Ok - "popular demand" means one person actually asked about it. :lol:




1933 NEWFOUNDLAND GOES BUST

St. John's Newfoundland-

Newfoundland gives up self-governing Dominion status and suspends constitution; caused by disastrous financial situation.

~ Courtesy Sympatico News

Wonder who that one person could be? :P

"The Dominion of Newfoundland "
From Oldest Colony to Newest Province
by Richard Doody

1878

Winnipeg Manitoba -

Canadian Pacific Railway connects Winnipeg with Emerson, Minnesota, and the outside world; Pembina branch connects with St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Here's the engine, the Countess of Dufferin, arriving on a river barge with one boxcar.



~Courtesy Sympatico News

1921 CANADIAN WOMEN EXERCISE FIRST FEDERAL VOTE

Canada -

Agnes McPhail 1890-1954 is elected to the House of Commons for the United Farmers of Ontario in the first election in which all Canadian women exercise their right to vote (wives of soldiers could vote during World War I); a country schoolteacher, she is Canada's first female MP. Mackenzie King 1874-1950 wins the election with 40.7% of popular vote; gets 116 seats to 50 for Arthur Meighen's Conservatives, 64 for Progressives, 5 others; Meighen loses own seat in Portage La Prairie; CCF member J. S. Woodsworth 1874-1942 is the first socialist elected to the House of Commons.


*bonus*


1917

Halifax Nova Scotia -

Downtown Halifax is blown to pieces as a French munitions freighter, the Mont Blanc, coming through the Narrows carrying 2,300 tons of picric acid, 200 tons of TNT, 35 tons of high octane gasoline, and 10 tons of gun cotton, collides with the Belgium steamship Imo, outbound to New York City, at 8:45 am. The Mont Blanc is propelled towards the shore by the collision, its picric acid ablaze, and the crew abandon ship, after failing to alert the harbour of the peril. Minutes later the blazing ship brushes by a pier, setting it ablaze. The Halifax Fire Department respond quickly, and are just positioning their engine up to the nearest hydrant when the Mont Blanc explodes at 9:05 am in a blinding white flash. The blast levels downtown Halifax, killing 2,000, injuring over 8,000, leaving 10,000 homeless, and doing $50 million damage. The shock wave shatters windows at Truro, 100 km away, and the sound can be heard in Charlottetown. A recent theory suggests that this, the greatest manmade explosion before the atomic bomb, may have been due to enemy sabotage.




Also, see here

Halifax Nova Scotia -

Many of the wounds were also permanently debilitating, with many people partially blinded by flying glass. This was due to the ship burning in the harbor for several minutes, attracting the attention of the town, and when it exploded many of the people in the town had gathered at their windows to watch it burn, putting themselves directly in the path of flying glass. The large number of eye injuries led to great efforts on the parts of physicians, and a collaborative effort managed to greatly improve the treatment of damaged eyes. The leaps and bounds made in eye care because of this disaster is often compared to the huge increase in burn care knowledge after the Cocoanut Grove Fire in Boston. Halifax became known in subsequent years for its international reputation in care for the blind, accounting for the larger proportion of patients.

~Wikipedia`

That's cool! Thanks, Shay - I didn't know that before.

No problem Ess, because of you I read up more on the event. I've learned many interesting things since you started posting 'This day in Canadian history'

I :wub: this thread!

Awww, shucks! Glad you like it. That makes it all worthwhile! :)

:yes: I love this thread, Ess. Until I started reading your posts I didn't even know Canada HAD history.










:hide:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

<_<

You a funny guy, NOT! :garpa:

:P

1941 WAR WITH JAPAN

Ottawa Ontario -

Canada the first of the Western allies to declare war on Japan, Finland, Hungary, and Rumania; shortly after Japanese bomb US base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. US, Britain and other allied countries follow the next day.


1678

Niagara Falls Ontario -

Louis Hennepin 1626-c1705 first European to describe Niagara Falls; with Dominique La Motte de Lucière. Here is the engraving in his account of the discovery.




