1943 in Canada

← 1942 1941 1940 1943 in Canada → 1944 1945 1946
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Events from the year 1943 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George VI ^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone ^[2]
• Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
• Chief Justice – Lyman Poore Duff (British Columbia)
• Parliament – 19th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – William Culham Woodward
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William George Clark
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Ernest Kendall
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Albert Edward Matthews
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Bradford William LePage
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Archibald Peter McNab

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – William Aberhart (until May 23) then Ernest Manning (from May 31)
• Premier of British Columbia – John Hart
• Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken (until January 14) then Stuart Garson
• Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
• Premier of Nova Scotia – A.S. MacMillan
• Premier of Ontario – Gordon Daniel Conant (until May 18) then Harry Nixon (May 18 to August 17) then George A. Drew
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Thane Campbell (until May 11) then J. Walter Jones
• Premier of Quebec – Adélard Godbout
• Premier of Saskatchewan – William John Patterson

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Controller of Yukon – George A. Jeckell
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Charles Camsell

Events

• January 8 – Stuart Garson becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing John Bracken, who had governed for 21 years
• May 11 – J. Walter Jones becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Thane Campbell
• May 18 – Harry Nixon becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Gordon Conant
• May 23 – William Aberhart, premier of Alberta, dies in office
• May 31 – Ernest Manning becomes premier of Alberta
• July – The 1st Canadian Infantry Division is part of the invasion of Sicily.
• August 4 – Ontario election: George Drew's PCs win a minority, defeating Harry Nixon's Liberals
• August 17 – George Drew becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Harry Nixon
• August 19 – The Quebec Agreement is signed in Quebec City, between Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• October 22 – The crew of German submarine U-537 set up Weather Station Kurt near Martin Bay in Labrador
• December 20 – December 27 – Battle of Ortona rages in Italy.

Sport

• April 28 – The Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Winnipeg Rangers win their second Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association's Oshawa Generals 4 games to 2. The deciding Game 6 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
• November 27 – The Hamilton Flying Wildcats win their only Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg RCAF Bombers 23 to 14 in the 31st Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto

Births

January to March

• January 9 – Elmer MacFadyen, politician (d. 2007)
• January 10 – Carl Ray, artist (d. 1978)
• January 23 – Bill Cameron, news anchor, television producer, columnist and author (d. 2005)
• January 28 – Paul Henderson, ice hockey player
• February 19 – Art Hanger, politician
• February 23 – Charles Dalfen, chairperson of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (d. 2009)
• February 27 – Gordon Earle, politician
• March 7 – Billy MacMillan, ice hockey coach and player (d. 2023)
• March 11 – Bob Plager, ice hockey player (d. 2021)
• March 15 – David Cronenberg, filmmaker, screenwriter and occasional actor
• March 25 – Loyola Hearn, diplomat and politician

April to June

Nancy Greene

• April 1 – Shirley Render, politician
• April 2 – Alan Tonks, politician
• April 3 – Richard Manuel, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist (d. 1986)
• April 12 – Jenny Meldrum, hurdler and heptathlete
• April 17 – Bobby Curtola, singer (d. 2016)
• April 22 – Edwin Tchorzewski, politician (d. 2008)
• May 11 – Nancy Greene Raine, alpine skier, Olympic gold medallist and World Champion, Senator
• June 5 – Jean-Claude Lord, film director and screenwriter (d. 2022)
• June 21 – Diane Marleau, politician and Minister (d. 2013)

July to September

Joe Handley

• July 15 – John H. Bryden, politician, journalist and historian
• July 30 – Jean Friesen, politician
• July 31 – Ryan Larkin, animator, artist and sculptor (d. 2007)
• August 9 – Joe Handley, politician and 10th Premier of the Northwest Territories
• August 12 – Anne Cools, Senator
• August 29 – Arthur B. McDonald, astrophysicist, Nobel Prize in Physics winner
• September 9 – Daurene Lewis, politician and nation's first black female mayor (d. 2013)
• September 12 – Alain Dostie, cinematographer, film director and screenwriter
• September 12 – Michael Ondaatje, novelist and poet
• September 19 – Lyle Vanclief, politician and Minister
• September 22 – Maurice Baril, General and Chief of the Defence Staff
• September 27 – Randy Bachman, guitarist and songwriter

October to December

David Peterson in 2005

• October 16 – Paul Rose, convicted of murder and kidnapping of Pierre Laporte in 1970 and leader of PDS (1996–2002) (d. 2013)
• October 24 – Frank Pitura, politician (d. 2019)
• October 26 – Diane Gerace, high jumper
• November 7 – Joni Mitchell, musician, songwriter and painter
• November 13 – André-Gilles Fortin, politician (d. 1977)
• November 18 – Michael H. Rayner, public servant (d. 2004)
• November 22 – Yvan Cournoyer, ice hockey player
• November 27 – Nicole Brossard, poet and novelist
• December 2 – Larry Grossman, politician (d. 1997)
• December 13 – Ferguson Jenkins, baseball player
• December 14 – Linda McIntosh, politician
• December 21 – André Arthur, radio host and politician (d. 2022)
• December 23 – Margaret MacMillan, historian
• December 28 – David Peterson, politician and 20th Premier of Ontario
• December 29 – Rick Danko, musician and singer (d. 1999)
• December 30 – Linda Thom, shooter and Olympic gold medallist

