Events from the year 2006 in Canada.
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April to June
- April 1 – Holman, Northwest Territories, is renamed to Ulukhaktok
- April 16 – Hunter Jim Martell kills a Grizzly-polar bear hybrid on Banks Island in the Northwest Territories.
- May 15 – The village of Embrun, Ontario has its 150th anniversary.
- May 16 – Canada 2006 Census day.
- May 29 – A labour dispute leads to a one-day shutdown of the Toronto Transit Commission, stranding commuters in Toronto, Ontario.
- May 31 – 100 millimeters of rain in a few hours caused landslides in and around the small town of La Tuque, in central Quebec, damaging roads and flooding houses. State emergency was decreed right away and people were evacuated.
- June 2 – Terrorism plot—more than 400 police officers raided homes in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, and arrest 15 people (10 men and five youths), part of a terrorist cell. All men were born in Canada and were reportedly planning to attack the Parliament in Ottawa, the Bank of Toronto, some military installations, kidnap deputies and try to behead the Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
- June 13 – The 2006 Nova Scotia general election is won by Rodney MacDonald's Conservatives.
- June 26 – Prime minister Stephen Harper apologizes on behalf of the Canadian government for the Chinese head tax.
July to September
- July 7 – Two police officers are shot and killed in Spiritwood, Saskatchewan.
- July 17 – A series of severe thunderstorms hits Ontario, causing the worst damage to the province's power grid since the Ice Storm of 1998 and killing two people. Some communities in the Sudbury, Manitoulin and Nipissing regions go without power for a week before it can be restored. See the Great Lakes-Atlantic Coast derecho.
- August 2 – The day after record-breaking heat in Ontario and Quebec and just two weeks following another series of powerful storms, severe thunderstorms hit a vast swath of Cottage country in central and eastern Ontario. Eight confirmed tornadoes touch down, the single largest one-day outbreak in the province since 1985. The two strongest tornadoes are rated F2, one near Bancroft and other a direct hit on the town of Combermere in Renfrew County. Close to 200,000 residents lose power in the storms and more than 20,000 remain without power for over one week after the event. Extensive property and forest damage results. Amazingly no fatalities result.
- August 9 – Journalist Barbara Kay publishes a controversial piece in the National Post, "The Rise of Quebecistan", which accuses several Quebec politicians of endorsing terrorism and antisemitism.
- August 13 – The XVI International AIDS Conference opens in Toronto. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is widely criticized in the media for declining to attend.
- August 26 – Elizabeth May is elected leader of the Green Party of Canada.
- September 13 – Two people are killed and nineteen injured in the Dawson College shooting in Montreal.
- September 16 – Jan Wong publishes a controversial piece in The Globe and Mail, "Get under the desk", alleging that Kimveer Gill, the Dawson College shooter, was motivated by linguistic and cultural alienation from Quebec society.
- September 18 – The 2006 New Brunswick general election is won by Shawn Graham's Liberal Party.
- September 30 – A highway overpass on Autoroute 19 in Laval collapses, killing five people and injuring six others.
October to December
- October 2 – Elaine Campione murders her two daughters in Barrie, Ontario by drowning them in a bathtub. Her crimes are motivated by revenge and the desire to stop her ex-husband gaining custody of the children, with Campione filming a video before and after the killings.[3]
- October 3 – Shawn Graham becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Bernard Lord.
- October 4 – The Turner Review and Investigation is released. Prompted by the murder of Zachary Turner, the report concluded that the infant's death was preventable and that Newfoundland and Labrador's social services system did not adequately act to protect him from his mother.[4]
- October 18 – MP Garth Turner is suspended from the Conservative caucus for criticizing Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his online blog.
- October 19 – Environment Minister Rona Ambrose introduces the controversial Clean Air Act, which is criticized by environmentalists and Opposition politicians for offering virtually no substantive action on climate change until at least 2011. During debate on the act, several Opposition politicians allege that they hear External Affairs Minister Peter MacKay refer to Liberal MP Belinda Stronach as a dog.
- October 20 – The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approves the sale of controversial Quebec City radio station CHOI-FM to RNC Media.
- October 23 – Inco Limited shareholders accept a takeover offer by Brazilian mining corporation Companhia Vale do Rio Doce.
- October 25 – Krista and Tatiana Hogan, conjoined twins, are born in Vancouver.
- November 13 – the 2006 Ontario municipal elections take place
- November 25 – First round of balloting in the 2006 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election. As no candidate achieved 50% of the votes, a runoff was held on December 2 between top three finishers Jim Dinning, Ted Morton and Ed Stelmach.
- November 27 – The House of Commons votes to recognise the Québécois ethnic group as a nation within Canada in an informal motion.
- November 27 – Byelections are held in the ridings of London North Centre and Repentigny; Glen Pearson retains London North Centre for the Liberals, and Raymond Gravel retains Repentigny for the Bloc Québécois.
