2020 in Canada

Incumbents

The Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

  Federal government

• Governor General – Julie Payette
• Prime Minister – Justin Trudeau
• Parliament – 43rd

  Provincial governments

Lieutenant Governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Lois Mitchell, then Salma Lakhani
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Janet Austin
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Janice Filmon
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Brenda Murphy
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador – Judy Foote
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Arthur LeBlanc
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Elizabeth Dowdeswell
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Antoinette Perry
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – J. Michel Doyon
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Russell Mirasty

  Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Jason Kenney
• Premier of British Columbia – John Horgan
• Premier of Manitoba – Brian Pallister
• Premier of New Brunswick – Blaine Higgs
• Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador – Dwight Ball, then Andrew Furey
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Stephen McNeil
• Premier of Ontario – Doug Ford
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Dennis King
• Premier of Quebec – François Legault
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Scott Moe

  Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Margaret Thom
• Commissioner of Nunavut – Nellie Kusugak, then Rebekah Williams
• Commissioner of Yukon – Angélique Bernard

  Premiers

• Premier of Northwest Territories – Caroline Cochrane
• Premier of Nunavut – Joe Savikataaq
• Premier of Yukon – Sandy Silver

  Events

January

• January 1 – Quebec raises its minimum cannabis age from 18 to 21, the highest minimum cannabis age in Canada.
• January 5 – Canada defeats Russia 4–3 to win gold at the 2020 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
• January 8 – Fifty-seven Canadians, as well as approximately 80 others ultimately travelling to Canada, are killed after Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by Iran shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini Airport.
• January 12 – A nuclear alert is erroneously sent out to all Ontario residents, after the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station experiences anomalies.
• January 17 – January 2020 North American storm complex: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador goes into a state of emergency after 76 centimetres of snow fell during a bomb cyclone. The Canadian Armed Forces were called in to help with the cleanup.
• January 20 – Start of national pipeline protests across the country.
• January 25 – The country confirms its first COVID-19 case in Toronto.

  February

• February 8 – The Quebec CAQ government pass Bill 40. The Bill abolish's The French and English school boards and turns them into school service centres.
• February 21 – Ontario teachers held a one-day province wide strike.

  March

• March 6 – Canada's first COVID-19 death is recorded in North Vancouver.
• March 8 – Yukon permanently ends Daylight Saving Time.
• March 21 – Canada closes its border with the United States to non-essential travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  April

• April 18 – 19 – A series of shootings and arson attacks takes place in various Nova Scotia locations, with 23 people killed.
• April 26 – A large flood hits Fort McMurray, forcing 13,000 people to evacuate.

  May

• May 30 – Protests across Canada begin in solidarity with Americans protesting the murder of George Floyd, and against police issues and racism in Canada.

  August

• August 7 – A tornado in southern Manitoba kills two and causes damage near Virden and Scarth.
• August 10 – Wildfire Red Lake 49 ignites near Red Lake, Ontario which advances within 2 km of the west-end of the town, forcing the evacuation of 95 percent of the 4000 residents of the community. Though small by comparison to the Fort McMurray fire of 2016 which was 800 times the size of this fire, it is unusual in the fire's proximity to the community.
• August 17 – The Canadian Football League cancels the 2020 CFL season.
• August 26 – Quebec's Minister of Justice and French Language Simon Jolin-Barrette announced plans for 2021 that he will be strengthening Bill 101, the French language in the province of Quebec.

  September

• September 14 – New Brunswick general election is held, resulting in a Progressive Conservative majority government.
• September 10 – 21 – 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.
• September 20 – Yukon stops the twice yearly changing of clocks, committing to UTC−07:00. This puts solar noon around 14:00, effectively double daylight saving time year-round.
• September 28 – The Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup in Edmonton after defeating the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals.

  October

• October 19 – 2020 Polaris Music Prize awarded.
• October 21 – Trudeau minority government survives confidence vote 180 to 146, in the House of Commons.
• October 24 – British Columbia general election is held, resulting in a New Democratic majority government.
• October 26 – Saskatchewan general election is held, resulting in a fourth consecutive Saskatchewan Party majority government.
• October 31 – Two people are killed and five injured in the Quebec City stabbing.

  November

• November 1 – Daylight saving time ends
• November 24/25 – Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador will temporarily leave the Atlantic Bubble, due the latest wave in the pandemic.

  December

• December 1 – Yukon officials announce a mask mandate and urges people to stay home amid a rise of cases.
• December 3
• *COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
• **The Quebec government cancels a plan to allow Christmas gatherings of up to 10 people amid a rise of cases.
• **Alberta reports 1,854 new COVID-19 cases, a single-day record.
• December 7 – Prime Minister Trudeau says that the country will receive 240,000 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine candidate by the end of the year.
• December 30 – The 2021 Canadian Honours List is announced.

