text:
1923 in Canada

Events from the year 1923 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – George V

Federal government

 * Governor General – Julian Byng
 * Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
 * Chief Justice – Louis Henry Davies (Prince Edward Island)
 * Parliament – 14th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Robert Brett
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Walter Cameron Nichol
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Albert Manning Aikins
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William Pugsley (until February 28) then William Frederick Todd
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – MacCallum Grant
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Henry Cockshutt
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Murdock MacKinnon
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Charles Fitzpatrick (until October 31) then Louis-Philippe Brodeur
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Henry William Newlands

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Herbert Greenfield
 * Premier of British Columbia – John Oliver
 * Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Walter Foster (until February 28) then Peter Veniot
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray (until January 24) then Ernest Howard Armstrong
 * Premier of Ontario – Ernest Drury (until July 16) then George Howard Ferguson
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – John Howatt Bell (until September 5) then James D. Stewart
 * Premier of Quebec – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Charles Avery Dunning

Commissioners

 * Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George P. MacKenzie
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – William Wallace Cory

Events

 * January 1 – The Department of National Defence comes into being
 * January 24 – Ernest Armstrong becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing George Henry Murray, who had governed for 27 years
 * February 28 – Peter Veniot becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Walter Foster
 * April 23 – Marijuana is prohibited soon after the House of Commons passes a bill on this date that includes making marijuana illegal
 * March 2 – The Halibut Treaty signed with the United States is Canada's first international treaty not signed under the auspices of the United Kingdom
 * June 25 – Ontario election: Howard Ferguson's Conservatives win a majority, defeating Ernest Charles Drury's United Farmers of Ontario
 * July 1 – The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 comes into effect, banning all Chinese from entering Canada except for businessmen, diplomats, foreign students, and "special circumstances"
 * July 16 – Howard Ferguson becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Ernest Charles Drury
 * August 18 – The Home Bank of Canada fails
 * September 5 – James D. Stewart becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing John Howatt Bell
 * October 8 – A stevedore's strike begins in Vancouver
 * October 10 – Canadian National Railway is formed by merger of Canadian Government Railways, Canadian Northern Railway, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, and Grand Trunk Railway
 * October 25 – Frederick Banting and Charles Best win the Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery of insulin
 * October 31 – Louis-Philippe Brodeur becomes Quebec's 13th Lieutenant Governor

Full date unknown

 * The Duplex, a Canadian 4-cylinder automobile is built in Montreal.
 * Fleetwood-Knight, a Canadian automobile is built in Kingston, Ontario.

Music

 * April 23 – The Toronto Symphony Orchestra gives its first concert.

New books

 * Rilla of Ingleside Lucy Maud Montgomery (1921)

Sport

 * March 14 – World's first complete play-by-play radio broadcast of a professional ice hockey game is done by Pete Parker in Regina.
 * March 22 – Foster Hewitt announces his first ice hockey game.
 * March 22 & 26 – The Manitoba Junior Hockey League's University of Manitoba win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association's Kitchener Colts 14 to 6 in a two-game aggregate played Arena Gardens in Toronto
 * March 31 – Ottawa Senators win their 10th Stanley Cup by defeating the Western Canada Hockey League's Edmonton Eskimos 2 games to 0. The deciding game was played at Vancouver's Denman Arena
 * December 1 – Queen's University win their second Grey Cup by defeating the Regina Rugby Club 54–0 in the 11th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto

January to March

 * January 1 – Roméo Sabourin, World War II spy (d. 1944)
 * January 7 – Hugh Kenner, literary scholar, critic and professor (d. 2003)
 * January 21 – Judith Merril, science fiction writer, editor and political activist (d. 1997)
 * January 27 – Marcelle Corneille, administrator and educator (d. 2019)
 * February 4 – Conrad Bain, actor (Maude, Diff'rent Strokes) (d. 2013)
 * March 1 – Uno Helava, inventor
 * March 2 – Ghitta Caiserman-Roth, painter (d. 2005)
 * March 4 – Stanley Haidasz, politician (d. 2009)
 * March 10 – Richard Doyle, journalist, editor and Senator (d. 2003)
 * March 15 – Laurent Desjardins, politician (d. 2012)
 * March 19 – Henry Morgentaler, physician and pro choice advocate (d. 2013)
 * March 23 - James Barber, cookbook author and television chef (d. 2007)
 * March 30 – Milton Acorn, poet, writer and playwright (d. 1986)

April to June

 * April 7 – Aba Bayefsky, artist and teacher (d. 2001)
 * April 25 – Melissa Hayden, ballerina (d. 2006)
 * May 5 – John Black Aird, lawyer, politician and 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d. 1995)
 * May 9 – Reuben Baetz, politician (d. 1996)
 * May 18 – Jean-Louis Roux, entertainer and playwright
 * May 20 – Frank Morris, Canadian football player (d. 2009)
 * June 3 – Phil Nimmons, jazz musician (d. 2024)
 * June 5 – Roger Lebel, actor (d. 1994)
 * June 6 – Bruce Campbell, Edmonton alderman (d. 2011)

July to September

 * July 21 – Rudolph A. Marcus, chemist and 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate
 * July 25 – Bill Fitsell, sports journalist and historian (d. 2020)
 * July 31 – Victor Goldbloom, pediatrician, lecturer and politician (d. 2016)
 * August 3 – Robert Campeau, financier and real estate developer
 * August 6 – Paul Hellyer, politician and commentator
 * September 1 – Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet, businessman and art collector (d. 2006)
 * September 2 – David Lam, businessman and 25th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (d. 2010)
 * September 7 – Byron Seaman, businessman and part owner of the Calgary Flames (d. 2021)
 * September 18 – Bertha Wilson, jurist and first female Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (d. 2007)
 * September 21 – Robert Uffen, research geophysicist, professor, and university administrator (d. 2009)

October to December

 * October 7 – Jean-Paul Riopelle, painter and sculptor (d. 2002)
 * October 10 - Kildare Dobbs, short story and travel writer (d. 2013)
 * October 22 – Rodrigue Bourdages, politician (d. 1997)
 * October 22 – Norman Levine, short-story writer, novelist and poet (d. 2005)
 * October 23 – Réjane L. Colas, jurist
 * November 1 – Gordon R. Dickson, science fiction author (d. 2001)
 * November 2 – Harold Horwood, novelist and non-fiction writer (d. 2006)
 * November 11 – Donald Tolmie, politician (d. 2009)
 * November 22 – Arthur Hiller, film director
 * December 27 – Bruno Bobak, artist (d. 2012)

January to June

 * February 20 – Thomas George Roddick, surgeon, medical administrator and politician (b. 1846)
 * March 2 – Joseph Martin, lawyer, politician and 13th Premier of British Columbia (b. 1852)
 * April 25 – Louis-Olivier Taillon, Premier of Quebec (b. 1840)
 * June 7 – John Best, politician (b. 1861)

July to December

 * July 17 – John Strathearn Hendrie, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b. 1857)
 * October 2 – John Wilson Bengough, political cartoonist (b. 1851)
 * December 5 – William Mackenzie, railway contractor and entrepreneur (b. 1849)
 * December 9 – John Herbert Turner, Premier of British Columbia (b. 1834)

Historical documents
"Surely our nation is not to be wiped out" - Cree storyteller Chief Thunderchild (Piyesiw-Awasis) seeks way on "a long and difficult journey"

Senate resolves to join House in accepting France's gift of 250 acres on Vimy Ridge for monument to "exploits of Canadian soldiers in the Great War"

Former cabinet minister on Canada's interest in and best approach to problems in Europe

PM King defends Chinese Immigration Act provisions to abolish head tax and admit merchants and students (Note: anti-Asian comments)

Fuel advisor says reduce homeowners' need for U.S. coal by promoting other fuels (peat, coke, lignite) and furnace efficiency

Film: several examples of electricity on Ontario farms for household use and farming

Saskatchewan premier wants solution to grain marketing issue that's free of politics and divisiveness

Saskatchewan employers seek cuts in pink collar workers' wages

Minister of Health's Narcotic Drugs Act amendment makes "a new drug" (cannabis) illegal

Local Simcoe, Ont. manufacturer donates land for future county hospital

Map: Vancouver and suburbs electric railway network

"The people of (B.C.) have not, as a whole, concerned themselves much with its past" - British Columbia Historical Association to change that

Profile of Beautiful Joe author Margaret Marshall Saunders' menagerie

Photo: Two people in automobile head earthward after leaving ramp as few dozen people watch

title: 1923 in Canada


text:
1926 in Canada

Events from the year 1926 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – George V

Federal government

 * Governor General – Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy (until October 2) then Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
 * Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King (until June 28) then Arthur Meighen (June 29 to September 25) then William Lyon Mackenzie King
 * Chief Justice – Francis Alexander Anglin (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 15th (7 January – 2 July) then 16th (from 9 December)

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – William Egbert
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Walter Cameron Nichol (until January 21) then Robert Randolph Bruce
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Albert Manning Aikins (until October 9) then Theodore Arthur Burrows
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William Frederick Todd
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Cranswick Tory
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Henry Cockshutt
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frank Richard Heartz
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Narcisse Pérodeau
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Henry William Newlands

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – John Edward Brownlee
 * Premier of British Columbia – John Oliver
 * Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
 * Premier of New Brunswick – John Baxter
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – Edgar Nelson Rhodes
 * Premier of Ontario – George Howard Ferguson
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – James D. Stewart
 * Premier of Quebec – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Charles Avery Dunning (until February 26) then James Garfield Gardiner

Commissioners

 * Gold Commissioner of Yukon – Percy Reid
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – William Wallace Cory

Events

 * February 24 – Robert Randolph Bruce becomes British Columbia's 13th Lieutenant Governor
 * February 26 – James Garfield Gardiner becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Charles Dunning
 * June 24 – Monument aux Patriotes, Montreal unveiled
 * June 28 – The King-Byng Affair climaxes as William Lyon Mackenzie King resigns as prime minister. Arthur Meighen becomes prime minister for the second time, but an election is forced when Meighen fails to win the confidence of the House.
 * June 28 – 1926 Alberta general election: John Brownlee's United Farmers of Alberta win a second consecutive majority
 * July 1 – Canada moves back onto the gold standard
 * September 14 – Federal election: the coalition of Mackenzie King's Liberals and the Liberal-Progressives win a majority, defeating Arthur Meighen's Conservatives
 * September 25 – Mackenzie King becomes prime minister for the second time, replacing Arthur Meighen
 * November 18 – British Dominions given official autonomy in the Balfour Declaration of 1926
 * December 1 – 1926 Ontario general election: Howard Ferguson's Conservatives win a second consecutive majority

Full date unknown

 * The Royal Canadian Mounted Police establish a base on Ellesmere Island as a proof of Canadian sovereignty.
 * The Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association amalgamates with the Farmers' Union of Canada to create the United Farmers of Canada.