Deaths

• February 9 – Albert Hickman, politician and 17th Prime Minister of Newfoundland (b. 1875)
• May 23 – William Aberhart, politician and 8th Premier of Alberta (b. 1878)
• July 2 – Robert James Manion, politician (b. 1881)
• July 4 – Gordon Sidney Harrington, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1883)
• July 12 – Joseph Boutin Bourassa, politician (b. 1853)
• October 18 – Albert Charles Saunders, jurist, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1874)
• November 26 – Charles G.D. Roberts, poet and prose writer (b. 1860)
• November 29 – Robert Hamilton Butts, politician (b. 1871)
• December 9 – Peter Dmytruk, World War II military hero (b. 1920)
• December 23 – Edgar Sydney Little, politician (b. 1885)

See also

• List of Canadian films

Historical documents

Slightly confused 1st Infantry Division invades Sicily against "bewildered" and "sorry looking" Italian defenders ^[3]

Film: Canadian and U.S. troops train for Italian invasion ^[4]

Film: Canadian soldiers and nurses embark for Italian invasion ^[5]

Cartoon: Axis forces quickly retreating from "Sicilian landings" ^[6]

Command crucial, but battles are won "by human beings displaying judgment, coolness and courage" (and in Sicily's "unending heat") ^[7]

Seaforth Highlanders take Monte San Marco in Italy, despite steep, muddy terrain and intense German fire ^[8]

Top German generals recognize disadvantages fighting Allies in Italy, including "Canadians clever at making use of terrain" ^[9]

Canadian infantry and tanks press "a literally yard-by-yard advance" through Ortona streets, houses, and even rooms ^[10]

Film: Canadian troops fighting in Ortona ^[11]

Germans leave Ortona and their dead – "Civilians[...]too dazed to realize the enemy had gone; Canadians[...]too tired to care" ^[12]

Guide for battlefield first aid emphasizes combat practicality, like common sense, self-reliance, improvisation, effective care and carrying on fight ^[13]

Newspaper illustration of RCAF Spitfire planes strafing freight trains in Europe ^[14]

Photo: Canadians in joint landing operation with U.S. forces against Japanese invaders on Kiska Island, Alaska ^[15]

"The Jewish reservoir of the East, which was able to counterbalance the western assimilation, no longer exists" ^[16]

At end of fourth year of war, Prime Minister King calls for greater effort and sacrifice to defeat faltering Axis ^[17]

National registration certificate of Mrs. Ethel Louise Buck, Spirit River, Alberta ^[18]

"We are few, very few" – Quebecker laments that there are not enough pacifists in province to even produce their newsletter ^[19]

Advisory group chair foresees postwar period of more skilled labour, greater production, new products and technology, and huge demand ^[20]

U.S.-U.K. agreement creates executive committee with Canadian representation to guide nuclear development ^[21]

Canada wants multilateral general agreement to reduce tariffs, and to encourage U.S.A. and Canada to "buy in order to sell" ^[22]

Report with proposed economic reforms for benefit of Prairie provinces, adjacent U.S.A., and world at large ^[23]

Canada threatens to step back if not given more say in new UN Relief and Rehabilitation Organization ^[24]

Lester Pearson complains to External Affairs about U.S. censorship of official's call from legation in Washington to Ottawa ^[25]

Government returns about 15% of seized Japanese-Canadian fishing fleet to owners ^[26]

"So reactionary to Liberal principles" – PM King depressed by cabinet's close-minded attitude to steelworker strike ^[27]

Cartoon: Hitler says of strikers, "They are really working for me!" ^[28]

Communist Tim Buck's submission on labour relations to National War Labor Board emphasizes wage policy and collective bargaining ^[29]

Because of their difficulty finding housing and jobs, British Columbia MLA raises funds for halfway house for women discharged from mental institutions ^[30]

As they fund-raise for bombers, London's Women's Voluntary Services thanks Manitobans for gifts of clothes and mobile canteens ^[31]

"You can't refuse this cake, it was sent me all the way from Canada" – touring WVS speaker enjoys local hospitality ^[32]

"Defend[ing] freedom and culture of humanity" – Shostakovich's thank-you for Toronto performance of his Seventh Symphony ^[33]

Photo: RCAF member meets famed actor who plays "Rochester" on Jack Benny's radio comedy show ^[34]