1837

Toronto Ontario -

Upper Canada Governor Francis Bond Head 1793-1875 orders Lt. James Fitzgibbon 1780-1863 to march with Allan MacNab, 1000 loyalist volunteers and 500 militia to Montgomery's Tavern 8 km north of Toronto; troops burn tavern, disperse rebels, capture rebel commander Anthony Van Egmond 1771-1838; William Lyon Mackenzie flees into exile in the US, effectively ending the rebellion in Upper Canada.



~ Courtesy Sympatico News

I thought this was pretty interesting...

Do the Falls Freeze over in the Winter?
Yes and No......

The tremendous volume of water never stops flowing, However, the falling water and mist create ice formations along the banks of the falls and river. This can result in mounds of ice as thick as fifty feet. If the Winter is cold for long enough, the ice will completely stretch across the river and form what is known as the "ice bridge". This ice bridge can extend for several miles down river until it reaches the area known as the lower rapids.

Until 1912,visitors were allowed to actually walk out on the ice bridge and view the Falls from below. February 24th of 1888 the local newspaper reported that at least 20,000 people watched or tobogganed on the ice. Shanties selling liquor, photographs and curiosities abounded. On February 4th 1912 the ice bridge broke up and three tourists lives were lost.

The flow of water was stopped completely over both falls on March 29th 1848 due to an ice jam in the upper river for several hours. This is the only known time to have occurred. The Falls did not actually freeze over, but the flow was stopped to the point where people actually walked out and recovered artifacts from the riverbed!



~ Facts about Niagara Falls

1869

Toronto Ontario -

Timothy Eaton opens his first shop at Yonge and Queen in Toronto, offering a 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' refund policy.

~ Courtesy Sympatico News





The pics are broke and I am lazy, so we'll rely on Shay to get us more info. complete with picture(s), k?!
:D

1851 MONTREAL GETS NORTH AMERICA'S FIRST YMCA

Montreal Quebec -

George Williams opens Young Men's Christian Association [YMCA] branch; first in North America.

~Courtesy Sympatico News

The YMCA was founded in London in 1844 by Sir George Williams (knighted in 1894 for his lifelong service to boys). At the time he was 23 years of age. The organisation was formed among young business men in response to the unhealthy social conditions (in particular gambling and drinking) arising in large cities at the end of the Industrial Revolution. The YMCA attempted to combat idleness among young workers by means of Bible studies and prayer meetings. The YMCA idea proved very popular, and by 1851 Great Britain had 2700 members in 24 associations.

The YMCA movement spread to industrial centers in North America and Europe in 1851. On December 29 of that year the first YMCA in the United States was founded in Boston, Massachusetts. By 1854, 26 associations had been formed in the United States and Canada.

In Europe, George Williams and his associates introduced the YMCA movement to Paris, France, and to other major capitals. By 1854, 397 associations had 30,369 members in seven countries. In the same year the first international YMCA convention was held in Paris.

The first YMCA in Australia was founded in 1850 in Adelaide. Other early associations were established in Sydney and Melbourne in 1853 and Hobart in 1854. There are now 48 YMCAs in Australia, serving approximately 106 communities.

The spread of the YMCA movement through the world was especially promoted by the association in the USA, which sent thousands of workers across the world to organize YMCAs. These were then turned over to local control.

~The History of the YMCA

1813 YANKEES TORCH TOWN OF NIAGARA

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario -

US Army Major McClure evacuates Fort George, crosses the Niagara River with American troops, but flees the next day at British approach, burning 149 houses, leaving 400 citizens of Newark (Niagara) homeless.

~ Courtesy Sympatico News

1931 CANADA NOW FULLY INDEPENDENT

London England -

British Parliament passes Statute of Westminster; gives complete legislative equality to Dominion Parliaments; marks the final independence of Canada from Britain; BNA Act becomes Canadian, but no amending formula for constitutional change.


1948

St. John's Newfoundland -

Joey Smallwood 1900-1992 signs Confederation agreement for Newfoundland to enter Confederation as Canada's 10th province.