Sport

 * March 26 – The Calgary City Junior Hockey League's Calgary Canadians win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association's Queen's University 2 game to 1. All games were held at Shea's Amphitheatre in Winnipeg
 * April 6 – The National Hockey League's Montreal Maroons win their only Stanley Cup by defeating the Western Hockey League Victoria Cougars 3 games to 1. This was the last time a non-NHL team would contest for the Cup. The deciding game was played at the Montreal Forum
 * December 4 – The Ottawa Senators win their second Grey Cup by defeating the Toronto Varsity Blues 10 to 7 in the 14th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium

January to June

 * January 1 – Dean Bandiera, Canadian football player (d. 2020)
 * January 2 – John Stroppa, football player (d. 2017)
 * January 3 – Murray Dowey, ice hockey player and Olympic champion (d. 2021)
 * January 4 – Betty Kennedy, broadcaster, journalist, author, Senator and gameshow panelist (d. 2017)
 * January 20 – John Michael Sherlock, Roman Catholic bishop (d. 2019)
 * January 26 – Georges-C. Lachance, politician and father of Claude-André Lachance (d. 2020)
 * February 4 – Roger Blais, engineer and academic (d. 2009)
 * February 6 – Ray Perrault, politician (d. 2008)
 * February 11 – Leslie Nielsen, comedian and actor (d. 2010)
 * February 20 – Jean Boucher, politician (d. 2011)
 * April 1 – Gérard La Forest, lawyer and judge
 * April 17 – Gerry McNeil, ice hockey player (d. 2004)
 * April 21 – Keith Davey, businessman and politician (d. 2011)
 * April 28 – Alex Oakley, race walker (d. 2010)
 * May 3 – Matt Baldwin, curler (d. 2023)
 * May 13 – Joy Coghill, actress, director, and writer (d. 2017)
 * May 20 – Allan McEachern, lawyer, judge and university chancellor (d. 2008)
 * May 26 – Phyllis Gotlieb, science fiction novelist and poet (d. 2009)
 * June 3 – Flora MacDonald, politician (d. 2015)
 * June 7 – Jean-Noël Tremblay, lawyer and politician (d. 2020)
 * June 15 – Douglas Bell, politician (d. 2021)

July to December

 * July 7 – Armand Lemieux, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
 * July 14 – Wallace Diestelmeyer, figure skater (d. 1999)
 * July 18 – Margaret Laurence, novelist and short story writer (d. 1987)
 * July 21 – Norman Jewison, film director, producer, actor and founder of the Canadian Film Centre (d. 2024)
 * July 22 – Paul Collins, long-distance runner (d. 1995)
 * August 13 – Dalton McGuinty Sr., politician and father of premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty and the politician David McGuinty (d. 1990)
 * August 18 – Gordon Donaldson, author and journalist (d. 2001)
 * September 1 – James Reaney, poet, playwright and literary critic (d. 2008)
 * September 13 – Emile Francis, ice hockey player (d. 2022)
 * September 27 – Jack Duffy, actor and comedian (d. 2008)
 * October 1 – Ben Wicks, cartoonist, illustrator, journalist and author (d. 2000)
 * October 26 – George Crum, conductor, pianist, vocal coach and musical arranger (d. 2007)
 * November 8 – Kay Hawtrey, actress (d. 2021)
 * December 3 – Denise Morelle, actress and murder victim (d. 1984)

Full date unknown

 * Daniel McCarthy, television producer (The Friendly Giant, Mr. Dressup, Sesame Park) (d. 2013)

Deaths

 * January 31 – Paul Tourigny, politician (b. 1852)
 * February 2 – John Alexander Macdonald Armstrong, politician (b. 1877)
 * February 20 – Paul-Eugène Roy, Roman Catholic priest, and Archbishop of Quebec (b. 1859)
 * March 27 – Georges Vézina, ice hockey player (b. 1887)
 * June 23 – Nérée Le Noblet Duplessis, politician, 19th Mayor of Trois-Rivières and father of 16th Premier of Quebec Maurice Duplessis (b. 1855)
 * August 24 – Laurent-Olivier David, journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1840)

Historical documents
Prime Minister King's resignation letter urges Gov. Gen. Byng to rethink his refusal of King's advice to dissolve Parliament

King profoundly relieved that Byng took Meighen's advice to dissolve, "deliver[ing] himself so completely into my hands"

British government recognizes Canada's need of direct diplomatic relations with U.S.A.

Canada posts its first diplomatic representative in Washington

House committee studying minimum wage hears details of decent and unhealthy standards of living affordable on industrial wages

Tourist guide to Rocky Mountains resorts includes Banff, Lake Louise, Yoho, and Glacier parks, plus Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.

Exile-weary anarchist Emma Goldman hopes Canada will let her stay

Touching letter to stranger follows visit to her brother's grave in France

English immigrant loves slush-free winters and long summer days in Dawson City, Yukon

Instructions for bleaching out suntan

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 1926 in Canada


text:
1927 in Canada

Events from the year 1927 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – George V

Federal government

 * Governor General – Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
 * Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
 * Chief Justice – Francis Alexander Anglin (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 16th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – William Egbert
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Robert Randolph Bruce
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Theodore Arthur Burrows
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William Frederick Todd
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Cranswick Tory
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Henry Cockshutt (until January 12) then William Donald Ross
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frank Richard Heartz
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Narcisse Pérodeau
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Henry William Newlands

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – John Edward Brownlee
 * Premier of British Columbia – John Oliver (until August 17) then John Duncan MacLean (from August 20)
 * Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
 * Premier of New Brunswick – John Baxter
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – Edgar Nelson Rhodes
 * Premier of Ontario – George Howard Ferguson
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – James D. Stewart (until August 12) then Albert Charles Saunders
 * Premier of Quebec – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – James Garfield Gardiner

Commissioners

 * Gold Commissioner of Yukon – Percy Reid (until November 13) then George A. Jeckell
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – William Wallace Cory

Events

 * January 5 – The National Museum of Canada is created.
 * January 9 – 76 people are killed when a fire breaks out at the Laurier Palace Theatre in Montreal.
 * March 1 – The location of the boundary between Labrador and Quebec is settled by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, accepting the Dominion of Newfoundland's claim rather than Canada's.
 * May 28 – The Old Age Pensions Act is introduced.
 * July 1 – Confederation celebration marked by the first cross country radio broadcast.
 * August 6 – Toronto Union Station is officially opened, by Prince Edward, Prince of Wales.
 * August 12 – Albert Saunders becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James D. Stewart.
 * August 17 – John Oliver, Premier of British Columbia, dies in office.
 * August 20 – John Duncan MacLean becomes premier of British Columbia.
 * September 21 – Ten Canadian Pacific Railway cars carrying a valuable cargo of silk goes off the rails near Yale, British Columbia. Five of the cars land in the Fraser River.
 * October 4 – Worthington mine disaster occurs.
 * October 11 – Richard Bedford Bennett, becomes leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Arts and literature

 * Mazo de la Roche publishes Jalna
 * December 5 – The National Gallery of Canada opened an exhibit featuring the work of Emily Carr, bringing her out of obscurity.

Science and technology

 * Canadian anthropologist Davidson Black discovered a fossil molar of Peking Man in a cave near Beijing, China
 * Wallace Rupert Turnbull tested the second design of his variable-pitch propeller, a key development in aviation

Sport

 * February 14 – Conn Smythe takes control of the Toronto St. Patricks and renames them to the Toronto Maple Leafs
 * March 28 – Ontario Hockey Association's Owen Sound Greys win their second Memorial Cup by defeating Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League's Port Arthur West Ends 2 game to 0. All games were played at Arena Gardens in Toronto
 * April 13 – Ottawa Senators win their 11th and final Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins 2 game to 0 (with 2 ties). The deciding game was played at the Ottawa Auditorium
 * November 26 – Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers win their first Grey Cup by defeating the Hamilton Tigers 9 to 6 in the 15th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

January to March

 * January 1
 * Calum MacKay, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2001)
 * Jean-Paul Mousseau, artist (d. 1991)
 * January 4 – Paul Desmarais, financier
 * January 6 – John W. Grace, first Privacy Commissioner of Canada (d. 2009)
 * January 10 – Gisele MacKenzie, singer (d. 2003)
 * January 17 – Stan Roberts, politician (d. 1990)
 * January 24 – Phyllis Lambert, architect and philanthropist
 * January 25 – Gildas Molgat, politician (d. 2001)
 * January 28 – Sheila Finestone, politician and Senator (d. 2009)
 * January 29 – Lewis Urry, chemical engineer and inventor (d. 2004)
 * January 30 – Sterling Lyon, politician and 17th Premier of Manitoba (d. 2010)
 * February 11 – Sinclair Stevens, politician
 * March 3 – William Kurelek, artist and writer (d. 1977)
 * March 9 – John Beckwith, composer, writer, pianist, teacher and administrator
 * March 25 – Bill Barilko, ice hockey player (d. 1951)
 * March 27 – Eugène Philippe LaRocque, Roman Catholic priest (d. 2018)
 * March 28 – Fernande Saint-Martin, art critic, museologist, semiologist, visual arts theorist and writer (d. 2019)

