1978 in Canada

Years in Canada:	1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years:	1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981

Events from the year 1978 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Head of state (monarch) – Queen Elizabeth II (consort – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh)

Federal government

• Governor general – Jules Léger (viceregal consort – Gabrielle Léger)
• Prime minister – Pierre Trudeau

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Ralph Steinhauer
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Walter Stewart Owen (until May 18) then Henry Pybus Bell-Irving
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Francis Lawrence Jobin
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Hédard Robichaud
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Gordon Arnaud Winter
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Clarence Gosse (until December 23) then John Elvin Shaffner
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Pauline Mills McGibbon
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gordon Lockhart Bennett
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe (until April 27) then Jean-Pierre Côté
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – George Porteous (until February 6) then Irwin McIntosh (from February 22)

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Peter Lougheed
• Premier of British Columbia – Bill Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Sterling Lyon
• Premier of New Brunswick – Richard Hatfield
• Premier of Newfoundland – Frank Moores
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Gerald Regan (until October 5) then John Buchanan
• Premier of Ontario – Bill Davis
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell (until September 18) then Bennett Campbell
• Premier of Quebec – René Lévesque
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Allan Blakeney

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Arthur MacDonald Pearson (until November 1) then Frank Fingland (interim)
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson

Premiers

• Premier of Yukon – Chris Pearson (from November 20)

Events

• January 24 - Cosmos 954 a Soviet satellite breaks up over northern Canada.
• June 26 - Air Canada DC-9 overruns runway in Toronto, 2 people die.
• August 4 - 41 are killed when a bus plunges into a lake near Eastman, Quebec.
• September 15 - The Sudbury Strike of 1978 begins.
• September 18 - Bennett Campbell becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Alexander B. Campbell
• October 5 - John MacLennan Buchanan becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Gerald Regan
• October 16 - Fifteen federal by-elections are held across the country. The governing Liberals lose five seats, which leads to a general election the following May.
• October 18 - Saskatchewan election: Allan Blakeney's NDP win a third consecutive majority

Full date unknown

• Supreme Court of Canada declares unilingual legislatures and courts unconstitutional
• Chris Pearson becomes government leader of Yukon as responsible government is instituted
• Under the new immigration act homosexuals are no longer an inadmissible class
• Via Rail is established
• Despite accusations of marital infidelity, Colin Thatcher, who would later become famous for his involvement in the murder of his ex-wife, is re-elected to the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly.

Arts and literature

New works

• Margaret Atwood: Up in the Tree
• Mordecai Richler: The Great Comic Book Heroes and Other Essays
• John Newlove: The Fat Man: Selected Poems (1962–1972)
• John Gray and Eric Peterson: Billy Bishop Goes to War
• Henry Beissel: Goya

Awards

• Alice Munro's Who Do You Think You Are? is nominated for the Booker Prize
• See 1979 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Ernest Buckler, Whirligig
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Lyn Cook

Sport

• The Commonwealth Games are held in Edmonton, Alberta.

Births

January to March

• January 3 - Daryn Jones, comedian and television and radio personality
• January 27 - Pete Laforest, Canadian-American baseball player and manager
• February 20 - Andrea Moody, swimmer
• February 26 - Kyle Hamilton, rower, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion
• March 9 - Chris Phillips, ice hockey player

April to June

• April 6 - Thomas Herschmiller, rower, Olympic silver medalist and World Champion
• April 18 - Alexis Mazurin, comedian and radio personality (d.2005)
• April 26 - Tyler Labine, actor
• May 3 - Autumn Kelly the wife of Peter Phillips
• May 12 - Amy Sloan, actress
• May 15 - Dwayne De Rosario, soccer player
• May 15 - Caroline Dhavernas, actress
• June 2 - Shane Niemi, sprint athlete
• June 13 - Matt Bradley, ice hockey player
• June 14 - Steve Bégin, ice hockey player
• June 28 - Simon Larose, tennis player

July to December

• July 4 - Marie Luc Arpin, water polo player
• July 11 - Kathleen Edwards, singer-songwriter
• July 15 - Kim Buker, field hockey player
• July 22 - A. J. Cook, actress
• August 4 - Karine Legault, swimmer
• September 1 - Joe Stankevicius, rower and World Champion
• September 5 - Laura Bertram, actress
• September 6 - Amy Agulay, field hockey player
• September 7 - Matt Cooke, ice hockey player
• September 7 - Devon Sawa, actor
• September 20 - Jason Bay, baseball player
• September 21 - Paulo Costanzo, actor
• September 22 - Steve Moore, ice hockey player
• October 17 - Erin Karpluk, actress
• November 2 - Nelly Furtado, singer-songwriter, record producer and actress
• November 16 - Steve Omischl, freestyle skier
• November 17 - Rachel McAdams, actress
• December 23 - Esthero, singer-songwriter

Deaths

• March 25 - Charles Alexander Best, politician (b.1931)
• March 31 - Charles Best, medical scientist, co-discoverer of insulin (b.1899)
• April 13 - Jack Chambers, artist and filmmaker (b.1931)
• July 18 - Claude P. Dettloff, photographer (b. 1899)
• September 9 - Jack L. Warner, studio mogul (b.1892)
• September 28 - Thane Campbell, jurist, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1895)
• October 23 - Joe Greene, politician (b.1920)

Full date unknown

• Carl Ray, artist (b.1943)