1908 in Canada
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{{More citations needed|date=February 2020}}
{{Year in Canada|1908}}
{{History of Canada}}
Events from the year 1908 in Canada.
Incumbents
= Crown =
= Federal government =
- Governor General – Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
- Prime Minister – Wilfrid Laurier
- Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
- Parliament – 10th (until 17 September)
= Provincial governments =
== Lieutenant governors ==
- Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – George Hedley Vicars Bulyea
- Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – James Dunsmuir
- Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Daniel Hunter McMillan
- Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Lemuel John Tweedie
- Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Duncan Cameron Fraser
- Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Mortimer Clark (until September 22) then John Morison Gibson
- Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Donald Alexander MacKinnon
- Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Louis-Amable Jetté (until September 15) then Charles Alphonse Pantaléon Pelletier
- Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Amédée Forget
== Premiers ==
- Premier of Alberta – Alexander Cameron Rutherford
- Premier of British Columbia – Richard McBride
- Premier of Manitoba – Rodmond Roblin
- Premier of New Brunswick – Clifford William Robinson (until March 24) then John Douglas Hazen
- Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
- Premier of Ontario – James Whitney
- Premier of Prince Edward Island – Arthur Peters (until January 29) then Francis Haszard (from February 1)
- Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin
- Premier of Saskatchewan – Thomas Walter Scott
=Territorial governments=
==Commissioners==
Events
- January 2 – The Royal Canadian Mint opens.
- January 29 – Arthur Peters, Premier of Prince Edward Island, dies in office
- February 1 – F. L. Haszard becomes premier of Prince Edward Island.
- March 7 – The University of British Columbia is established by the British Columbia University Act.
- March 24 – Sir John Douglas Hazen becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Clifford Robinson.
- June 8 – In the Ontario election, Sir James Whitney's Conservatives win a second consecutive majority.
- June 12 – Saskatchewan Government Telephones created.
- August 2 – A fire in the Kootenay region kills 70.
- August 14 – In the Saskatchewan election, Walter Scott's Liberals win a second consecutive majority.
- September 23 – The University of Alberta opens.
- October 26 – In the federal election, Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority.
=Full date unknown=
- Anne of Green Gables is first published, having a great effect on Prince Edward Island.
- The Opium and Narcotics Act is passed banning certain drugs in Canada.
- The Grain Growers Guide is first published.
- The Child Labour Act of Ontario is passed.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}
- Vancouver Courier first published.
Arts and literature
- Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables is published.
Births
=January to June=
- January 1 – Clarence Dunlap, Chief of the Air Staff Royal Canadian Air Force (d. 2003)
- January 22 – Sinclair Ross, banker and author (d.1996)
- February 1 – Louis Rasminsky, third Governor of the Bank of Canada (d.1998)
- February 7 – Lela Brooks, speed skater (d.1990)
- February 10 – Jean Coulthard, composer and academic (d.2000)
- March 5 – Colin Emerson Bennett, politician and lawyer (d. 1993)
- March 24 – Carl Klinck, literary historian and academic (d. 1990)
- April 7 – Percy Faith, band-leader, orchestrator and composer (d. 1976)
- May 11 – Hide Hyodo Shimizu, Japanese-Canadian educator and activist (d. 1999)
- May 19 – Percy Williams, athlete (d. 1982)
- May 26 – James Sinclair, politician, businessman and father of Margaret Sinclair, one-time wife of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and grandfather of Justin Trudeau (d.1984)
- May 28 – Léo Cadieux, politician (d.2005)
- June 5 – Maxwell Meighen, financier (d.1992)
- June 12 – Alphonse Ouimet, broadcaster (d. 1988){{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/joseph-alphonse-ouimet/|title=Joseph-Alphonse Ouimet|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=June 18, 2024}}
- June 18 – Stanley Knowles, politician (d.1997)
=July to December=
- July 11
- Gérard Légaré, politician (d. 1997)
- Yves Prévost, politician and lawyer (d. 1997)
- September 20 – Ernest Manning, Premier of Alberta (d.1996)
- October 18 – Alfred Henry Bence, politician and barrister (d.1977)
- October 24 – John Tuzo Wilson, geophysicist and geologist (d. 1993)
- October 31 – Muriel Duckworth, pacifist and social activist (d. 2009)
- November 3 – Bronko Nagurski, American football player (d. 1990)
- November 10 – Charles Merritt, army officer and politician (d. 2000)
- December 6 – Nicholas Goldschmidt, conductor, administrator and artistic director (d.2004)
- December 13 – W. L. Morton, historian (d.1980)
- December 23 – Yousuf Karsh, photographer (d.2002)
Deaths
=January to June=
- January 6 – George Dixon, first Canadian-born boxing champion (b.1870)
- January 13 – George Anthony Walkem, jurist and Premier of British Columbia (b.1834)
- January 29 – Arthur Peters, Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1854)