April to June

 * April 6
 * E. K. Turner, businessman and educator (d. 2018)
 * Dorothy Knowles, artist (d. 2023)
 * April 8
 * Phyllis Webb, poet and broadcaster (d. 2021)
 * Lois Miriam Wilson, first female Moderator of the United Church of Canada and Senator
 * April 13 – Ronald Stewart, businessman and politician (d. 2022)
 * April 25 – Frances Hyland, actress (d. 2004)
 * May 2 – Budge Wilson, writer (d. 2021)
 * May 5 – Sylvia Fedoruk, scientist, curler and Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan (d. 2012)
 * May 14 – Frank Miller, politician and 19th Premier of Ontario (d. 2000)
 * June 3 – George Hislop, gay activist (d. 2005)
 * June 17 – Jean Robert Beaulé, politician (d. 2005)
 * June 24 – Fernand Dumont, sociologist, philosopher, theologian and poet (d. 1997)
 * June 25 – Nora McDermott basketball player, volleyball player, coach and physical education teacher (d. 2013)
 * June 26 – Robert Kroetsch, novelist, poet and non-fiction writer (d. 2011)
 * June 29
 * Marie Thérèse Killens, politician
 * Viola Myers, sprinter (d. 1993)
 * Pierre Savard, politician

July to December

 * July 2 – Fern Villeneuve, aviator (d. 2019)
 * July 18 – Keith MacDonald, Canadian politician (d. 2021)
 * July 20 – Jack Horner, politician and Minister (d. 2004)
 * July 21 – Hal Hatfield, football player
 * August 17 – John Alan Beesley, diplomat and civil servant (d. 2009)
 * September 1 – Chuck Dalton, basketball player, member of Olympic team (1952) (d. 2013)
 * September 7 – Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
 * October 3 – Kenojuak Ashevak, artist (d. 2013)
 * October 14 – Elmer Iseler, choir conductor and choral editor (d. 1998)
 * October 15 – Peter Pollen, politician (d. 2017)
 * November 3 – Harrison McCain, businessman (d. 2004)
 * November 8 – Peter Munk, businessman and philanthropist
 * November 10
 * Gerry Glaude, professional ice hockey defenceman (d. 2017)
 * Joyce Trimmer, politician and first female mayor of Scarborough, Ontario (d. 2008)
 * November 17 – Nicholas Taylor, geologist, businessman, politician and Senator (d. 2020)
 * November 18 – Knowlton Nash, journalist, author and television news anchor (d. 2014)
 * November 26 – Ernie Coombs, children's entertainer Mr. Dressup (d. 2001)
 * November 30 – Tod Sloan, ice hockey player (d. 2017)
 * December 6 – Marcel Pelletier, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2017)
 * December 7 – Grant Strate, dancer, choreographer and academic
 * December 18 – Roméo LeBlanc, politician and 25th Governor General of Canada (d. 2009)
 * December 24 – Geoffrey Pearson, diplomat (d. 2008)

January to June

 * January 24 – Agnes Maule Machar, author (b. 1837)
 * February 10 – James Kidd Flemming, businessman, politician and 13th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1868)
 * March 8 – James Fisher, politician (b. 1840)
 * March 16 – Robert Bond, politician and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (b. 1857)
 * March 30 – Charles Hibbert Tupper, politician (b. 1855)
 * June 3 – Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, Governor General of Canada (b. 1845)
 * June 7 – Edmund James Flynn, politician and Premier of Quebec (b. 1847)

July to December

 * August 17 – John Oliver, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b. 1856)
 * November 2 – Charles Augustus Semlin, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b. 1836)
 * November 5 – Jérémie-Louis Décarie, judge and lawyer (b. 1870)
 * December 21 – Félix Gatineau, statesman (b. 1857)
 * December 31 – William Warren, lawyer, politician, judge and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (b. 1879)

Historical documents
Popular infant care author writes government guide to raising babies, including growth, health, habits, and "character and disposition"

Speaker delivers strongly anti-Catholic commentary at packed Ku Klux Klan meeting in Regina

MP Agnes Macphail calls for government pension coverage for war veterans unable to work

British privy council renders decision on long-disputed Labrador border between Newfoundland and Canada

U.S. border restrictions force Canadian residents working in U.S.A. to qualify for immigration

Illustration: A.Y. Jackson's painting of Mount Robson is among Group of Seven art in Canadian National Railway guide to Jasper National Park

Hunter regrets killing one of Jack Miner's "noble" Canada geese

Son of "dead" man who skippered schooner lost in Lake Ontario gale learns he started life anew in Oklahoma

title: 1927 in Canada


text:
1928 in Canada

Events from the year 1928 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – George V

Federal government

 * Governor General – Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
 * Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
 * Chief Justice – Francis Alexander Anglin (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 16th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – William Egbert
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Robert Randolph Bruce
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Theodore Arthur Burrows
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William Frederick Todd (until December 28) then Hugh Havelock McLean
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Cranswick Tory
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Donald Ross
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frank Richard Heartz
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Narcisse Pérodeau (until December 31) then Lomer Gouin
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Henry William Newlands

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – John Edward Brownlee
 * Premier of British Columbia – John Duncan MacLean (until August 21) then Simon Fraser Tolmie
 * Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
 * Premier of New Brunswick – John Baxter
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – Edgar Nelson Rhodes
 * Premier of Ontario – George Howard Ferguson
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Albert Charles Saunders
 * Premier of Quebec – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – James Garfield Gardiner

Commissioners

 * Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George A. Jeckell (until April 1) then George Ian MacLean
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – William Wallace Cory

Events

 * April 2 – Camillien Houde elected mayor of Montreal
 * April 24 – The Supreme Court of Canada rules that women are not persons who can hold office according to the British North America Act, 1867—reversed a year later by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain
 * May 7 – The St. Roch is launched. It would become the first ship to sail the Northwest Passage from west to east and to circumnavigate North America.
 * May 31 – The Legislative Council of Nova Scotia is abolished
 * July 4 – Jean Lussier goes over Niagara Falls in a rubber ball.
 * August 20 – John Duncan MacLean resigns as premier of British Columbia
 * August 21 – Simon Fraser Tolmie becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing John Duncan MacLean
 * August 25 – Canada's first major air disaster occurred when bad weather caused a BC Airways Ford Trimotor plane to crash in Puget Sound, Washington

Science and technology

 * Frank Morse Robb of Ontario obtains a patent for the first Electronic Organ, the Robb Wave Organ.

Sports

 * The Winter Olympics take place in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The University of Toronto Grads won a gold medal in ice hockey.
 * The Summer Olympics take place in Amsterdam. Percy Williams and Ethel Catherwood won gold medals for Canada.
 * March 26 – The South Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Regina Pats win their second Memorial Cup by defeating the Ottawa City Junior Hockey League's Ottawa Gunners 2 game to 1. The deciding Game 3 was played Arenas Garden in Toronto
 * December 1 – The Hamilton Tigers win their third Grey cup by shutting out the Regina Roughriders 30 to 0 in the 16th Grey Cup played at A.A.A Grounds in Hamilton

January to March

 * January 2
 * Avie Bennett, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2017)
 * Allen Sapp, painter (d. 2015)
 * January 7 – Benny Woit, ice hockey player (d. 2016)
 * January 20 – Peter Donat, actor (d. 2018)
 * January 25 – Jérôme Choquette, lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
 * February 8 – Gene Lees, biographer and lyricist (d. 2010)
 * February 13 – Gerald Regan, politician, Minister and Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2019)
 * February 16 – Les Costello, ice hockey player and Catholic priest (d. 2002)
 * February 26 – Donald Davis, actor (d. 1998)
 * March 3 – Diane Foster, athlete (d. 1999)
 * March 9 – Gerald Bull, engineer and artillery designer (d. 1990)
 * March 10 – Robert Coates, politician and minister (d. 2016)
 * March 12 – Thérèse Lavoie-Roux, politician and senator (d. 2009)
 * March 13 – Douglas Rain, actor and narrator (d. 2018)
 * March 17
 * André Chagnon, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2022)
 * William John McKeag, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (d. 2007)
 * March 20 – James K. Irving, businessman (d. 2024)
 * March 31 – Gordie Howe, ice hockey player (d. 2016)

April to June

 * April 10
 * Kenneth Earl Hurlburt, politician (d. 2016)
 * Fraser MacPherson, jazz musician (d. 1993)
 * April 17 – Fabien Roy, politician
 * April 28 – Zbigniew Basinski, physicist
 * April 30 – Hugh Hood, novelist, short story writer, essayist and university professor (d. 2000)
 * May 4 – Maynard Ferguson, jazz trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2006)
 * May 7 – Bruno Gerussi, actor and television presenter (d. 1995)
 * May 9 – Barbara Ann Scott, figure skater and Olympic gold medalist (d. 2012)
 * May 23
 * Pauline Julien, singer, songwriter, actress and feminist activist (d. 1998)
 * Sidney Spivak, politician and Minister (d. 2002)
 * June 1 – Larry Zeidel, Canadian-American ice hockey player and sportscaster (d. 2014)
 * June 2 – George Wearring, basketball player (d. 2013)
 * June 13 – Renée Morisset, pianist (d. 2009)
 * June 25 – Michel Brault, cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
 * June 26 – Samuel Belzberg, businessman, philanthropist (d. 2018)

