1939 in Canada

Events from the year 1939 in Canada.

Incumbents

May 17 – King George VI and Queen Elizabeth begin their royal tour of Canada, eventually visiting every province and Newfoundland.
September 3 – The Department of Labour establishes the Wartime Prices and Trade Board to control inflation.
September 7 – Prime Minister Mackenzie King calls for a special session of Parliament, to discuss a declaration of war versus Nazi Germany. The session lasts until September 13.
September 10 – World War II: Canada declares war on Germany, one week after the United Kingdom does so.
September 11 – World War II: Canada establishes a High Commission of Canada in Australia. Australia reciprocates the next day.
September 16 – World War II: The Royal Canadian Navy escorts the first of many transatlantic convoys.
September 28 – World War II: Air training facilities are set up in Canada to train pilots from Britain and the rest of the Empire.
October 25 – The Quebec election is won by the Liberals under Joseph-Adélard Godbout.
December 17 – World War II: The 1st Canadian Infantry Division lands in Scotland en route to England. The division is accompanied by a team of announcers and technicians, who set up Radio Canada's overseas service.
November 9 – Adélard Godbout becomes premier of Quebec for the second time, replacing Maurice Duplessis.

February 12 – The Trail Smoke Eaters win the 1939 Ice Hockey World Championships for Canada.
April 16 – The Boston Bruins win their second Stanley Cup by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 1.
April 17 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Oshawa Generals win their first Memorial Cup by defeating the Edmonton Junior Hockey League's Edmonton Athletic Club Roamers 3 games to 1. The deciding Game 4 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
December 9 – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers win their second Grey Cup by defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders 8 to 7 in the 27th Grey Cup played in Lansdowne Park in Ottawa.

April 14 - Ian Binnie, jurist and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada
April 20 - Wayson Choy, writer
April 24 - Dan Hays, politician
April 24 - Ernst Zündel, German-born neo-Nazi, Holocaust denier and pamphleteer
May 7 - Sidney Altman, molecular biologist, joint 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate
May 11 - Ken Epp, politician
May 16 - Roger Soloman, politician
May 26 - Gerry McAlpine, politician
June 5 - Joe Clark, journalist, politician, statesman, businessman, professor and 16th Prime Minister of Canada
June 23 - Jack MacIsaac, politician

July 12 - David Bazay, television journalist
July 19 - Ray Turnbull, curler
July 25 - Catherine Callbeck, politician and 30th Premier of Prince Edward Island
August 12 - Roy Romanow, politician and 12th Premier of Saskatchewan
August 15
* Hardial Bains, founder and leader of Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
* Derek Holmes, ice hockey player
August 23 - Isabel Bassett, broadcaster and politician
August 31 - Dennis Lee, poet and children's writer
September 1 - Jake Epp, politician
September 2 - Henry Mintzberg, academic and author on business and management
September 4 - Jim Penner, businessman and politician
September 10 – Jim Pappin, ice hockey player
September 11 – Lyse Richer, administrator and music teacher
September 30 - Len Cariou, actor

October 5 - Marie-Claire Blais, novelist, poet and playwright
November 6 - Joyce Fairbairn, Senator and first woman to serve as Leader of the Government in the Senate
November 18 - Margaret Atwood, author, poet, critic, feminist and social campaigner
November 23 - Bill Bissett, poet
November 30 - Louis LeBel, jurist and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada
December 2 - Francis Fox, politician, minister and senator
December 21 - Lloyd Axworthy, politician and minister
December 24 - James Bartleman, diplomat, author and 27th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario

January 24 - Alfred Edmond Bourgeois, politician
March 7 - Sir Joseph Flavelle, businessman
March 8 - Henry Pellatt, financier and soldier
May 6 - Edward S. Rogers, Sr., inventor and radio pioneer
July 12 - Fernand Rinfret, politician
August 21 - Francis Patrick O'Connor, businessman, politician and philanthropist
November 12 - Norman Bethune, physician and medical innovator
November 28 - James Naismith, sports coach and innovator, inventor of basketball
December 22 - Herbert James Palmer, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island
December 27 – Napoléon Turcot, politician