred in the Bone (1985), The Lyre of Orpheus (1988). Orangeville, Ontario
  • December 2 - Hockey - National Hockey League referees go back to work after NHL walkout. North America
  • December 2 - Hockey - Patrick Roy resigns from the Montréal Canadiens; suspended the following day by General Manager Réjean Houle; later traded to Colorado Avalanche. Montréal, Québec
  • 1996 Lucien Bouchard sworn in as Premier of Québec, replacing Jacques Parizeau. Québec, Québec
  • December 2 - Michel Gauthier resigns as interim leader of the Bloc quebecois; later replaced by Gilles Duceppe in a convention vote. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1997 Media - Pierre Péladeau suffers a heart attack and slips into a coma; the publisher, printer, founding Chairman of media giant Québécor will die December 24, 1997. Montréal, Québec
  • 1999 Literature - Matt Cohen dies of lung cancer at age 56; recent winner of Governor General’s Award for fiction for his novel Elizabeth and After (1999); born at Toronto, Ontario December 30, 1942; educated at the University of Toronto; works include poetry collections Peach Melba (1974) and In Search of Leonardo (1986); short stories (Café Le Dog, 1983); novellas Korsoniloff (1969) and Johnny Crackle Sings (1971); 2 books for young adults, Too Bad Galahad (1972) and The Leaves of Louise (1978); and novels Wooden Hunters (1975), The Spanish Doctor (1984), Nadine (1986), Living on Water (1988), The Bookseller (1993) and Last Seen (1996); and the Salem Quartet, set in the imaginary town of Salem, near Kingston - The Disinherited (1974), The Colours of War (1977), The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone (1979) and Flowers of Darkness (1981) Kingston, Ontario
  • 2006 Politics - Liberal Party of Canada delegates select Stéphane Dion as their new leader over Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae. Montreal, Quebec
  • 2006 Politics - Ed Stelmach elected as the new leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, on the second ballot. Calgary, Alberta
  • 2008 Broadcasting - Edward Samuel (Ted) Rogers dies in Toronto; born in 1933; founding CEO of Rogers Communications and owner of the Toronto Blue Jays.
  • 2009 Foreign Affairs - Prime Minister Stephen Harper leaves on four-day visit to China.