2003 in Canada

Incumbents

• Prime Minister - Jean Chretien then Paul Martin
• Governor General - Adrienne Clarkson

• Premier of Alberta - Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia - Gordon Campbell
• Premier of Manitoba - Gary Doer
• Premier of New Brunswick - Bernard Lord
• Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador - Roger Grimes then Danny Williams
• Premier of Nova Scotia - John Hamm
• Premier of Ontario - Ernie Eves then Dalton McGuinty
• Premier of Prince Edward Island - Pat Binns
• Premier of Quebec - Bernard Landry then Jean Charest
• Premier of Saskatchewan - Lorne Calvert
• Premier of the Northwest Territories - Stephen Kakfwi then Joe Handley
• Premier of Nunavut - Paul Okalik
• Premier of Yukon - Dennis Fentie

Events

• January - A Windsor, Ontario court invalidates Canada's marijuana laws
• January 20 - Avalanche kills eight skiers in eastern British Columbia
• February 2 - An avalanche in Glacier National Park, British Columbia, kills six boys and one girl.
• February 22 - 2003 Canada Winter Games
• March 5 - Sui-chu Kwan, who travelled to Hong Kong in February, dies of SARS in Toronto.
• March 10 - Scarborough's Grace Hospital closes as a result of SARS, the first of many hospital to do so
• March 17 - Health Canada announces 17 suspected SARS cases in Canada
• March 26 - Ontario declares a public health emergency as a result of SARS
• April 14 - In the Quebec election Jean Charest's Liberals defeat Bernard Landry's Parti Québécois
• April 23 - The World Health Organization issues a travel advisory against Toronto because of SARS, Canadian officials protest the decision
• April 25 - After more than two weeks with no new cases of SARS health workers begin to feel the disease is contained
• April 29 - Jean Charest becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Bernard Landry
• May 12 - Holly Jones, a ten-year-old girl, disappears in Toronto. The next parts of her body are found floating in Lake Ontario
• May 20 - An Alberta cow is found to have been infected with BSE, the United States, Japan, and a number of other nations halt all imports of Canadian beef
• May 22 - SARS re-emerges in a Toronto hospital
• June 9 - In the New Brunswick election Bernard Lord's Conservatives lose many seats but are re-elected to a majority government
• June 10 - a Toronto court rules that the ban on gay marriage is illegal, and the first marriage takes place that day
• June 30 - Canada's first space telecope is launched
• July 8 - British Columbia follows Ottawa's lead and permits same-sex marriage
• August 5 - In the Nova Scotia election John Hamm's Conservatives are re-elected to a minority government Zahra Kazemi is beaten to death by Iranian security forces.
• August 9 - The United States eases its ban on Canadian beef
• August 14 - The United Church of Canada votes to approve same-sex marriages
• August 14 - A massive blackout hits Ontario, Quebec and northeast of the United States
• September 23 - The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, 443 square kilometres in size, in the Arctic fractures, releasing all water within a freshwater lake it contained.
• October 2 - Ontario Election. Dalton McGuinty's Liberals defeats Ernie Eves's Tories.
• October 5 - Maher Arar freed from jail in Syria
• October 8 - After serving 19 years of his 25-to-life sentence, a jury finds Colin Thatcher eligible to apply for early parole
• October 21 - Newfoundland and Labrador election: Premier Roger Grimes's Liberals are defeated by Danny Williams's Conservatives
• October 23 - Israeli airline El Al Jet is diverted twice, first to Montreal then to Hamilton, Ontario, to allow some passengers off. A threat was made against Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
• October 23 - Dalton McGuinty becomes premier of Ontario
• November 5 - In the Saskatchewan election Premier Lorne Calvert's NDP is re-elected to a bare majority
• November 6 - Danny Williams becomes premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, replacing Roger Grimes
• November 10 - Municipal elections occur across Ontario. In the Toronto election David Miller is elected mayor.
• November 13 - The Canadian dollar value closes at a 10 year high of $0.7695 US
• November 16 - The Edmonton Eskimos win the Grey Cup, defeating the Montreal Alouettes 34 to 22
• November 18 - Canada offers Ontario $330 million in relief of the past summer's SARS virus impact
• November 19 - An interim report on the cause of the August 14, blackout is released, which blames problems in Ohio.
• November 21 - The Heritage Classic, the first outdoor game in NHL history, is played in Edmonton
• November 27 - Canadian Alliance Party leader Stephen Harper fires CA Member of Parliament Larry Spencer as Family Values Critic after his anti-gay remarks [1]
• November 28 - Liberal Party Member John Manley announces his retirement from politics. [2]
• November 28 - Type A influenza kills a boy in southern Ontario. The third victim in the province killed by the same strain of the virus. Numerous influenza-related deaths also reported in the United States and United Kingdom. [3]
• November 30 - Abdurahman Khadr retruns to Canada from Afghanistan after being imprisoned by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay.
• December 8 - The United States awards Bronze Stars to 26 Canadian soldiers of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group who distinguished themselves serving alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2002. The four who were killed in the friendly fire incident are awarded the medal posthumously. Canadian Chief of staff General Ray Henault gives a Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation on behalf of Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. The event takes place in Edmonton.
• December 10 - A strike paralyzes BC Ferries.
• December 10 - Joe Handley becomes premier of the Northwest Territories, replacing Stephen Kakfwi
• December 12 - Paul Martin, Jr. is sworn in as Canada's 21st Prime Minister
• December 24 - Canada's Ministry of Agriculture places partial ban on imported beef from United States due to single case of mad cow disease in Washington. Many other countries have made a similar move against US beef.
• December 30 - Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson, with her husband John Ralston Saul, arrives in Afghanistan to meet with Canadian troops.

See also Canadian Politics in 2003.

Arts and Literature

Literary Awards

• Books in Canada First Novel Award:
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: M.G. Vassanji - The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
• See 2003 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Joan Clark, The Word for Home
• Gerald Lampert Award:
• Griffin Poetry Prize: Margaret Avison, Concrete and Wild Carrot
• Pat Lowther Award:
• Marian Engel Award:
• Norma Fleck Award:
• Stephen Leacock Award: Dan Needles, With Axe and Flask - A History of Persephone Township From Pre-Cambrian Times to the Present
• Trillium Book Award English:
• Trillium Book Award French:
• Vicky Metcalf Award:

Music

• Shania Twain's CD UP! is a hit

Television

• American Idol comes to Canada as Canadian Idol, hosted by Ben Mulroney (son of Brian Mulroney)
• Colin Mochrie leaves; Mary Walsh is expected for six episodes then leave; Shaun Majumder joins This Hour Has 22 Minutes
• Jessica Holmes joins Royal Canadian Air Farce, she was once a guest star on the show but for some unknown reason joined the show.

Births

Deaths

• June 15 - Hume Cronyn, stage and film actor
• June 21 - Roger Neilson, National Hockey League coach
• July 10 - Zahra Kazemi, Canadian-Iranian photographer
• July 16 - Carol Shields, author
• October 15 - Bertram N. Brockhouse, physicist
• October 16 - Stu Hart, WWF Wrestler and football player(CFL)
• December 16 - Robert Stanfield, Tory leader

Referenced By