• January 1: The
Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect. • January 21: Newfoundland premier
Brian Peckford announces his resignation from politics, giving the
PC Party 2 months to find a replacement as party leader and premier. • January 30:
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney shuffles his cabinet, appointing 6 new ministers and reassigning the responsibilities of 19 others. • February 10:
President of the United States George H. W. Bush Prime Minister Mulroney in
Ottawa, laying the groundwork for the
Acid Rain Treaty of 1991. • February 20: In the
Yukon Territory, the ruling
New Democrats narrowly maintain control of the
Yukon Legislative Assembly,
winning 9 seats vs. the
Progressive Conservative Party's 7. • March 1: The
Canadian Space Agency is created. • March 10: An
Air Ontario flight crashes near
Dryden, Ontario, killing 24. • March 13: 2:44 AM
ET: A
solar coronal mass ejection causes a
blackout across all of
Quebec, as it hits the
Hydro-Québec power grid, affecting 6 million people for more than 9 hours. • March 13:
Deborah Grey wins a
by-election to become the first
Reform Party Member of Parliament. • March 19: LGBT activist
Joe Rose is murdered on public transit in Montreal. • March 20: Alberta election:
Don Getty's PCs win a sixth consecutive majority. • March 22:
Thomas Rideout becomes premier of Newfoundland, replacing Brian Peckford. • April 20: The
Liberal Party of Newfoundland, led by
Clyde Wells, wins the
Newfoundland general election. • May 3:
John Turner resigns as leader of the
Liberal Party of Canada. • May 5:
Clyde Wells becomes premier of Newfoundland, defeating Thomas Rideout in a general election. • May 25: The
Calgary Flames defeat the
Montreal Canadiens to win the
1989 Stanley Cup Final. • May 29: The
Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island, led by
Joe Ghiz, remains in power following the
Prince Edward Island general election. • June 3: The
SkyDome (now known as Rogers Centre) is opened in
Toronto. • June 5: The federal government announces sweeping cuts to
Via Rail. • July 31:
Cable television network
CBC Newsworld is launched. • August 2:
Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs Bernard Valcourt resigns after he is convicted of drunk driving. • September 1: French cable sports network,
RDS, signs on. • September 25: In the
Quebec general election, the
Quebec Liberal Party, led by
Robert Bourassa, is reelected with a large Liberal majority. • October 6: Prime Minister Mulroney nominates
Ray Hnatyshyn to succeed
Jeanne Sauvé as
Governor General of Canada. • October 8: The
Cormier Village hayride accident kills 13 people and injures 45. • October 15 –
Wayne Gretzky becomes the leading scorer in the history of the
National Hockey League. • December 2:
Audrey McLaughlin is elected head of the
NDP replacing
Ed Broadbent becoming the first female major party leader in Canadian history. • December 6:
École Polytechnique massacre:
Marc Lépine murders fourteen women at the
École Polytechnique of the
Université de Montréal in
Montreal, Quebec. The event proves a spur to both the Canadian
feminist and
gun control movements. • December 21:
Quebec uses the
notwithstanding clause for the first time. • December 31: All rail service is terminated in
Prince Edward Island after
CN Rail abandons its
historic rail lines in the province.
Full date unknown •
Corel releases
Corel Draw. •
Heather Erxleben becomes Canada's first official female combat soldier. •
Sidney Altman shares in the
Nobel Prize for Chemistry. ==Arts and literature==