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Events from the year 1908 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

  • Monarch – Edward VII

Federal government

  • Governor General – Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
  • Prime Minister – Wilfrid Laurier
  • Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
  • Parliament – 10th (until 17 September)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

  • Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – George Hedley Vicars Bulyea
  • Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – James Dunsmuir
  • Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Daniel Hunter McMillan
  • Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Lemuel John Tweedie
  • Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Duncan Cameron Fraser
  • Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Mortimer Clark (until September 22) then John Morison Gibson
  • Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Donald Alexander MacKinnon
  • Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Louis-Amable Jetté (until September 15) then Charles Alphonse Pantaléon Pelletier
  • Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Amédée Forget

Premiers

  • Premier of Alberta – Alexander Cameron Rutherford
  • Premier of British Columbia – Richard McBride
  • Premier of Manitoba – Rodmond Roblin
  • Premier of New Brunswick – Clifford William Robinson (until March 24) then John Douglas Hazen
  • Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
  • Premier of Ontario – James Whitney
  • Premier of Prince Edward Island – Arthur Peters (until January 29) then Francis Haszard (from February 1)
  • Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin
  • Premier of Saskatchewan – Thomas Walter Scott

Territorial governments

Commissioners

  • Commissioner of Yukon – Alexander Henderson
  • Gold Commissioner of Yukon – F.X. Gosselin
  • Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Frederick D. White

Events

  • January 2 – The Royal Canadian Mint opens.
  • January 29 – Arthur Peters, Premier of Prince Edward Island, dies in office
  • February 1 – F. L. Haszard becomes premier of Prince Edward Island.
  • March 7 – The University of British Columbia is established by the British Columbia University Act.
  • March 24 – Sir John Douglas Hazen becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Clifford Robinson.
  • June 8 – In the Ontario election, Sir James Whitney's Conservatives win a second consecutive majority.
  • June 12 – Saskatchewan Government Telephones created.
  • August 2 – A fire in the Kootenay region kills 70.
  • August 14 – In the Saskatchewan election, Walter Scott's Liberals win a second consecutive majority.
  • September 23 – The University of Alberta opens.
  • October 26 – In the federal election, Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority.

Full date unknown

  • Anne of Green Gables is first published, having a great effect on Prince Edward Island.
  • The Opium and Narcotics Act is passed banning certain drugs in Canada.
  • The Grain Growers Guide is first published.
  • The Child Labour Act of Ontario is passed.
  • Vancouver Courier first published.

Arts and literature

  • Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables is published.

Births

January to June

  • January 1 – Clarence Dunlap, Chief of the Air Staff Royal Canadian Air Force (d. 2003)
  • January 22 – Sinclair Ross, banker and author (d.1996)

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  • February 1 – Louis Rasminsky, third Governor of the Bank of Canada (d.1998)
  • February 7 – Lela Brooks, speed skater (d.1990)
  • February 10 – Jean Coulthard, composer and academic (d.2000)
  • March 5 – Colin Emerson Bennett, politician and lawyer (d. 1993)
  • March 24 – Carl Klinck, literary historian and academic (d. 1990)
  • April 7 – Percy Faith, band-leader, orchestrator and composer (d. 1976)
  • May 11 – Hide Hyodo Shimizu, Japanese-Canadian educator and activist (d. 1999)
  • May 19 – Percy Williams, athlete (d. 1982)
  • May 26 – James Sinclair, politician, businessman and father of Margaret Sinclair, one-time wife of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and grandfather of Justin Trudeau (d.1984)
  • May 28 – Léo Cadieux, politician (d.2005)
  • June 5 – Maxwell Meighen, financier (d.1992)
  • June 12 – Alphonse Ouimet, broadcaster (d. 1988)
  • June 18 – Stanley Knowles, politician (d.1997)

July to December

  • July 11
  • Gérard Légaré, politician (d. 1997)
  • Yves Prévost, politician and lawyer (d. 1997)
  • September 20 – Ernest Manning, Premier of Alberta (d.1996)
  • October 15 – John Kenneth Galbraith, economist and diplomat (d. 2006 in the United States)
  • October 18 – Alfred Henry Bence, politician and barrister (d.1977)
  • October 24 – John Tuzo Wilson, geophysicist and geologist (d. 1993)
  • October 31 – Muriel Duckworth, pacifist and social activist (d. 2009)
  • November 3 – Bronko Nagurski, American football player (d. 1990)
  • November 10 – Charles Merritt, army officer and politician (d. 2000)
  • December 6 – Nicholas Goldschmidt, conductor, administrator and artistic director (d.2004)
  • December 13 – W. L. Morton, historian (d.1980)
  • December 23 – Yousuf Karsh, photographer (d.2002)

Deaths

January to June

  • January 6 – George Dixon, first Canadian-born boxing champion (b.1870)
  • January 13 – George Anthony Walkem, jurist and Premier of British Columbia (b.1834)
  • January 29 – Arthur Peters, Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1854)
  • May 31 – Louis-Honoré Fréchette, politician and writer (b.1839)
  • June 14 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor General of Canada (b.1841)
  • June 24 – William Whiteway, Premier of Newfoundland (b.1828)

July to December

  • August 18 – Alfred Boyd, 1st Premier of Manitoba (b.1835)
  • September 7 – Joseph-Guillaume Bossé, politician and lawyer (b.1843)
  • October 30 – Thomas Greenway, 7th Premier of Manitoba (b.1838)
  • November 16 – Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, 4th Premier of Quebec and Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (b.1829)
  • December 11 – Jean Blanchet, politician (b.1843)
  • December 25 – William McGuigan, politician and 10th Mayor of Vancouver (b.1853)

References