- May 31 – Louis-Honoré Fréchette, politician and writer (b.1839)
- June 14 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor General of Canada (b.1841)
- June 24 – William Whiteway, Premier of Newfoundland (b.1828)
=July to December=
- August 18 – Alfred Boyd, 1st Premier of Manitoba (b.1835)
- September 7 – Joseph-Guillaume Bossé, politician and lawyer (b.1843)
- October 30 – Thomas Greenway, 7th Premier of Manitoba (b.1838)
- November 16 – Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, 4th Premier of Quebec and Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (b.1829)
- December 11 – Jean Blanchet, politician (b.1843)
- December 25 – William McGuigan, politician and 10th Mayor of Vancouver (b.1853)
Historical documents
Mackenzie King and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt discuss Japanese immigrationDiaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King; 1908 (January 25), pgs. [http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/prime-ministers/william-lyon-mackenzie-king/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=4474& 6]-7. Accessed 11 February 2020
To get people from "countries whose climatic conditions promise a suitable class of settlers," Canada pays bonuses to agents[https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.com_HOC_1004_1_1/347?r=0&s=1 "Canadian Immigration"] (April 29, 1908), Report of the [House] Select Standing Committee on Agriculture and Colonization[...]1907-8, pgs. 323-4. Accessed 12 October 2020
Testimonials for service Salvation Army provides for immigrants to Canada[https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:3726006$86i "Appendix II; Voices from the West"] The Surplus (1909), pgs. 80-8. Accessed 11 February 2020
Lecturer describes largely American and mostly male immigration to CanadaL.P. Gravel, Canada; Its History; Its Resources; Its Development (1908), pgs. [http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/3175/23.html 21]-3. Accessed 11 February 2020
Cabinet doubles spending-money amount required of jobless, hostless immigrants[http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/documents/frontier/financeimmigration.html Order in Council] (September 11, 1908). Accessed 11 February 2020
Visiting agricultural tour reports on Canadian wages and cost of living[http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/3222/181.html "Cost of Living"] Report of the Scottish Commission on Agriculture to Canada (1908), pgs. 179-86. Accessed 11 February 2020
Visiting agriculturalist thinks Maritimes agriculture has much unmet potentialR.B. Greig, [http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/3299/16.html "Agriculture in Canada; The Maritime Provinces"] Canada as It Appeared to Scotch Agriculturalists, pgs. 15-18. Accessed 11 February 2020
Visiting agriculturalist says Quebec's new Macdonald College will shake up "the worst farmers in Canada"R.B. Greig, "Agriculture in Canada; Quebec and Ontario," Canada as It Appeared to Scotch Agriculturalists, pg. [http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/3299/21.html 20]. Accessed 11 February 2020
Visiting agriculturalist finds splendid fruit-growing potential in BC's Kootenay and Okanagan valleysR.B. Greig, "Agriculture in Canada; British Columbia," Canada as It Appeared to Scotch Agriculturalists, pgs. [http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/3299/24.html 23]-4. Accessed 11 February 2020
Government horticulturist W.T. Macoun advocates growing stands of trees on farms despite older farmers' antipathy toward them"Growing of Forest Trees in Plantations[....]" (May 7, 1908), Report of the [House] Select Standing Committee on Agriculture and Colonization[...]1907-8, pgs. 281-2. Accessed 12 October 2020 https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.com_HOC_1004_1_1/305?r=0&s=1 (scroll down to Experiments with Forest Trees)
Speaker celebrates Quebec City tercentenary, praising founders and their spiritAdélard Turgeon, [http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/documents/regional/300_Quebec.html The Tercentenary of Quebec] (July 29, 1908). Accessed 11 February 2020
Brandon College{{Broken anchor|date=2024-06-07|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Brandon University#Brandon College|reason= The anchor (Brandon College) has been deleted.}} principal supports right to separate religious university educationArchibald P. McDiarmid, [http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/3198/4.html The Right and Expediency of Independence in University Education] (1908). Accessed 11 February 2020
Fort McMurray fur trader introduces visitors to her Indigenous friends
Alberta rustlers convicted, one for rustling and one for perjury (Note: anti-Mormon comments)R. Burton Deane, Mounted Police Life in Canada; A Record of Thirty-one Years' Service (1916), pgs. [http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/4210/308.html 292]-8. Accessed 11 February 2020
Edmonton Board of Trade's guide to road and pack trail route to Finlay River, B.C.[http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/3168/16.html Report of(...)the Edmonton Board of Trade on the Transportation Facilities(...)to the Peace, Finlay, and MacKenzie River Basins] (June 29, 1908; unpaginated). Accessed 11 February 2020
Midwife blows cayenne pepper into woman's nose to induce sneezing and quick delivery of baby
References
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