References

1. "King George VI | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
2. Lentz, Harris M. (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. p. 142. ISBN   978-1-134-26490-2.
3. Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, "Canadian Operations in Sicily, July–August, 1943" (Report No. 127, November 16, 1944), pgs. 1-4. Accessed 15 July 2020
4. British Pathé, "How They Prepared" (1943). Accessed 27 July 2020
5. British Pathé, "Canadians Sail To Mediterranean" (1943). Accessed 27 July 2020
6. John Collins, "The Boys From Syracuse" The (Montreal) Gazette (1943). Accessed 17 July 2020
7. Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, "Canadian Operations in Sicily, July–August, 1943" (Report No. 135, May 4, 1945), pgs. 2-3. Accessed 15 July 2020
8. Historical Section (G.S.), Department of National Defence, "Canadian Operations in Italy, October–November, 1943" (Report No. 161, October 16, 1946), pgs. 22-3. Accessed 15 July 2020
9. Armed Forces Operations Staff, "Material for the Lecture by the Chief of Armed Forces Operations Staff[...]; Position in Italy" (translation; November 2, 1943), Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression; Volume VII (Office of United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality, 1946), pgs. 948-9 (PDF pgs. 953-4). Accessed 5 August 2020 https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_Nazi-conspiracy.html (click Volume 7)
10. Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, "Canadian Operations in Italy, September–December, 1943: Preliminary Report" (Report No. 129, November 25, 1944), pgs. 12-14. Accessed 15 July 2020
11. British Pathé, "Canadians Fight Germans Through Streets of Italy" (1944). Accessed 27 July 2020
12. Douglas Amaron, "Only German Dead Left In Shambles of Ortona" The Globe and Mail (December 31, 1943). Accessed 17 July 2020
13. Notes for Instructors in Battle First Aid (1943). (See also First Aid in the Royal Canadian Navy, 1942) Accessed 17 May 2022
14. Montague Black (artist), "R.C.A.F. and R.A.F. fighter squadrons...." Star Weekly (March 6, 1943), pg. 1. Accessed 15 July 2020
15. United States Navy, "Landing to find the little men not there" (August 15, 1943). Accessed 15 July 2020
16. "Four Years of World War" (translation), Israelitisches Wochenblatt (August 27, 1943), in Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression; Supplement A (Office of United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality, 1946), pgs. 1234-5 (PDF pgs. 1259-60). Accessed 5 August 2020 https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_Nazi-conspiracy.html (click Supplement A)
17. William Lyon Mackenzie King, "Four Years of War" (September 10, 1943). Accessed 15 July 2020
18. Dominion of Canada; National Registration Regulations, 1940; Registration Certificate (dated June 29, 1943). Accessed 17 July 2020
19. Marie I. Stewart, "Quebec Pacifists," The Canadian C.O., Vol. 1, No. 6 (August 1943), pg. 6. Accessed 17 July 2020 https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/milton-good-library/newsletters-alternative-service (scroll down to The Canadian C.O.; August, 1943)
20. "Minutes of Evidence" (March 31, 1943), Proceedings of the [Senate] Special Committee on Economic Re-Establishment and Social Security, pgs. 10-11. Accessed 6 October 2020
21. "Article of Agreement Governing Collaboration Between the Authorities of the U.S.A. and the U.K. in the Matter of Tube Alloys" (August 19, 1943). Accessed 16 July 2020
22. United States Department of State, "The Chargé in Canada (Clark) to the Secretary of State" Foreign Relations of the United States; Diplomatic Papers, 1943; General, pgs. 1104-5. Accessed 16 July 2020
23. The University of Manitoba and the University of Minnesota, "The Midcontinent and the Peace; The Interests of Western Canada and Central Northwest United States in the Peace Settlements" (1943). Accessed 16 July 2020
24. United States Department of State, "Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)" Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1943; General, pgs. 881-3. Accessed 16 July 2020
25. Letter of Lester Pearson (March 24, 1943). Accessed 16 July 2020
26. "Fishing Fleet Becomes Alive" Granada Pioneer (Amache, Colorado, March 17, 1943), pg. 4. Accessed 15 February 2020 (See photo "Impounded Japanese Canadian vessels requisitioned for military use readied for shipment")
27. Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King; 1943 (January 14), pgs. 32-4. Accessed 16 July 2020
28. John Collins, "How It's Spelled in Wartime" The (Montreal) Gazette (August 4, 1943). Accessed 17 February 2020
29. "A Labor Policy for Victory; Submission presented by Tim Buck on behalf of The Dominion Communist-Labor Total War Committee to The National War Labor Board Inquiry Into Labor Relations; May 28th, 1943." Accessed 16 July 2020
30. "'Family Care' Sought For Mental Patients" Vancouver Sun (August 11, 1943), pg. 9. Accessed 14 August 2022
31. Letter to Margaret Konantz (January 22, 1943). Accessed 16 July 2020
32. Women's Voluntary Services for Civil Defence, "A Tour with a Travelling Officer" The Bulletin, No. 41 (March 1943), pg. 1. Accessed 7 August 2020
33. Letter of Dmitri Shostakovich (June 23, 1943). Accessed 16 July 2020
34. "Windsor Airman Meets 'Rochester'" Windsor Star (February 17, 1943). Accessed 20 March 2021