July to December

 * July 3 – Raymond Setlakwe, entrepreneur, lawyer and politician (d. 2021)
 * July 7 – Tom Chambers, politician (d. 2018)
 * July 12 – Paul Ronty, ice hockey centre (d. 2020)
 * July 17 – Robert Nixon, politician
 * July 21 – Anne Harris, sculptor
 * July 22 – Hugh Edighoffer, politician (d. 2019)
 * July 23 – Irving Grundman, ice hockey executive and politician (d. 2021)
 * July 26 – Peter Lougheed, lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
 * July 28 – Ann Sloat, politician (d. 2017)
 * July 31 – Gilles Carle, film director and screenwriter (d. 2009)
 * August 7 – James Randi, stage magician and scientific skeptic (d. 2020 in the United States)
 * September 10
 * Roch Bolduc, civil servant, politician
 * Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche (d. 2019)
 * September 20 – Jacqueline Desmarais, billionaire philanthropist (d. 2018)
 * October 1 – Jim Pattison, businessman
 * October 7 – Raymond Lévesque, singer-songwriter (d. 2021)
 * October 9 – Clare Drake, ice hockey coach (d. 2018)
 * October 27 – Gilles Vigneault, poet, publisher and singer-songwriter
 * November 3 – Gary Lautens, humorist and newspaper columnist (d. 1992)
 * November 16 – David Adams, ballet dancer (d. 2007)
 * November 20 – Toni Onley, painter (d. 2004)
 * November 28 – Floyd Crawford, ice hockey player (d. 2017)
 * December 10 – Michael Snow, artist (d. 2023)
 * December 12 – Lionel Blair, dancer and entertainer (d. 2021 in the United Kingdom)
 * December 16 – Roy Bailey, politician (d. 2018)
 * December 21 – Clayton Kenny, boxer (d. 2015)
 * December 24 – Adam Exner, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 2023)
 * December 28 – Moe Koffman, flautist and saxophonist (d. 2001)
 * December 29
 * Robert Hylton Brisco, politician (d. 2004)
 * Norman Cafik, politician (d. 2016)

Full date unknown

 * Peter Bronfman, businessman (d. 1996)

Deaths

 * April 6 – Godfroy Langlois, politician, journalist and lawyer (b. 1866)
 * April 28 – George Gerald King, politician (b. 1836)

Historical documents
Supreme Court's negative decision on whether women can be appointed to Senate

Emily Murphy leads Famous Five in response to Supreme Court decision against women entering Senate

Influenza epidemic among Northwest Territories Indigenous people "spread[s] like wildfire" from Mackenzie delta to northern Alberta

MP Agnes Macphail calls for federal department of peace because people lack "confidence in war or in preparedness for war"

Guide to social hygiene combines public health and eugenics

Manitoba MLA explains trials of unemployment for single men and new immigrants, especially after crop failure in her province

Statements and petition from Quebec call on government to give settling "sons of our large families" priority over immigrants

M.J. Coldwell would prioritize settling "those who through[...]damage to crops and mortgage companies had gone to the wall"

Anglican bishop of Saskatchewan calls immigration "the foreignization of Canada [with the] aggression of the Church of Rome"

Backing "Protestantism, Racial Purity, Gentile Economic Freedom" etc., KKK constitution adopted by Imperial Kloncilium in Regina

Film clip: Brief segment of film on Coast Salish people shows Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) master weaver Skwetsiya (Mrs. Harriet Johnnie) making hat

Photographer Ansel Adams and other Sierra Club members' first experience of Canadian Rockies

title: 1928 in Canada


text:
Viatical settlement

A viatical settlement (from Latin viaticum, something received before death) is the sale of a policy owner's existing life insurance policy to a third party for more than its cash surrender value, but less than its net death benefit. Such a sale provides the policy owner with a lump sum. The third party becomes the new owner of the policy, pays the monthly premiums, and receives the full benefit of the policy when the insured dies.

Viatical settlements are ordinarily sold by, or on behalf of, an insured who is terminally or chronically ill. As medical advancements improved the lives of those persons living with terminal or chronic illnesses, the life settlement industry emerged.

Viatical Settlement as a term is considered out of date. The industry uses life settlement as the formal terminology. Technically, a viatical is a life settlement where the insured has less than two-year life expectancy. However, some jurisdictions, such as the U.S. state of Maryland, use the term viatical settlement instead of life settlement in their regulatory documents.

History
Viatical settlements grew in popularity in the United States in the late 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic peaked. The early victims of AIDS in the U.S. were largely gay men, typically relatively young and without wives or children (the traditional beneficiaries under a life insurance policy), but often covered by life insurance through employment or as a result of investments. The beneficiaries under the policies were often their parents who did not need the money. Viatical settlements offered a way to extract value from the policy while the policy owner was still alive.

At the time, the AIDS mortality rate was very high, and life expectancy after diagnosis was typically short. Investors were reasonably sure that they would collect in a relatively short time. This combination of events caused a surge in viatical settlements as investors and viators saw an opportunity for mutual benefit.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision from 1911 provides the legal basis for viatical settlements. In Grigsby v. Russell, 222 U.S. 149 (1911), Dr. A. H. Grigsby treated a patient named John C. Burchard. Mr. Burchard, being in need of a particular surgical operation, offered to sell Dr. Grigsby his life insurance policy in return for $100 and for agreeing to pay the remaining premiums. Dr. Grigsby agreed and as a result, the first viatical settlement transaction was created. When Mr. Burchard died, Dr. Grigsby attempted to collect the benefits. An executor of Burchard's estate challenged Dr. Grigsby in Appeals Court and won. The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court where Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. delivered the opinion of the court. He stated in relevant part that "“So far as reasonable safety permits, it is desirable to give to life policies the ordinary characteristics of property. To deny the right to sell except to persons having such an interest is to diminish appreciably the value of the contract in the owner's hands.”"The Supreme Court's decision set forth the fundamental principle upon which the viatical settlement and later, the life settlement industry were based: a life insurance policy is private property, which can be assigned at the will of the owner. Viatical settlements were rare for almost eight decades until the onset of the AIDS epidemic.

Early improper activities among a few bad actors produced a fear among consumers regarding viatical settlements. Life insurers became concerned about individuals purchasing policies purely for speculative purposes. Today, many states regulate viatical and life settlements and many more are developing legislation and regulations. As of June 2011, the only states that do not regulate viatical settlements are Wyoming, South Dakota, Missouri, Alabama, and South Carolina.

Despite the bad experience of some investors, viatical settlements remain an often valuable tool for the personal financial management of many ill people. A 2002 study showed that among hospice financial counselors who have had experience with viatical settlements, most report positive experiences.

Mutual Benefits
One of the most infamous viaticals cases involved the Mutual Benefits Corporation headed by Peter Lombardi and run by Joel Steinger. The Florida company purchased life insurance policies from people with HIV, and sold shares in the future proceeds to 28,000 investors. In 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission closed the firm saying it was a $1 billion Ponzi scheme. Lombardi and Steinger received 20-year prison sentences.

Kelco
In August 2008, Stephen L. Keller, the former CEO of Kelco Inc., filed a motion in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, with Judge Karl S. Forester, to dismiss Keller's convictions for conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering. Keller's convictions resulted from Kelco buying and selling life insurance policies that in some cases, had been falsified by 3rd party insurance agents, for insureds with HIV/AIDS applications, then buying the policies in a viatical settlement. Keller's motion was denied on November 12, 2010. His appeal of that denial was also denied, on February 28, 2011.

Viatical settlements valuation
Viatical settlements are valued by examining market prices according to the ‘fair value’ approach using closed life settlement transactions. Market data is collected from multiple providers and that information is available to clients as well as third parties. The pricing of life settlements relies on the quantification of two main variables: the insured's life expectancy and the internal rate of return (which reflects the heightened risk associated with life settlements compared to other assets). The actuarial literature presents various approaches to pricing life settlements, including deterministic, probabilistic, stochastic, and fuzzy methods. The sensitivity of the price of a life settlement to variations in the value of the variables on which it depends (insured’s life expectancy and interest rate) can be determined through two different measures, duration and convexity.

title: Viatical settlement


text:
1929 in Canada

Events from the year 1929 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – George V

Federal government

 * Governor General – Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
 * Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
 * Chief Justice – Francis Alexander Anglin (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 16th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – William Egbert
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Robert Randolph Bruce
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Theodore Arthur Burrows (until January 18) then James Duncan McGregor (from January 28)
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Hugh Havelock McLean
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Cranswick Tory
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Donald Ross
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frank Richard Heartz
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Lomer Gouin (until March 28) then Henry George Carroll (from April 2)
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Henry William Newlands

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – John Edward Brownlee
 * Premier of British Columbia – Simon Fraser Tolmie
 * Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
 * Premier of New Brunswick – John Baxter
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – Edgar Nelson Rhodes
 * Premier of Ontario – George Howard Ferguson
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Albert Charles Saunders
 * Premier of Quebec – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – James Garfield Gardiner (until September 9) then James Thomas Milton Anderson

Commissioners

 * Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George Ian MacLean
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – William Wallace Cory

Events

 * January 10 – Lomer Gouin becomes Quebec's 15th Lieutenant Governor, serving until his death on March 28, 1929.
 * March 22 – The Canadian schooner and rum-runner I'm Alone is sunk by the US Coast Guard's USCGC Dexter (1925).
 * April 4 – Henry George Carroll becomes Quebec's 16th Lieutenant Governor.
 * June 6 – 1929 Saskatchewan election: James Garfield Gardiner's Liberals win a plurality, but the other parties, led by James T.M. Anderson's Conservatives, will form a coalition against Gardiner, forcing him to resign as premier
 * May 29 – A series of explosions rip through Ottawa's sewer system.
 * September 9 – James Anderson becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing James Gardiner
 * September 10 – The Hudson Bay Railway opens for traffic to Churchill, Manitoba
 * October 18 – The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council rules in the Persons Case that women are eligible to be senators.
 * October 29 – The crash of the New York Stock Exchange marks the beginning of the Great Depression
 * October 30 – Ontario election: Howard Ferguson's Conservatives win a third consecutive majority
 * November 13 – A second stock market crash hits Canada.

Arts and literature

 * January 6 – Regina's Darke Hall auditorium opened.

Science and technology

 * Wop May and Vic Horner brave poor visibility and −30 °C temperatures in an open cockpit to rush diphtheria anti-toxin to Fort Vermilion.
 * Frozen fish fillets are introduced by the Biological Board of Canada developed by Archibald Huntsman.

