1873 in Canada

Crown • Monarch – Victoria Federal government • Governor General – Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood • Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald (until November 5) then Alexander Mackenzie (from November 7) • Parliament – 2nd (from 5 March) Provincial governments Lieutenant governors • Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Joseph Trutch • Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Alexander Morris • Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Lemuel Allan Wilmot (until November 15) then Samuel Leonard Tilley • Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Charles Hastings Doyle (until May 1) then Joseph Howe (May 1 to July 4) then Adams George Archibald • Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Pearce Howland (until November 11) then John Willoughby Crawford • Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – William Cleaver Francis Robinson • Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau (until February 11) then René-Édouard Caron Premiers • Premier of British Columbia – Amor De Cosmos • Premier of Manitoba – Henry Joseph Clarke • Premier of New Brunswick – George Edwin King • Premier of Nova Scotia – William Annand • Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat • Premier of Prince Edward Island – James Colledge Pope (until September 1) then Lemuel Cambridge Owen • Premier of Quebec – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau (until February 26) then Gédéon Ouimet Territorial governments Lieutenant governors • Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories – Alexander Morris ==Events==

January to June 1873 • February 26 – Gédéon Ouimet becomes Premier of Quebec, replacing Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau. • April 1 • 1873 Prince Edward Island general election. • James Pope becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island for the second time, replacing Robert Haythorne. • The SS Atlantic is wrecked off Peggys Cove. • April 2 – The Pacific Scandal breaks out. • May 13 – Sixty are killed in a coal mine explosion in Nova Scotia. • May 23 – North-West Mounted Police are founded to police the Northwest Territories, which then included the region today of Alberta and Saskatchewan. • June 1 – The Cypress Hills Massacre occurs. July to December • July 1 – Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation. • August 25 – A cyclone hits Cape Breton Island, killing 500 and causing much damage. • September 1 – L. C. Owen becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Pope. • September 23 – The Canadian Labour Union is founded. • November – 1873 Newfoundland general election. • November 5 – Pacific Scandal: the House of Commons of Canada passes a vote of no confidence in Sir John A. Macdonald's government. • November 7 – Pacific Scandal: Sir John A. resigns as Prime Minister of Canada, and Alexander Mackenzie is appointed in his place. • November 8 – Winnipeg incorporated as a city. == Sport ==

• October 4 – The Argonauts Football Club (Toronto Argonauts) are established ==Smallpox==

In the opening speech to the 1872-1873 Epidemiological Society conference, Inspector-General Robert Lawson drew attention to the recent prevalence of haemorrhagic forms of smallpox in both the United States and Canada, among other countries. During the smallpox pandemic of 1870-1874, the disease had been carried to America by emigrants, where it had already infected thousands, and killed hundreds in eastern cities such as Boston and New York. ==Births==

January to June • January 10 – George Orton, middle-distance runner and Olympic gold medallist, first Canadian to win an Olympic medal (d.1958) • January 19 – Thomas Dufferin Pattullo, politician and 22nd Premier of British Columbia (d.1956) • February 4 – Étienne Desmarteau, athlete and Olympic gold medallist (d.1905) • April 9 – Walter Edward Foster, businessman, politician and 16th Premier of New Brunswick (d.1947) • April 10 – George Black, politician (d.1965) • May 12 – J. E. H. MacDonald, artist of the Group of Seven (d.1932) • May 17 – Albert Edward Matthews, 16th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d.1949) July to December • August 27 – Maud Allan, actor, dancer and choreographer (d.1956) • September 20 – Sidney Olcott, film producer, director, actor and screenwriter (d.1949) • October 20 (or 29) – Nellie McClung, feminist, politician and social activist (d.1951) • November 21 – Aimé Bénard, politician (d.1938) • December 8 – John Duncan MacLean, teacher, physician, politician and Premier of British Columbia (d.1948) • December 9 – George Blewett, academic and philosopher (d.1912) Full date unknown • Margaret C. MacDonald, nurse (d.1948) ==Deaths==

• May 15 – William James Anderson, physician, amateur geologist and historian (b.1812) • May 20 – George-Étienne Cartier, politician and statesman (b.1814) • May 28 – Thomas Brown Anderson, merchant, banker and politician (b.1796) • June 1 – Joseph Howe, Premier of Nova Scotia (b.1804) • June 28 – Charles Connell, politician (b.1810) • November 21 – James William Johnston, lawyer, politician, and judge (b.1792) • December 9 – William Steeves, politician (b.1814) ==References==