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Events from the year 1939 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

  • Monarch – George VI

Federal government

  • Governor General – John Buchan
  • Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
  • Chief Justice – Lyman Poore Duff (British Columbia)
  • Parliament – 18th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

  • Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
  • Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Eric Hamber
  • Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – William Johnston Tupper
  • Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Murray MacLaren
  • Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Robert Irwin
  • Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Albert Edward Matthews
  • Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – George DesBrisay DeBlois (until September 11) then Bradford William LePage
  • Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Esioff-Léon Patenaude (until December 30) then Eugène Fiset
  • Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Archibald Peter McNab

Premiers

  • Premier of Alberta – William Aberhart
  • Premier of British Columbia – Thomas Dufferin Pattullo
  • Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
  • Premier of New Brunswick – Allison Dysart
  • Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Lewis Macdonald
  • Premier of Ontario – Mitchell Hepburn
  • Premier of Prince Edward Island – Thane Campbell
  • Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis (until November 9) then Adélard Godbout
  • Premier of Saskatchewan – William John Patterson

Territorial governments

Commissioners

  • Controller of Yukon – George A. Jeckell
  • Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Charles Camsell

Events

  • 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.

Year-long

  • Canada expands its international presence by establishing High Commissions in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa.

Sport

  • 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 (and last until 1970) 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.

Births

January to March

  • January 3 - Bobby Hull, ice hockey player (d. 2023)
  • January 11 - Anne Heggtveit, alpine skier and Olympic gold medalist

thumb|right|150px|Brian Mulroney

  • January 14 - Martha Gibson, actress
  • January 19 - Grant Notley, politician (d. 1984)
  • February 3 - Ovid Jackson, politician
  • February 10 - Adrienne Clarkson, journalist and 26th Governor General of Canada
  • March 1 - Marlene Catterall, politician
  • March 5 - Peter Woodcock, serial killer and child rapist (d. 2010)
  • March 8 - Lynn Seymour, ballerina (d. 2023)
  • March 17 - Bill Graham, politician (d. 2022)
  • March 20 - Brian Mulroney, politician and 18th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2024)
  • March 26 - Patrick Lane, poet (d. 2019)

April to June

thumb|right|150px|Joe Clark

  • April 14 - Ian Binnie, jurist and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada
  • April 20 - Wayson Choy, writer (d. 2019)
  • April 24 - Dan Hays, politician
  • April 24 - Ernst Zündel, German-born neo-Nazi, Holocaust denier and pamphleteer (d. 2017)
  • May 7 - Sidney Altman, molecular biologist, joint 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (d. 2022)
  • May 11 - Ken Epp, politician (d. 2022)
  • May 16 - Roger Soloman, politician (d. 2021)
  • 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 to September

  • July 12 - David Bazay, television journalist (d. 2005)
  • July 19 - Ray Turnbull, curler (d. 2017)
  • 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) (d. 1997)
  • Derek Holmes, ice hockey player (d. 2025)
  • 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 (d. 2004)
  • September 10 – Jim Pappin, ice hockey player (d. 2022)
  • September 11 – Lyse Richer, administrator and music teacher
  • September 30 - Len Cariou, actor

October to December

  • October 5 - Marie-Claire Blais, novelist, poet and playwright (d. 2021)
  • November 6 - Joyce Fairbairn, Senator and first woman to serve as Leader of the Government in the Senate (d. 2022)
  • 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

Full date unknown

  • Michael Estok, poet (d. 1989)
  • Michael Overs, businessman, founder and owner of Pizza Pizza Limited (d. 2010)
  • Tony Parsons, journalist and television news anchor
  • Robin Spry, filmmaker and television producer (d. 2005)

Deaths

  • January 24 - Alfred Edmond Bourgeois, politician (b. 1872)
  • March 7 - Sir Joseph Flavelle, businessman (b. 1858)
  • March 8 - Henry Pellatt, financier and soldier (b. 1859)
  • May 6 - Edward S. Rogers, Sr., inventor and radio pioneer (b. 1900)
  • July 12 - Fernand Rinfret, politician (b. 1883)
  • August 21 - Francis Patrick O'Connor, businessman, politician and philanthropist (b. 1885)
  • November 12 - Norman Bethune, physician and medical innovator (b. 1890)
  • November 28 - James Naismith, sports coach and innovator, inventor of basketball (b. 1861)
  • December 22 - Herbert James Palmer, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1851)
  • December 27 – Napoléon Turcot, politician (b. 1867)

Full date unknown

  • Constance Piers, journalist, poet and editor (b. 1866)

See also

  • List of Canadian films

References