Sport

 * March 30 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Toronto Marlboros win their first Memorial Cup by defeating the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Elmwood Millionaires 2 games to 0. The deciding Game 2 was played at Mutual Street Arena in Toronto
 * September 12 – The first legal forward pass in Canadian football is completed.
 * November 30 – The Hamilton Tigers win their fourth Grey Cup, defeating the Regina Roughriders 14 to 3 in the 17th Grey Cup played at A.A.A. Grounds in Hamilton

January to March

 * January 17 – Jacques Plante, ice hockey player (d. 1986)
 * January 20 – Pat Mahoney, businessman, politician, and judge, MP for Calgary South (1968–1972), General Manager of the Calgary Stampeders (1965) (d. 2012)
 * January 21 – Bill Norrie, politician and educator, Mayor of Winnipeg (1979–1992), Chancellor of the University of Manitoba (2001–2009), respiratory failure. (d. 2012)
 * January 23 – John Polanyi, chemist and 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry joint laureate
 * January 25 – Brian O'Neill, ice hockey executive (d. 2023)
 * February 12 – Philip Kives, businessman
 * February 28 – Frank Gehry, architect
 * March 20 – William Andrew MacKay, academic, President of Dalhousie University (1980–1986) (d. 2013)

April to June

 * April 8 – Garnet Bloomfield, politician (d. 2018)
 * April 11 – Eric Luoma, cross-country skier (d. 2018)
 * May 8 – Claude Castonguay, banker and politician (d. 2020)
 * May 10
 * Antonine Maillet, novelist, playwright and scholar
 * Peter C. Newman, journalist (d. 2023)
 * May 12 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
 * May 13 – Al Adair, politician, radio broadcaster and author (d. 1996)
 * May 14 – Gump Worsley, ice hockey player (d. 2007)
 * May 16 – Claude Morin, politician
 * May 18 – Walter Pitman, educator and politician
 * June 7
 * John Turner, lawyer, politician and 17th Prime Minister of Canada
 * Walter Weir, politician and 15th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1985)
 * June 8 – Louise Maheux-Forcier, author
 * June 9
 * Jean Rougeau, professional wrestler and bodyguard of Quebec Premier René Lévesque (d. 1983)
 * Harold R. Steele, businessman (d. 2022)
 * June 10 – Pearl McGonigal, politician
 * June 20 – Edgar Bronfman, Sr., businessman
 * June 27 – H. Ian Macdonald, economist

July to September

 * July 2 – Anna-Marie Globenski, pianist and teacher (d. 2008)
 * July 3 – Béatrice Picard, actress
 * July 10 – Moe Norman, golfer (d. 2004)
 * July 18 – Roy Killin, footballer
 * July 19 – Ronald Melzack, psychologist (d. 2019)
 * July 26 – Marc Lalonde, politician and Minister (d. 2023)
 * July 30 – Bill Davis, politician and 18th Premier of Ontario
 * August 1 – Sidney Green, politician
 * August 3 – Peter Salmon, swimmer (d. 2003)
 * August 9 – George Scott Wallace, British Columbia physician and politician (d. 2011)
 * August 19 – Leonard Evans, politician
 * August 27 – George Scott, professional wrestler and promoter (d. 2014)
 * September 14 – Dimitri Dimakopoulos, architect
 * September 19 – Gertrude Story, writer and broadcaster (d. 2014)
 * September 24 -Edward M. Lawson, trade unionist, politician and Senator

October to December

 * October 7 – Graeme Ferguson, filmmaker and inventor who co-invented IMAX (d. 2021)
 * November 1 – Charles Juravinski, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2022)
 * November 2 – Richard E. Taylor, physicist, 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics joint laureate (d. 2018)
 * November 21 – Laurier LaPierre, broadcaster, journalist, author and senator (d. 2012)
 * November 24 – Harry Oliver Bradley, politician
 * December 6 – Harry Langford, footballer (d. 2022)
 * December 13 – Christopher Plummer, actor (d. 2021)
 * December 15 – Emery Barnes, Canadian football player and politician (d. 1998)
 * December 23 – Patrick Watson, broadcaster, author, commentator and television writer, producer and director (d. 2022)
 * December 28 – Terry Sawchuk, ice hockey player (d. 1970)

Full date unknown

 * Ken Adachi, writer and literary critic (d. 1989)

January to March

 * January 6 – George Henry Murray, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1861)
 * January 14 – Alexander Warburton, politician, jurist, author and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1852)
 * January 18 – Theodore Arthur Burrows, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (b. 1857)
 * January 19 – Edward Charles Bowers, politician (b. 1845)
 * January 29 – John Howatt Bell, lawyer, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1846)
 * February – Richard Gardiner Willis, politician (b. 1865)
 * February 17 – James Colebrooke Patterson, politician, Minister and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (b. 1839)
 * March 1 – James Albert Manning Aikins, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (b. 1851)
 * March 28 – Lomer Gouin, politician and 13th Premier of Quebec (d. 1861)
 * March 29 – Hugh John Macdonald, politician, Minister and 8th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1850)

April to December

 * April 17 – Clifford Sifton, politician and Minister (b. 1861)
 * May 6 – William Dillon Otter, soldier and first Canadian-born Chief of the General Staff (b. 1843)
 * June 3 – John Morison Gibson, politician and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b. 1842)
 * June 8 – Bliss Carman, poet (b. 1861)
 * June 23 – William Stevens Fielding, journalist, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1848)
 * July 30 – Antonin Nantel, priest, teacher, school administrator, and author (b. 1839)
 * October 10 – Elijah McCoy, inventor and engineer (b. 1843)

Historical documents
British Privy Council members decide "that women are eligible to be summoned to and become members of the Senate of Canada"

"Crest of the flood of selling" passes on New York Stock Exchange

Charlotte Whitton warns family allowance would reduce mothers to economic slavery and government parental role would undermine family

Residential school principal objects to farm training because land limited, students are not labourers, and hired hands would not obey her

Calgary Board of Trade report on Turner Valley oil field

At Walkerville, Ont. General Motors plant, it is "very dangerous" to work exposed pulleys late in 12-hour night shift

Killing of Americans by U.S. border guards enforcing prohibition regulations draws outrage

Lord Beaverbrook on overcoming "the great general division between farmers and industrialists" to establish imperial free trade

Hunter-conservationist Jack Miner calls for extermination of wolves in Ontario

Mackenzie King "wholly convinced in the reality of the spiritual world" after medium contacts his dead family members

title: 1929 in Canada


text:
Life settlement

A life settlement is the legal sale of an existing life insurance policy (typically of seniors) for more than its cash surrender value, but less than its net death benefit, to a third party investor. The investor assumes the financial responsibility for ongoing premiums and receives the death benefit when the insured dies. The primary reason the policyowner sells is because they can no longer afford the ongoing premiums, they no longer need or want the policy, to fund long-term care, increased medical costs, or they need money for other expenses. On average, the policyowner receives three to five times more than the surrender value for the policy.

In a retained death benefit transaction, policyowners receive cash payments and their beneficiaries also receive a payment after the insured dies. After the transaction has closed, there are no future premium obligations

Term, permanent, or whole life insurance policies qualify for life settlement. Most commonly, universal life insurance policies are sold. Policyowners are generally 65 or older and own a life insurance policy worth $100,000 or more.

Grigsby v. Russell (1911)
The U.S. Supreme Court case of Grigsby v. Russell, 222 U.S. 149 (1911) established and legitimized the life insurance industry, ruling that policy as private property, which may be assigned at the will of the owner. The case was argued in November 1911 and decided on December 4, 1911. In Grigsby, John Burchard bought an insurance policy on his life. Unable to afford a premium payment and needing money for an operation, he assigned the policy to a doctor in exchange for one hundred dollars. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes noted in his opinion that life insurance possessed all the ordinary characteristics of property, and therefore represented an asset that a policy owner may transfer without limitation.

1980s–1999
Despite the Supreme Court ruling, life settlements remained extremely uncommon due to lack of awareness from policy holders and lack of interest from potential investors. That changed in the 1980s when the U.S. faced an AIDS epidemic. AIDS victims faced short life expectancies, high unanticipated expenses related to medical care, and selling a life insurance policy that they no longer needed as a way to pay these expenses made sense. However, by the mid-1990s, this investment strategy had faded away because of the rise of antiviral drugs.

In its place arose a new strategy focusing on acquiring policies of the elderly, although a niche business persists to this day acquiring policies on terminally ill of all ages. Policies of terminally ill patients are rare for two key reasons. First, the market size of terminally ill insured interested in selling their policies is small. Second, carriers now offer accelerated death benefit riders, which pay out if the insured is terminally ill, so there is no need for a settlement.

In 1993, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) adopted the first Viatical Settlement Model Act. The term viatical settlement refers to a life settlement where the life expectancy is under two years because the person was terminally ill.

2000–present
In 2000, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) adopted the Life Settlements Model Act. In 2001, "life settlements" became a common term to describe the purchase of life insurance policies from senior citizens.

In 2005, the life settlement industry was regulated in twenty-five states, providing seniors more value than the cash surrender option.

In 2007, the NAIC and NAIC adopted revisions to the Viatical Settlements Model Act and the Life Settlements Model Act to strengthen consumer protections and address STOLI (stranger-originated life insurance) concerns.

In 2010, NCOIL adopted the Life Insurance Consumers Disclosure Model Act.

Following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, proceeds up to the total amount of premiums paid over time are tax free, and proceeds more than the tax basis up to the amount of the policy's surrender value are taxed as ordinary income. Proceeds in excess of the surrender value are taxed as capital gains.

In 2020, the Senior Health Planning Account Act (HR 5958) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. It would allow seniors to pay for health care costs using tax-exempt proceeds from the sale of their life insurance. It was reintroduced in 2021.