~ Courtesy Sympatico News

1901

St. John's, Newfoundland -

Guglielmo Marconi 1874-1937 sends and receives first transatlantic radio message on Signal Hill 3,200 km away across Atlantic from Poldhu, Cornwall; from a box kite trailing a 121 metre long copper wire antenna. The first transatlantic wireless test signal is heard as the faint clicking of Morse code - of the letter 'S' repeated over and over. Here he is in his Cabot Tower laboratory on Signal Hill. Four days later, Marconi will be officially notified by the Anglo-American Telegraph Company that it will take legal action against him unless he immediately ceases his wireless experiments and removes his equipment from Newfoundland; Anglo-American has a fifty-year monopoly on electrical communications in Newfoundland starting in 1858, and is determined to hinder radio telegraphy, which it knows is a serious threat to its transatlantic electric telegraph business operated by submarine cables; Marconi soon decides to move his base of operations to Cape Breton.



~Courtesy Sympatico News

1988

FRENCH ONLY OUTSIDE

Quebec Quebec -

Robert Bourassa 1933-1996 passes Bill 178 requiring French only on outside signs; permits bilingual signs inside; exercises Quebec's constitutional right, Clause 33 of the Charter of Rights, the 'notwithstanding clause', to override the Dec. 15 decision of the Supreme Court, striking down sections of Quebec's Bill 101 requiring that commercial signs be in French only; a decision that called these sections an unreasonable violation of freedom of expression.


1950

Pusan Korea -

2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, lands at Pusan; first Canadian troops in Korea.

~ Courtesy Sympatico News

:hail:

Shay's nice way of saying "bump". :wub: :D

1917 FIRST TWO NHL GAMES PLAYED

Montreal Quebec/ Toronto Ontario -

NHL starts inaugural season: original members of the league are the Montreal Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs. Quebec will not start playing with the league until 1919; Quebec's best player Joe Malone joins the Canadiens and on opening night scores five goals, including likely the first goal ever scored in the NHL, as Montreal beats Ottawa 9-4. Malone will go on to score 44 goals during the 24-game season. In the game in Toronto, Montreal Wanderers Dave Ritchie also scores what may have been the first NHL goal in a 10-9 victory over the Toronto Arenas; also first NHL game played on artificial ice; Harry Hyland of the Wanderers also scores five goals in this game; it will be the team's lone victory in the NHL: less than a month later, their arena burns down and they withdraw from the league. Sixteen of the players on that first day wind up in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The rules: each team can only dress a maximum of 12 players. There are no bluelines, no icing rules and no forward passing beyond the centre-ice red line. Minor penalties are three minutes long, and there is no limit on overtime.

1984

Edmonton Alberta -

Wayne Gretzky scores his career 1,000th point on an assist in a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings; at age 23 the youngest and the 18th NHLer; reaches the mark in just his 424th regular-season game, the fewest by any player in League history; Guy Lafleur held the old record, reaching the 1000 point mark in 720 games, 296 more than Gretzky. Gretzky will go on to break Gordie Howe's career record of 1,850 points in 1989. Here he is with his hero a decade earlier.


And in Today's Canadian Birthdays...
1924

Doug Harvey 1924-1990

NHL defenseman, born on this day at Montreal in 1924; dies there Dec. 26, 1990. Harvey joined the Canadiens in 1947-48; won the James Norris Trophy as outstanding defenseman 7 times playing for the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers. With Harvey anchoring their defense and controlling the pace, the Canadiens won 5 consecutive Stanley Cups starting in 1956. Harvey was selected as a first team all-star 10 times. He was traded to the New York Rangers in 1961 where he became a player/coach for one season. In 1968-69, Harvey was acquired by the expansion St. Louis Blues, and he finished off his playing career that year by helping the Blues reach the Stanley Cup finals. His career point total is 88 goals and 452 assists in 1113 regular-season games and 8 goals and 64 assists in 137 playoff games. Here he is slowing down the progress of two Detroit players.


~ Courtesy Sympatico News

1919

Ottawa Ontario -

Cabinet passes Order in Council creating the government owned Canadian National Railways, to unite and rescue five near-bankrupt railroads: the Grand Trunk, Grand Trunk Pacific, Canadian Northern, Intercolonial and Canadian Government Railways [National Transcontinental]. The new CNR system is the longest in North America, with over 50,000 km of track in the US and Canada.

~ Courtesy Sympatico News

THAT'S GREAT ESS!