  Events cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

• 15th Canadian Folk Music Awards
• 61st public duties season of the Ceremonial Guard of the Canadian Armed Forces
• Anime North 2020
• All bowling national championships covering both five pin and tenpin.
• Animethon 2020
• Calgary Expo 2020
• Calgary Stampede
• Canada Reads
• 2020 Canadian Football League season
• 2020 Canadian Junior Hockey League playoffs, including the 2020 Memorial Cup
• Canadian National Exhibition and the Canadian International Air Show
• Celebration of Light
• Cirque du Soleil
• Esso Cup
• FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals in Canmore
• All Golf Canada national championships.
• Honda Indy Toronto 2020
• 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship in Halifax and Truro
• Labour Day parades
• Montreal Comiccon 2020
• Northern Lights Festival Boréal
• Otafest 2020
• Pacific National Exhibition 2020
• Pride parades
• Most Santa Claus parades
• Shaw Charity Classic
• Stratford Festival
• 2020 Toronto Caribbean Carnival
• Telus Cup
• Toronto Comicon 2020
• Toronto Waterfront Marathon
• All university sports administered by Atlantic University Sport, Canada West Universities Athletic Association, Ontario University Athletics, and U Sports
• 2020 Royal Winter Fair
• Most school events
• Juno Awards of 2020

  Deaths

January

• January 1
• *János Aczél, mathematician
• *Peter Neumann, gridiron football player
• January 2
• *Bill Graham, gridiron football player
• *Tom Hickey, politician
• January 3
• *Harvey Reti, boxer
• *Douglas N. Walton, academic and author
• January 4
• *Russell Bannock, test pilot and World War II fighter ace
• *Bonnie Burstow, psychotherapist
• *John R. Cunningham, medical physicist
• January 5
• *Peter Dyck, Manitoba politician
• *Walter Learning, actor and theatre director
• *John Migneault, ice hockey player
• January 6 – Reva Gerstein, psychologist and educator
• January 7 – Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist for Rush
• January 9 – Leo Kolber, businessman and former Senator
• January 10
• *John Crosbie, provincial and federal politician
• *Bud Fowler, gridiron football player
• *Michael Posluns, journalist
• January 14 – Eville Gorham, scientist
• January 15 – Rocky Johnson, wrestler
• January 16 – William J. Samarin, linguist
• January 17
• *Thérèse Dion, television personality
• *Rhona Wurtele, skier
• *Bobby Kay, wrestler
• January 18
• *John Burke, composer
• *Steve Gillespie, wrestler
• *Norm Hill, football player
• *Roger Nicolet, engineer
• *Gordon A. Smith, artist
• *Jim Smith, politician
• January 18 – John Gibson, ice hockey player
• January 20 – Kit Hood, television editor
• January 21 – Norman Amadio, jazz pianist
• January 23
• *Fernand Daoust, trade unionist
• *Jean-Noël Tremblay, politician
• January 25
• *Siegfried Enns, politician
• *Clifford Wiens, architect
• January 26 – Louis Nirenberg, mathematician
• January 29 – Alfred John Ellis, banker
• January 30
• *Jake MacDonald, writer
• *Raymond Reierson, politician

  February

• February 1 – Roger Landry, businessman
• February 2 – Bernard Ebbers, businessman and convicted fraudster
• February 3 – John Edward Brockelbank, instrument technician and politician
• February 4
• *Peter Hogg, legal scholar and lawyer
• *L. Jacques Ménard, businessman
• *Frank Plummer, scientist
• February 5
• *Diane Cailhier, filmmaker and director
• *Ian Cushenan, ice hockey player
• February 7
• *Ron Calhoun, executive
• *Brian Glennie, ice hockey player
• *Larry Popein, ice hockey player
• February 8 – Bill Robinson, basketball player
• February 11
• *Maurice Byblow, politician
• *Louis-Edmond Hamelin, geographer
• *Timothy Porteous, administrator
• February 12
• *Christie Blatchford, newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster
• *Charles Hubbard, politician
• February 13 – Ralph Mercier, politician
• February 14 – Masao Takahashi, judoka
• February 17 – Georges Villeneuve, politician
• February 19
• *Pete Babando, ice hockey player
• *Robert H. Lee, businessman
• *Hubert B. MacNeill, physician and politician
• *John Robertson, sailor
• February 21
• * Phil Maloney, ice hockey player and coach
• * Ouida Ramón-Moliner, anaesthetist
• February 22 – Mark Zanna, social psychologist
• February 23 – Norene Gilletz, author and cooking instructor
• February 25 – Bob Steiner, football player
• February 26 – David Smith, senator
• February 26 – Craig Mackay, speed skater