Market size
Life settlements remain a niche asset class. For the year ending 2020, according to the Life Settlement Report by the Deal, there were 3,241 policies purchased with a total face value of $4.6B on the secondary market (from the original policyowner). This was up from 2019 when 2,878 policies for a total face value of $4.4B were purchased on the secondary market. In contrast, as of 2018, there were 267M life insurance policies in force in the United States. Moreover, it is estimated that roughly 10M policies a year lapse. Since the policyowner would always be better off selling rather than lapsing, many believe the life settlement market has tremendous growth potential.

Major trends
There are three major industry trends. One is the rise in asset capital. More institutional investors are funding life settlements and have invested billions of dollars in assets since the early 2000s. For reference, in the primary market, insurance companies sell life insurance policies to market individuals, who become policyowners. In the secondary market, policyowners' policies are sold to third parties such as life settlement providers, who purchase policies on behalf of third party investors such as institutional investors. In the tertiary market, third party investors trade policies, which are included in the asset class.

Another major trend is direct-to-consumer marketing. Some providers engage in advertising to raise awareness of the life settlement option. This allows policy owners an easy way to engage directly with providers. By working directly with a provider, policy owners are not submitting through a financial advisor or other professional. The final trend is more efficient medical underwriting. It is the result of new technologies and more reliable data from systems that are utilizing prescription and clinical database searches. While the market for life expectancy companies has grown more competitive, managers have become more adept with analytics and are better able to estimate more accurate life expectancies for life settlement transactions. This mitigates the risk of serious financial losses heightened by prior underwriting methodologies and increases profitability and investor demand for policies.

== Transaction parties   ==

 * Policyowner or policyholder - The party who owns the insurance policy
 * Insured - Person(s) whose life is tied to the policy
 * Financial advisor - Advisor to the policyowner
 * Life settlement broker - Company that shops policies to life settlement providers
 * Life settlement provider - A company that is licensed by state insurance departments to purchase life insurance policies from policyowners
 * Investor - Institutions that purchase pools of policies from life settlement providers

A policyowner or the insured may contact a life settlement provider, financial advisor, or life settlement broker regarding the sale of a life insurance policy. Financial advisors may use life settlement brokers to access life settlement providers, or they may go directly to life settlement providers. Financial advisors and life settlement brokers represent the policyowner regarding the sale of a life insurance policy. Life settlement providers purchase policies and either retain ownership of those policies, or they sell pools of policies to institutional investors. Expected returns for the buyer range from 8 to 10 per cent after fees.

Until 2022, one of the largest life settlement providers was GWG, which purchased over $3 billion of life settlements. However, GWG declared bankruptcy in 2022, and it has subsequently come under scrutiny by regulators, journalists, and attorneys who say it inappropriately marketed its investments to mom-and-pop investors.

Transaction process
In a life settlement transaction, the insured completes an application. Once they receive a formal offer from a life settlement provider, the insured receives a “closing” package containing documents to formalize their acceptance of the life settlement exchange offer. The client signs transfer-of-ownership forms to complete the transaction.

Regulation
Forty three states, approximately 90% of the United States population, is regulated by life settlement laws. However, New Mexico and Michigan only regulate viatical settlements, while Wyoming, South Dakota, Missouri, Alabama, and South Carolina, and Washington, D.C. neither regulate viatical settlements nor life settlements.

However, some states, like Maryland, refer to any life settlement as a viatical settlement.

The Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) is a nonprofit created in 1994 to promote legislation and regulation in the industry. Members include brokers, providers, investors, and others. The association annually awards the Alan H. Buerger (AHB) award for Industry Leadership.

The Institutional Longevity Markets Association, Inc. (ILMA) is a trade association formed to regulate the life settlement and longevity marketplace.

The European Life Settlement Association (ELSA) represents European investors, service providers and intermediaries. Founded in 2009, it sets standards for the European life settlement industry.

Valuation techniques
Life settlements are valued by examining market prices according to the ‘fair value’ approach using closed life settlement transactions. Market data is collected from multiple providers and that information is available to clients as well as third parties. The pricing of life settlements relies on the quantification of two main variables: the insured's life expectancy and the internal rate of return (which reflects the heightened risk associated with life settlements compared to other assets). The actuarial literature presents various approaches to pricing life settlements, including deterministic, probabilistic, stochastic, and fuzzy methods. The sensitivity of the price of a life settlement to variations in the value of the variables on which it depends (insured’s life expectancy and interest rate) can be determined through two different measures, duration and convexity.

Major study findings
An academic study that showed some of the potential of the life settlement market was conducted in 2002 by the University of Pennsylvania business school, the Wharton School. The research papers, credited to Neil Doherty and Hal Singer, were released under the title The Benefits of a Secondary Market For Life Insurance. This study found, among other things, that life settlement providers paid approximately $340 million to consumers for their under-performing life insurance policies, an opportunity that was not available to them just a few years before.

In 2016, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School and Washington University’s Olin Business School conducted another academic study. The study found that the majority of life insurance policies do not pay a death benefit, with nearly 85 percent of term policies and 88 percent of universal life policies failing to pay a death claim.

Another study by Conning & Co. Research, Life Settlements: Additional Pressure on Life Profits, found that senior citizens owned approximately $500 billion worth of life insurance in 2003, of which $100 billion was owned by seniors eligible for life settlements.

A life insurance industry-sponsored study by Deloitte Consulting and the University of Connecticut came to negative conclusions regarding the life settlement market.

A 2013 study found that a life settlement, on average, delivered four times what policy owners would have received had they surrendered their policies to a life insurance company.

In 2020, the amount paid to sellers increased from $839.6 million to $848.1 million.

title: Life settlement


text:
Meech Lake Accord

The Meech Lake Accord (Accord du lac Meech) was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of Quebec to symbolically endorse the 1982 constitutional amendments by providing for some decentralization of the Canadian federation.

The proposed amendments were initially popular and backed by nearly all political leaders. However, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, feminist activists, and Indigenous groups raised concerns about the lack of citizen involvement in the Accord's drafting and its future effects on Canadian federalism, and support for the Accord began to decline. Changes in government in New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Newfoundland brought ministries to power that declined to accept the Accord. Further negotiations were conducted but tension increased between Quebec and the predominantly English-speaking provinces. A dramatic final meeting among first ministers a month before the Accord's constitutionally-mandated ratification deadline seemed to show renewed agreement on a second series of amendments that would address the concerns raised in the intervening debates. Despite this, the original accord would not gain acceptance in the Manitoba or Newfoundland legislatures in time for ratification.

Failure to pass the Accord greatly increased tensions between Quebec and the remainder of the country. The Quebec sovereignty movement gained renewed support for a time. The general aims of the Accord would be addressed in the Charlottetown Accord, which failed to gain a majority vote in a referendum.

Prelude
In 1981, negotiations between the federal and provincial governments to patriate the constitution, led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, resulted in an agreement that formed the basis of the Constitution Act, 1982. Quebec Premier René Lévesque and the Quebec National Assembly refused to approve the amendments and announced it would use a constitutional veto. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Quebec Veto Reference that Quebec did not have a veto, and the Constitution Act, 1982 was operative in Quebec.

In the 1984 federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney, committed to eventually allowing the National Assembly to accept the amendments "with honour and enthusiasm," won a majority government. The apparent lessening of tension prompted Lévesque to attempt the "beau risque" of federal cooperation. His government split, leading to his resignation and the ultimate defeat of his sovereigntist Parti Québécois by the federalist Quebec Liberal Party of Robert Bourassa in the 1985 provincial election.

In his election platform, Bourassa outlined five conditions that would have to be met for Quebec to "sign on" to the constitution. They were recognition of Quebec's distinct character (as primarily Catholic and French-speaking), a veto for Quebec in constitutional matters, input from Quebec into the appointment of Supreme Court justices, co-determination of the number and selection of immigrants arriving in Quebec, and a limit on the federal spending power. Bourassa considered the demands practical, as all elements of the conditions had previously been offered by the federal government to Quebec on different occasions.

Bourassa and Mulroney, both pragmatic pro-business figures, had a far more congenial relationship than Trudeau and Lévesque had. Mulroney tasked Senator Lowell Murray with coordinating a possible agreement with the provinces. Bourassa announced that talks could proceed based on the five conditions, adding only the provision that "recognition of Quebec's distinct character" had to be an interpretive clause rather than a symbolic note in a revised preamble.

At a meeting of the first ministers (the Prime Minister and provincial premiers) in Edmonton in August 1986, the ministers agreed to the "Edmonton Declaration". It stated that a "Quebec Round" of constitutional talks based on the five conditions would occur before further reforms would be undertaken.

Consensus at Meech Lake
Believing that a constitutional agreement was possible, Mulroney called a conference with provincial premiers for April 30, 1987 at Willson House, located on the shores of Meech Lake, Quebec, in the Gatineau Hills. In contrast to previous constitutional conferences, which tended to feature a multitude of bureaucrats and advisors, the 11 first ministers were the only participants at the bargaining table. Other officials were kept downstairs and the media was locked out of the negotiation process.

Mulroney chaired the meeting, and agreement came quickly on the Supreme Court and immigration conditions, both of which were significantly an entrenchment of the status quo. The only agenda item added besides Quebec's conditions was Senate reform. After initially proposing abolition, Mulroney agreed to allow appointment from lists created by the provinces while awaiting further reform, which the provinces accepted. Changes to the amending formula and recognition of Quebec as a "distinct society" were the most contentious issues. Changes to the wording of the "distinct society clause" that also preserved rights for English and French minorities in other provinces gained acceptance by all representatives at the table.

After nine hours, the Premiers and Mulroney announced a consensus for constitutional reform had been reached amongst the first ministers. The consensus would encompass five main modifications to the Canadian constitution:
 * Quebec was recognized as a "distinct society" in Section 2 of the Constitution Act, 1867. This would operate as an interpretive clause for the entire constitution;
 * More prospective constitutional amendments were now subject to s. 41 of the Constitution Act, 1982, which meant they required the approval of every province and the Federal government, including Senate reform, proportionate representation in the House of Commons, and the addition of new provinces;
 * Provincial powers with respect to immigration were increased;
 * Provinces were granted the right for reasonable financial compensation from the federal government if that province chose to opt out of any future federal programs in areas of exclusive provincial jurisdiction;
 * The appointment of senators and Supreme Court justices, traditionally a prerogative of the Prime Minister, would be drawn from a selection of names provided by the provincial governments.

