1994 in Canada - Definition and Overview

See also: 1993 in Canada, other events of 1994, 1995 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

Incumbents

• Prime Minister - Jean Chrétien
• Governor General - Ray Hnatyshyn

• Premier of Alberta - Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia - Mike Harcourt
• Premier of Manitoba - Gary Filmon
• Premier of New Brunswick - Frank McKenna
• Premier of Newfoundland - Clyde Wells
• Premier of Nova Scotia - John Savage
• Premier of Ontario - Bob Rae
• Premier of Prince Edward Island - Catherine Callbeck
• Premier of Quebec - Robert Bourassa then Daniel Johnson, Jr. then Jacques Parizeau
• Premier of Saskatchewan - Roy Romanow

Events

• Winter - One of the coldest winters on record hits much of Canada
• January 1 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect
• January 11 - Daniel Johnson, Jr., becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Robert Bourassa
• February - the first Liberal budgetslashes spending in an effort to cut the deficit. Unemployment Insurance and provincial transfer payments are especially hard hit
• February 27 - The 1994 Winter Olympics beign in Lillehammer Norway.
• March 21 - A civilian inquiry in the behaviour of the Canadian Airborne in Somalia is launched
• April 5 - The Just Desserts shooting occurs in Toronto
• June and Ontario farmer is allowed to grow 10 acres (40,000 m²) of marijuana for research purposes
• June 14 - The New York Rangers defeat the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup
• September 12 - Quebec election, the Parti québécois defeats the Parti libéral du Québec, which had been in power for nine years.
• September 26 - Jacques Parizeau (PQ) is sworn in as premier of Quebec, replacing Daniel Johnson, Jr.
• October - A lockout closes the NHL for the entire first half of the season.
• October 5 and October 6 - Members of the Solar Temple cult committ mass suicide
• December - Lucien Bouchard is infected with necrotizing fasciitis and loses a leg
• Conrad Black's company buys the Chicago Sun-Times
• Bertram Brockhouse shares the Nobel Prize in Physics
• Hockey is made Canada's official winter sport, Lacrosse is demoted to being official summer sport
• Cigarette taxes are slashed to battle smuggling and black market organizations
• Canadian troops leave CFB Lahr ending the Canadian armed forces presence in Europe
• The Alberta Court of Appeal strikes down a lower court ruling that LGBT persons are to be covered under the province's human rights legislation. The case, originally brought by Delwin Vriend, was subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada (see 1998 in Canada.)

Arts and Literautre

New Works

• Margaret Atwood - Good Bones and Simple Murders
• Robert J. Sawyer - Foreigner
• William Bell - Five Days of the Ghost
• Michael Ignatieff - Blood and Belonging: Journeys Into the New Nationalism
• Réjean Ducharme - Va savoir
• Mordecai Richler - This Year In Jerusalem
• Dave Duncan - The Living God
• Hank Snow - Just a Hank Snow Story
• Alice Munro - Open Secrets
• Douglas Coupland - Life After God
• Farley Mowat - Born Naked

Awards

• See 1994 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Giller Prize: M.G. Vassanji - The Book of Secrets
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Deborah Joy Corey, Losing Eddie: A Novel
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Kit Pearson, The Lights Go On Again
• Gerald Lampert Award: Barbara Klar, The Night You Called Me a Shadow and Illya Tourtidis, Mad Magellan's Tale
• Marian Engel Award: Jane Urquhart
• Pat Lowther Award: Diana Brebner, The Golden Lotus
• Stephen Leacock Award: Bill Richardson, Bachelor Brother's Bed and Breakfast
• Trillium Book Award English: Donald Haram Akenson, Conor: A Biography of Conor Cruise O'Brien; Volume 1 Narrative,
• Trillium Book Award French: Andrée Lacelle, Tant de vie s'égare
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Welwyn Wilton Katz

Television

• Kids in the Hall ends

Films

• Atom Egoyan's Exotica is released

Births

• March 30 - Cecilia Zhang, murder victim

Deaths

• March 4 - John Candy, comedian and actor