1945 in Canada

Events from the year 1945 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

Monarch – George VI

Federal government

Governor General – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone
Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret
Parliament – 19th then 20th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

Premiers

Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
Premier of British Columbia – John Hart
Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson
Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
Premier of Nova Scotia – A.S. MacMillan then Angus Macdonald
Premier of Ontario – George A. Drew
Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

Events

1944–1945: World War II: Japan's Special Balloon Regiment launched 9,000 Fu-Go balloon bombs towards the Pacific Northwest, intended to cause panic, by starting forest fires. Six casualties, a woman and her five children in American state of Oregon, were reported. The ten metre-wide balloons contained 540 cubic metres of hydrogen and reached as far inland as Manitoba. The Japanese project was declared a failure and abandoned, after six months.
January 8 – Brantford, Ontario becomes the first Canadian community to fluoridate its water supply.
January 20 – World War II: The first conscripted Canadian soldiers arrive overseas
February 8 – World War II: The Anglo-Canadian Operation Veritable launched in the Netherlands
February 24 – Radio Canada International begins operation
February 25 – Sergeant Aubrey Cosens posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
March 1 – Major Frederick Albert Tilston wins the Victoria Cross
March 29 – The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan is shut down
April 16 – World War II: HMCS Esquimalt is sunk off Halifax by the.
May 7 – The crew of vote themselves out of the Pacific war
May 8 – VE Day sees celebrations across the nation, but also the Halifax Riot.
June 4 – 1945 Ontario general election: George Drew's PCs win a majority
June 11 – Federal election: Mackenzie King's Liberals win a third consecutive majority
June 26 – Canada is a founding member of the United Nations
August 2 – The Canadian Armoured Corps becomes the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps
August 15 – VJ Day marks the end of the Second World War. Over a million Canadians had fought in the conflict and 42,000 were killed.
September 5 – The defection of Soviet embassy clerk Igor Gouzenko reveals a Soviet spy ring in Canada.
September 8 – Angus Macdonald becomes premier of Nova Scotia for the second time, replacing Alexander MacMillan
September 12 – The Ford Motor employees in Windsor, Ontario, go on strike.
October 23 – Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Montreal Royals baseball team.

Full date unknown

Family allowance payments are introduced.
Canada has its first trade surplus with the United States.

Arts and literature

The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy.

Sport

February 25 – Maurice Richard sets a new record for the most goals in a single ice hockey season.
April 22 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their fifth Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 3.
April 23 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Toronto St. Michael's Majors win their second Memorial Cup by defeating the Southern Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Moose Jaw Canucks 4 games to 1. All games were played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
September 29 – The Calgary Stampeders are established
December 1 – The Toronto Argonauts win their sixth Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 35 to 0 in the 33rd Grey Cup played in Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

Births

January to March

January 15 - Bonnie Burnard, novelist
January 18 - Steven Truscott, exonerated murderer
January 21 - Len Derkach, politician
January 23 - Mike Harris, politician and 22nd Premier of Ontario
January 27
* Harold Cardinal, writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator and lawyer
* Joe Ghiz, politician and 29th Premier of Prince Edward Island
February 5 - Nancy McCredie, track and field athlete
February 19
* Jim Bradley, politician
* Bill Casey, politician
February 20 - Donald McPherson, figure skater
March 4 - Patrick Boyer, politician and university professor
March 6 - John A. MacNaughton, financier and executive
March 17 - Dave Bailey, track and field athlete
March 26 - Diane McGifford, politician
March 28 - Bobby Schmautz, ice hockey player

April to June

April 12 - Doug Riley, keyboard player and producer
April 14 - John S. Hunkin, banker
May 3 – Leo Panitch, political scientist
May 27 - Bruce Cockburn, folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter
June 11 - Robert Munsch, children's writer
June 16 - Lucienne Robillard, politician and minister
June 20 - Anne Murray, singer

July to September

August 4 - Ben Sveinson, politician
August 11 - David Walsh, businessman, disgraced head of Bre-X
August 12 - Mary Stewart, swimmer and world record breaker
August 15 - Rosann Wowchuk, politician and Deputy Premier of Manitoba
September 21 - Bjarni Tryggvason, engineer and astronaut

October to December

October 15 - John Murrell, playwright
November 5 - Jacques Lanctôt, member of the Front de libération du Québec
November 11 - Norman Doyle, politician
November 12 - Neil Young, singer-songwriter, musician and film director
December 4 - Roberta Bondar, neurologist and Canada's first female astronaut
December 24 - John Till, musician

Full date unknown

Felix Partz, artist and co-founder of the artistic collective General Idea

Deaths

January 15 – Kate Simpson Hayes, playwright and legislative librarian
March 2 - Emily Carr, artist and writer
March 23 - Walter Charles Murray, first President of the University of Saskatchewan
July 17 - Adjutor Rivard, lawyer, writer, judge and linguist
October 24 - Franklin Carmichael, painter and Group of Seven member
November 1 - Marie Lacoste Gérin-Lajoie, feminist and social activist
December 10 - Joseph-Octave Samson, businessperson, politician and 28th Mayor of Quebec City