Initial reaction
The initial reaction of the public was shock. Interest groups that had been involved in the constitutional debate, unaware that an agreement was practicable, had not thought to begin agitating for consultation. They were caught off balance by the accepted Accord. The only province to have public hearings after the Accord stage and before the legal text was drafted was Quebec.

National public opinion polls initially showed that a majority of Canadians supported the proposed agreement. Liberal Party leader John Turner and New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent announced their agreement with the consensus.

The first prominent opposition, as reported by the media, was from former Prime Minister Trudeau. In an open letter published in both the Toronto Star and La Presse on May 27, 1987, Trudeau attacked the Accord as a capitulation to provincialism and the end of any dream of "One Canada". Portraying "patriation" as the equalization of the bargaining power of federal and provincial governments that would allow Canada to survive indefinitely, Trudeau wrote that the new agreement made further devolution of powers inevitable. He referred to Mulroney as a "weakling," the Premiers as "snivelers," and invoked Bourassa's previous reneging of the Victoria Charter as suggesting that the Accord would be the beginning of concessions to Quebec and provincial interests.

Trudeau's well-known position as an ardent federalist and a prominent Québécois helped express the opposition to the Accord for many of its opponents. He generated concerns with the Accord in other groups that had embraced the Charter, such as Indigenous peoples, ethnic communities, and women. His position created turmoil in the federal and provincial Liberal parties, with the federal party split largely on linguistic lines, shaking John Turner's already fragile leadership.

Final agreement
As the final agreement was to be drawn together in Ottawa on June 2, 1987, Trudeau's intervention had made him, in the words of Mulroney advisor L. Ian MacDonald, a "twelfth participant". The meeting, seen as a formality to precede a signing ceremony the next day, instead lasted 19 hours.

Manitoba NDP Premier Howard Pawley, faced with left-wing opposition to the consensus in his home province, insisted on more limited language regarding limits on the federal spending power in the final agreement. Ontario Premier David Peterson, as the sole Liberal at the table (Bourassa's Quebec Liberal Party having severed ties with the Liberal Party of Canada in 1955), did not have support for it by most of his caucus (including his main adviser, Ian Scott). They opposed the consensus, and proposed a variety of amendments to the "federal spending power" and "distinct society" clauses. Pawley and Peterson agreed to follow each other's lead or back out together, to avoid either being seen as the cause of the collapse of talks. They asked Mulroney to take a harder line on federal powers.

Trudeau's intervention had also created a separate backlash: Mulroney and the other eight Premiers, insulted by what they saw as undue interference, aggressively embraced the previous consensus. Bourassa in particular refused to move away from any of the Accord's major provisions. Negotiations went on through the night. They ultimately agreed on a clause promising that "the distinct society clause" would not derogate the Charter, providing protections for multicultural and aboriginal rights, and tighter language regarding restrictions on the federal spending power.

At a final roll call at 4:45 a.m. June 3, 1987, hours before the signing ceremony, Mulroney knowingly breached convention by taking the vote in reverse order around the table instead of the traditional order of a province's entry into confederation. Pawley, after pressure from federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent, conceded and approved the agreement. Peterson, the last to vote in this improvised formula, approved the final agreement on behalf of Ontario.

At the symbolic signing ceremony, the Premiers signed the Accord. Bourassa declared that Quebec had become reintegrated in Canada to a standing ovation.

Support
Supporters of the Accord argued that it would provide a generation of constitutional peace and do so in a simple and understandable way without major structural changes to the Federal government or the Canadian federation. Bourassa described Quebec's exclusion from the 1982 agreement as a "hole in the heart" that had to be mended before Quebec could become a normalized participant in constitutional matters. Mulroney and others, acknowledging that the agreement focused on primarily Quebec concerns, described the agreement as a "bridge" that, once accepted, would allow for further negotiations with other groups to proceed with Quebec's full participation.

Mulroney argued that the Senate and Supreme Court reforms would allow for greater involvement of other parties in what was generally a unilateral decision from the Prime Minister. It was an attempt to reduce what was seen as an overly powerful Prime Minister's Office. Mulroney would tell the Toronto Star, "You can have the old style of warring federalism, or you can have genuine co-operative federalism, on which we're trying to build a new country."

Proponents such as constitutional expert Peter Hogg said that the "distinct society" clause was merely an "affirmation of a sociological fact". Chief Justice Brian Dickson noted that court decisions had for decades taken Quebec's "character" into consideration on a standard basis.

Opposition
Opponents of the Accord took issue with both the process and ultimate results of the negotiations. Process objections focused on the agreement being negotiated in circumstances considered to be opaque and undemocratic: the amendments were effectively drafted and agreed to by the Prime Minister and ten Premiers themselves in two meetings and were presented to their legislatures as a fait accompli. Some academics described the Accord as resulting from an exercise in "elite accommodation" not compatible with a more democratic Canada. Aside from Quebec, no province held public hearings on the Accord until opposition began to sprout.

Some critics said that "distinct society" focus unbalanced the federation, creating a "special status" for Quebec that would lead to asymmetrical federalism and the possible decline of the English-speaking community in Quebec and Francophones elsewhere in Canada. Aboriginal, feminist, and minority groups worried that courts could interpret the clause to allow the Quebec government to disregard sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and of other constitutional protections in the name of preserving the province's culture.

Aboriginal groups were opposed to the amendments that involved constitutional change, as they had not had any representation in negotiations.

Former Prime Minister Trudeau and similar critics argued that the further devolution of powers was unnecessary and did not result in any "trade-off" with the federal government. Rather, the Accord reduced its ability to speak for all Canadians on matters of national interest.

Western and Atlantic Canada particularly objected to the lack of more substantive reforms in how the Senate membership was chosen, especially as the Accord required further Senate reform to be subject to unanimous approval by the provinces.

On the other hand, activists seeking sovereignty for Quebec were also unhappy; they generally opposed the agreement, believing that "recognition of Quebec as a distinct society" would be only moderately useful. They thought acceptance of the agreement would forestall devolution of further powers.

Procedural
Because the agreement would have changed the constitution's amending formula, it needed to obtain the consent of all provincial legislatures and the federal Parliament within three years. The signatory Premiers undertook to have the Accord approved as soon as possible. Quebec passed the Accord on June 23, 1987, triggering the three-year time limit provided for by the Section 39(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982; this meant that June 22, 1990, would be the last possible day the Accord could pass. Saskatchewan ratified the Accord on September 23, 1987, and Alberta did likewise on December 7, 1987.

After the conclusion of public hearings, New Brunswick premier Richard Hatfield was unable to put the Accord to the floor of the provincial legislature, despite significant pressure from Mulroney. Hatfield's government lost every seat in the October 1987 New Brunswick election to the Frank McKenna-led Liberals. McKenna had campaigned on requesting changes to the Accord, especially protections for New Brunswick's linguistic duality, and demanded the changes before passing the Accord in New Brunswick. The unanimous provincial consensus was now gone, and with it much of the Accord's political momentum.

More surprising was the unexpected defeat of Howard Pawley's NDP majority government in Manitoba after a disgruntled backbencher voted against the government, prompting an election in April 1988. The result was a PC minority government under Gary Filmon that was tacitly supported by Gary Doer's NDP. The leader of the opposition, Liberal Sharon Carstairs, was a fervent opponent of the Accord, and believed some dissident PC and NDP members could be convinced to vote it down. The unstable confidence situation meant that all three leaders would have to negotiate on Manitoba's behalf.

Trudeau was invited to both the Commons and Senate committee hearings to discuss the Accord, with his later Senate appearance lasting several hours. The Senate, the majority of whose members Trudeau had appointed, rejected the Accord, prompting the House of Commons to use s.47 of the Constitution Act, 1982, to pass the amendment without the Senate's consent.

The Accord played very little role in the 1988 federal election, as all three parties supported the Accord and the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement was the dominant issue. Bourassa's Liberals, who supported free trade, lent tacit support to the federal Progressive Conservatives and their campaign in favour of the agreement. This support was later speculated to have been a cause of a disconnect between left-wing intellectuals and support for the Accord, and was cited by the Manitoba NDP for their more lukewarm attitude toward the amendments after Pawley's retirement.

Growing opposition
Shortly after the election, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Ford v. Quebec, a compendium of cases regarding sign restrictions in the Charter of the French Language. While acknowledging the protection of Quebec's French identity as a pressing and substantial objective, the Court ruled that the outright ban on English-language signs was a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and ordered the language restrictions be struck down.

The decision reignited the long-simmering debate over language use in Quebec. While English-language groups celebrated the decision, the Parti Québécois and nationalist groups demanded Bourassa use the notwithstanding clause to uphold the Charter of the French Language against the court ruling. Both Mulroney and Peterson pressured Bourassa not to use the notwithstanding clause, while prominent Quebec cabinet minister and nationalist Claude Ryan threatened to resign if the clause was not used.

Bourassa opted to not only use the notwithstanding clause but also propose Bill 178, which continued the ban on outdoor signs, causing four of his English-speaking ministers to resign and sparking general outrage in English Canada. Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon, calling the move a violation of the "spirit of Meech Lake," immediately ordered that public hearings regarding the Accord be ended and that it be withdrawn from consideration pending a new constitutional conference, officially joining New Brunswick in opposing the Accord. John Turner and the federal Liberals, who had gained little traction in Quebec from their pro-Meech stance in the previous election, attacked Mulroney for what was seen as federal acquiescence to and, in the case of Lucien Bouchard and Louis Plamondon, approval of Bill 178.

