1878 in Canada

Events from the year 1878 in Canada.

← 1877 1876 1875 1878 in Canada → 1879 1880 1881
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Victoria^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (until November 25) then John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne
• Prime Minister – Alexander Mackenzie (until October 8) then John A. Macdonald (from October 17)
• Chief Justice – William Buell Richards (Ontario)
• Parliament – 3rd (until 17 August)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Albert Norton Richards
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Joseph-Édouard Cauchon
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Samuel Leonard Tilley (until July 11) then Edward Barron Chandler
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – David Laird
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Adams George Archibald
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Donald Alexander Macdonald
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Robert Hodgson
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Luc Letellier de St-Just

Premiers

• Premier of British Columbia – Andrew Charles Elliott (until June 25) then George Anthony Walkem
• Premier of Manitoba – Robert Atkinson Davis (until October 16) then John Norquay
• Premier of New Brunswick – George Edwin King (until May 3) then John James Fraser
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Philip Carteret Hill (until October 15) then Simon Hugh Holmes (from October 22)
• Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Louis Henry Davies
• Premier of Quebec – Charles Boucher de Boucherville (until March 8) then Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière

Territorial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – Joseph-Édouard Cauchon
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – David Laird

Events

• March 7 – Both the Université de Montréal and the University of Western Ontario are incorporated.
• March 8 – Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Sir Charles-Eugène de Boucherville.
• May 1 – In the Quebec election, Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau's Conservatives win a minority.
• June – The New Brunswick election.
• June 25 – George Walkem becomes premier of British Columbia for the second time, replacing Andrew Elliott.
• July 20 – The British Columbia election.
• September 17
  • In the federal election, Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservatives win a majority, defeating Alexander Mackenzie's Liberals.
  • In the Nova Scotia election, Simon Hugh Holmes's Conservatives win a majority, defeating Philip Carteret Hill's Liberals.
• October 16 – John Norquay becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Robert A. Davis.
• October 17 – Sir John A. Macdonald becomes prime minister for the second time, replacing Alexander Mackenzie.
• October 22 – Simon Holmes becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Philip Hill.
• December 18 – The Manitoba election.

Full date unknown

• Anti-Chinese sentiment in British Columbia reaches a high point as the government bans Chinese workers from public works.
• John James Fraser becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing George King.
• The Newfoundland election.

Births

Ernest Charles Drury

January to June

• January 11 – Percy Chapman Black, politician (d.1961)
• January 13 – Lionel Groulx, priest, historian, Quebec nationalist and traditionalist (d.1967)
• January 22 – Ernest Charles Drury, politician, writer and 8th Premier of Ontario (d.1968)
• February 27 – William Herbert Burns, politician (d.1964)
• February 28 – Arthur Roebuck, politician and labour lawyer (d.1971)
• April 14 – John Walter Jones, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (d.1954)
• April 29 – Fawcett Taylor, politician
• June 14 – Lewis Stubbs, judge and politician (d.1958)
• June 20 – Seymour Farmer, politician (d.1951)

July to December

• July 14 – Ernest Frederick Armstrong, politician (d.1948)
• July 23 – James Thomas Milton Anderson, politician and 5th Premier of Saskatchewan (d.1946)
• August 15 – Thomas Laird Kennedy, politician and 15th Premier of Ontario (d.1959)
• September 18 – William Sherring, marathon runner and Olympic gold medalist (d.1964)
• December 8 – Henry Herbert Stevens, politician and businessman (d.1973)
• December 30 – William Aberhart, politician and 8th Premier of Alberta (d.1943)

Deaths

• February 23 – William Workman, businessman and municipal politician (b.1807)
• April 3 – Louis-Philippe Turcotte, historian (b.1842)
• April 12 – John Young, politician (b.1811)
• May 13 – George Moffat, Sr., businessman and politician (b.1810)
• May 20 – Lemuel Allan Wilmot, lawyer, politician, judge, and 3rd Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1809)
• November 3 – Pierre Bachand, politician (b.1835)
• November 28 – Francis Evans Cornish, politician (b.1831)
• December 6 – Jean-Baptiste Meilleur, doctor, educator and politician (b.1796)

Historical documents

J.A. Macdonald's speech about the dismissal of Quebec's government by its lieutenant-governor^[2]

Hudson's Bay Company policy change causes Indigenous people to starve in the Sept-Îles, Que. area^[3]

Editorial foresees great immigration as Winnipeg inaugurates regular train service^[4]

Arrivals in Manitoba find the good land is "taken" and freight and other costs are exorbitant^[5]

First apples and pears arrive in Battleford, causing homesickness^[6]

References

1. "Queen Victoria | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
2. The Quebec Constitutional Question; Speech by the Rt. Hon. Sir John Macdonald. Accessed 17 September 2018
3. Report by the Commissioner of Marine and Fisheries on the Condition of the Indians of the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River near Mingan (1878). Accessed 17 September 2018
4. First Train Reaches Winnipeg Manitoba Free Press (December 9, 1878). Accessed 17 September 2018
5. Harris H. Barnes, Journal of a Trip to Manitoba and Back, June and July, 1878 (1879), pgs. 12-14. Accessed 17 September 2018
6. Saskatchewan Herald, Stories of the Old Times from the "Saskatchewan Herald" Files (Battleford, Sask.: Mrs J.C. DeGear, 1951), pg. 21. Accessed 17 September 2018