- December 2 – 2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was held. Liberal delegates select Stéphane Dion as their new leader. Also the second round of balloting in the 2006 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election selects Ed Stelmach as their new leader.
- December 14 – Ed Stelmach is sworn in as Premier of Alberta.
- December 8 - Stephen Harper announces the Canada's Chemical Management Plan; a program made up of various initiatives that focus on monitoring, research, assessment, regulation, and enforcement of chemicals.
New music
- Susan Aglukark, I Will Return
- April Wine, Roughly Speaking
- Eva Avila, Somewhere Else
- Delerium, Nuages du Monde
- Nelly Furtado, Loose
- Pierre Lapointe, La Forêt des Mal-Aimés
- Antoine Gratton, Il était une fois dans l'est
- Malajube, Trompe-l'oeil
- Loreena McKennitt, An Ancient Muse
- Richard Séguin, Lettres ouvertes
- Billy Talent, Billy Talent II
- Tragically Hip, World Container
- Chantal Kreviazuk, Ghost Stories
Awards
- April 2 – Juno Awards of 2006
- June 11 – Canadian musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, wins five Tony Awards
- September 2–3 – Inaugural Osheaga Festival held in Montreal.
- November 21 – 2006 Governor General's Awards.
- David Foster, musical producer, is appointed to the Order of Canada
- Steve Smith, comedian, is appointed to the Order of Canada
- Judith Thompson, playwright, is appointed to the Order of Canada
- Ranee Lee, musician, is appointed to the Order of Canada
- Chantal duPont, video artist, wins the 2005 Bell Canada Award in Video Art
- Sylvia Legris's Nerve Squall is named winner of the Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize
- Scotiabank Giller Prize – Vincent Lam, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures
- January 6 – The Canadian Junior Hockey Team wins its 12th gold medal in the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship
- January 8 – Kyle Nissen, Jeff Bean, Warren Shouldice and Ryan Blais finish first, second, third, and fourth in men's Freestyle Grand Prix at the World Cup Aerials.
- January 9–15 – Canadian Figure Skating Championships[5]
- Men's medalists – Jeffrey Buttle, Gold; Emanuel Sandhu, Silver; Shawn Sawyer, Bronze.
- Women's medalists – Joannie Rochette, Gold; Mira Leung, Silver; Lesley Hawker, Bronze.
- Pairs medalists – Valérie Marcoux / Craig Buntin, Gold; Jessica Dubé / Bryce Davison, Silver; Utako Wakamatsu / Jean-Sébastien Fecteau, Bronze.
- Dance – Marie-France Dubreuil / Patrice Lauzon, Gold; Megan Wing / Aaron Lowe, Silver; Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir, Bronze.
- January 24 – Mario Lemieux announces his second retirement.
- Winter Olympic Games held in Turin, Italy:
- February 12 - Toronto's Christian Cage (Jay Reso) won his First NWA World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Jeff Jarrett at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando for Total Nonstop Action's Against All Odds 2006
- May 7 – National Basketball Association: Canadian Steve Nash is named NBA MVP for the 2nd year in a row.
- May 28 - Quebec Remparts won their Second Memorial Cup by defeating the Moncton Wildcats 6 to 2. The Tournament was played at the Moncton Coliseum
- June 19 - Carolina Hurricanes won their First Stanley Cup by defeating the Edmonton Oilers 4 game to 3. Sherwood Park, Alberta's Cam Ward is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
- November 18 - Georges St-Pierre becomes First Canadian UFC Welterweight Champion by defeating Matt Hughes at UFC 65
- November 19 – BC Lions won their Fifth Grey Cup by defeating the Montreal Alouettes 25 to 14 in the 94th Grey Cup played at the Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg. Vancouver's Paul McCallum was awarded the game's Most Valuable Canadian
- November 25 - Laval Rouge et Or won their Vanier Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Huskies 13 to 8 in the 42nd Vanier Cup played at Griffiths Stadium
January to June
- January 4 – Irving Layton, poet (born 1912)
- January 26 – Len Carlson, actor and voice actor (born 1937)[8]
- February 24 – John Martin, broadcaster (born 1947)
- February 25 – Margaret Gibson, novelist and short story writer (born 1948)
- March 11 – Bernie Geoffrion, ice hockey player (born 1931)
- April 16 – Harold Horwood, novelist and non-fiction writer (born 1923)
- April 23 – Steve Stavro, Macedonian-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (born 1927)
- April 25 – Jane Jacobs, urbanist, writer and activist (born 1916)
- May 6 – Lorne Saxberg, television journalist and news anchor (born 1958)
- May 10 – A. M. Rosenthal, columnist and newspaper editor (born 1922)
- June 12 – Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet, businessman and art collector (born 1923)