The Accord would gain a third opponent after the 1989 Newfoundland election, which saw the Liberals under Clyde Wells defeat the PC government of premier Tom Rideout. Wells had campaigned against the Accord, as he was opposed to changing the amending formula before Senate reform, the restrictions on the federal spending power, and felt that Quebec would use the "distinct society" provision to gain special status in Confederation. Wells demanded a re-opening of the Accord. A conference held in November 1989 failed to break the logjam, and featured a bitter argument on national television between Wells and Mulroney.

As the political discourse moved from the contents of the Accord to the possible results of its demise, palpable tension arose between English and French speakers throughout Canada. Using Bourassa's use of the notwithstanding clause as justification, groups such as the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada convinced municipalities such as Sault Ste. Marie to pass bylaws outlawing the provision of French language services. A video clip of protesters stomping a Quebec flag in Brockville, Ontario was replayed frequently on Quebec television to symbolize English Canada's opposition to the Accord.

Charest Commission and Bouchard

In April 1990, Wells invoked section 46(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982 to revoke Newfoundland's previous assent to the Accord. This meant that the Accord now required passage in three provinces: Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland.

Hope for the Accord gained momentum after New Brunswick proposed a series of alternate concerns that would have to be addressed to enable passage of the original agreement. Jean Charest, a former federal cabinet minister, was tasked with heading a commission on addressing New Brunswick's concerns on March 22, 1990, which expanded into an attempt to forge an all-party consensus on the Accord. Despite his opposition, leading Liberal leadership candidate Jean Chrétien, wishing the issue to be off the table, used back channels to pressure Wells to support the agreement. On May 17, 1990, the commission recommended a companion accord that would be approved by all provinces along with Meech Lake; this would permit the original accord to stay in place, saving face for Quebec and the federal government, while addressing the concerns of other provinces. The companion Accord asserted that the distinct society clause would be subject to the Charter and would feature greater protections for minority language rights in the provinces.

Bourassa dismissed the report the day it was released. Anger at reading its contents prompted Lucien Bouchard, Mulroney's Environment Minister and Quebec lieutenant, to send a telegram from Paris to a gathering in his native Alma lavishly praising the Parti Québécois and René Lévesque, to be read by PQ leader Jacques Parizeau. Upon Bouchard's return to Canada, Mulroney demanded he clarify the remark or resign, and Bouchard supplied a lengthy letter of resignation on May 22, 1990. The two men, who had been close friends since attending law school at Université Laval together, did not speak for several decades afterward, but reconciled shortly before Mulroney's death in 2024. After leaving the Cabinet and PC caucus, Bouchard sat as an independent. He made a speech in defence of the original Meech Lake Accord and stated that without it, sovereignty was the only option. Bourassa announced his support of Bouchard's action from the National Assembly, and said it provided a clear warning to English Canada of what would occur if Meech failed.

"The Last Supper" and the Companion Accord
On June 3, 1990, after each premier met individually with the Prime Minister at 24 Sussex Drive, the first ministers met at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull. Scheduled as a one-day meeting, the premiers instead met for a week at the National Conference Centre and the Government Conference Centre. The combined media presence outside created an atmosphere of chaos and drama, with repeated intonations by Mulroney and other federal officials that acceptance of the Accord was necessary for the very survival of Canada. As the process wore on, journalists noted that the secrecy and spin began to echo the original meetings that had created problems in the first place. According to historian Michael Bliss, "Many found the spectacle nauseating."

After an unsuccessful first day, McKenna attempted to start conversation by announcing that New Brunswick would support the Accord. The second day saw Filmon agree to a second accord being enacted a number of months after the original passed, allowing for all sides to show more flexibility.

At the meeting, Bourassa conceded that a second accord could be adopted that included a guarantee that distinct society would not weaken gender equality and give the territories involvement in the appointment of senators and Supreme Court justices. The Premiers also agreed to hold future conferences on Aboriginal and minority language issues, the creation of a "Canada Clause" to guide judicial decisions in the same manner as "distinct society", a new process for how new provinces would be formed, and a new amending procedure.

Wells, however, was still not satisfied with the proposed conditions, and threatened to walk out of the conference. After being physically stopped by Alberta Premier Don Getty, he was asked what his conditions were for acceptance, and Wells replied that he needed a guarantee that Senate reform would be carried out. The Ontario delegation then proposed a new formula: a clause would be placed in the new accord for Senate reform negotiations to continue to 1995. If negotiations failed by 1995, Ontario would agree to give up six Senate seats, meaning that Quebec would have 24 seats, Ontario 18, Prince Edward Island 4, and the remaining provinces 8. Wells immediately agreed in principle.

The next day, another signing ceremony was held, but Wells protested that the draft agreement had deleted a request that a 10-year review be conducted on the distinct society clause without informing him. The clause was never seriously considered by federal negotiators who, thinking it would be a poison pill for Quebec, had never brought it to Bourassa's attention. Wells put an asterisk next to his signature, but promised that the Accord would be put before the Newfoundland House of Assembly or to a referendum.

Final days
The apparent success of the negotiations was offset by a severe public relations blunder by Mulroney the following day. When describing the negotiation process to The Globe and Mail, the Prime Minister stated that he had intentionally scheduled the final conference until the last few days before the amendment could be passed to put pressure on the attendees, which would allow him to "roll the dice" and force the deal to go through.

Susan Delacourt and Graham Fraser reported Mulroney's remark, prompting general outrage in both the political class and the public for its apparently flippant nature, which contrasted heavily with Mulroney's sombre language and remarks about the necessity of the Accord passing during the previous conference. Filmon and Wells both expressed their displeasure with the remark, and Filmon declared that, while he would place the Accord in front of the Manitoba legislature, he would not exempt it from public hearing requirements. Liberal leader Jean Chrétien, who had been considering endorsing the Accord, backed off after the remark. Peterson and Stanley Hartt, Mulroney's chief of staff, believed that the remark killed any chance of the Accord passing. Wells had determined that a referendum was impractical in the short time period, and arranged for the Accord to be put to a free vote in the Newfoundland House of Assembly, with himself opposing ratification. In a highly unusual manoeuvre, Mulroney, Peterson, and McKenna addressed the House of Assembly and urged it to accept the Accord.

On June 12, Filmon attempted to introduce the Accord for debate in the Manitoba legislature. Unanimous consent was required to do so. Elijah Harper, the legislature's only Indigenous member, raised an eagle feather to mark his opposition to the Accord, preventing the legislature from debating it. Filmon repeatedly attempted to introduce the Accord over the next several legislative sessions, but Harper's dissent prevented him from doing so. Harper's opposition reflected wider concerns about the Accord among Indigenous groups, who felt excluded from constitutional discussions. Meanwhile, New Brunswick ratified the accord on June 15, now leaving Manitoba and Newfoundland as the remaining holdouts.

Filmon was finally able to introduce the Accord on June 20, and debate on the measure continued for the next two days. On June 22, 1990 – the final day ratification was possible – the Manitoba legislature reached the end of its session without having voted on the Accord. A motion was proposed to continue meeting beyond normal hours, which would require unanimous support. Harper again dissented, which resulted in the legislature adjourning without voting on the Accord. Filmon contacted Wells in Newfoundland and advised him of the situation. Accordingly, Wells and opposition leader Tom Rideout agreed to cancel the planned free vote in the Newfoundland House of Assembly as unnecessary, believing the likely outcome would have been a rejection. The federal government had considered asking the Supreme Court to extend the deadline if Manitoba had been the only holdout, but Wells' cancelation of the Newfoundland vote made this effort moot.

With Manitoba and Newfoundland's failure to ratify the Meech Lake Accord, the amendments lapsed on June 23, 1990, pursuant to Section 39(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982. They had received the assent of the federal government and eight provinces, totalling 96% of the population.

Quebec
In a speech to the National Assembly of Quebec delivered the next day, Bourassa captured the nationalist sentiment of the moment:

"Le Canada anglais doit comprendre de façon très claire que, quoi qu'on dise et quoi qu'on fasse, le Québec est, aujourd'hui et pour toujours, une société distincte, libre et capable d'assumer son destin et son développement." "English Canada must clearly understand that, no matter what is said or done, Quebec is, today and forever, a distinct society, free and able to assume control of its destiny and development."

Jacques Parizeau, leader of the opposition, crossed the floor to shake Bourassa's hand and referred to him as "my Premier". On June 25, an estimated 500,000 Quebecers marched in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations in Quebec City, during which actor Jean Duceppe delivered a speech calling for independence. Polls at this time showed a majority of 61–64% in favour of sovereignty-association. Bourassa, in an attempt to constructively capture nationalist sentiment, declared he would negotiate only with the Federal government, and later passed Bill 150, which promised a referendum by October 26, 1992, on a revised constitutional agreement or sovereignty for Quebec. Despite these initiatives, Bourassa remained privately committed to federalism, believing that sovereignty, while possible, was unworkable.

Bouchard and other alienated Quebec MPs united to form the Bloc Québécois under his leadership.

Other provinces
Ontario Premier David Peterson had, reluctantly, played a prominent role in creating the accord and continued to support it in the face of growing opposition. This led to a backlash in his own province, especially regarding his promise to provide Senate seats to other provinces. He was defeated by Bob Rae's NDP within months in a snap election.

In response to criticism of the Accord, British Columbia and Alberta enacted legislation requiring future constitutional amendments to be put to a referendum before being approved by the legislature.

Mulroney's popularity plummeted. Many condemned his handling of the accord, and the exhaustive and interminable debates over it caused a backlash against further constitutional negotiations. In November 1990, Mulroney sought the input of Canadians on the country's constitutional future by convening the Citizen's Forum on National Unity. The forum was more commonly known as the Spicer Commission, after its chair, Keith Spicer.

A variety of constitutional conferences and the efforts of former Prime Minister Joe Clark resulted in the Charlottetown Accord, which contained many of the same proposals, along with concrete involvement of First Nations groups. The Charlottetown Accord, unlike Meech Lake, was put to referendums (on October 26, 1992), but it was also defeated in most provinces, including Quebec. Following these attempts to make further amendments to the Constitution have been recognized as extremely difficult. No serious attempt has been made since to alter the Constitution.

title: Meech Lake Accord