A month-by-month look at the tumultuous year of 2019.
1 – Harsher penalties for distracted driving took effect in Ontario. Those convicted of driving while distracted, including texting while behind the wheel, faced a $1,000 fine and a three-day licence suspension for a first offence.
2 – A shuttered call centre in Cape Breton came back to life, just weeks after its previous owner abruptly closed the facility and tossed hundreds of people out of work just before the holiday season. Workers showing up for their 9:30 a.m. shifts filed into the newly minted Sydney Call Centre Inc., the site of the former ServiCom centre that closed without notice on Dec. 6.
4 – Founding Moody Blues member Ray Thomas died. His record company confirmed the 76-year-old multi-instrumentalist “passed away suddenly” at his home in Surrey, England. Thomas was famous for his flute solos heard on “Nights in White Satin” and other tracks.6 – Sandra Oh won the Golden Globe for best TV drama actress for her role in “Killing Eve.
8 – The driver of the transport truck involved in a deadly crash with the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team’s bus pleaded guilty to all charges against him. Jaskirat Singh Sidhu was charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. The Broncos were on their way to a playoff game in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League when their bus and Sidhu’s rig collided not far from Tisdale, Sask., in April 2018.
10 – A group of coworkers at an Ontario automotive parts plant came forward as the winners of a $60-million lottery jackpot. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. said they worked the same shift on an assembly line in Guelph. Their winning ticket was drawn on Dec. 21, 2018. Eight of the nine described themselves as immigrants.
14 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made some changes to his cabinet – moving Montreal MP David Lametti to Justice and shuffling Vancouver’s Jody Wilson-Raybould to Veterans Affairs. Wilson-Raybould said she was proud of what she had accomplished in the Justice portfolio. 15 – Carol Channing, the ebullient musical comedy star who delighted American audiences in over 5,000 performances as the scheming Dolly Levi in “Hello, Dolly!” on Broadway and beyond, died at the age of 97. Her publicist said Channing died of natural causes in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
18 – BuzzFeed reported that two unidentified law enforcement officials claimed U.S. President Donald Trump directed his personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress and that Cohen regularly briefed Trump and his family on the Trump Tower project in Moscow – even as Trump said he had no business dealings with Russia. BuzzFeed said Cohen told special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump personally instructed him to lie about the timing of the project in order to obscure Trump’s involvement.
23 – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in a defiant speech before masses of anti-government demonstrators who took to the streets to demand the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro. Canada, the U.S. and several other countries announced they were recognizing Guaido’s claim.
28 – The U.S. Justice Department filed charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei. A 13-count indictment was unsealed in New York charging Huawei, two of its affiliates and a top executive at the company. CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver at the request of the U.S. on Dec. 1, 2018. The charges include bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
30 – The federal government said it was creating a new mechanism to warn Canadians if malicious actors tried to manipulate the outcome of the 2019 election. It was establishing a “critical election incident public protocol,” under which five senior public servants would decide when an incident is egregious enough to warrant going public with a warning in the midst of a campaign.
2 – Cancer claimed the life of Canada’s auditor general. Michael Ferguson died suddenly in Ottawa at the age of 60. 5 – The Toronto Maple Leafs signed star centre Auston Matthews to a five-year contract extension with an average annual value of just over US$11.6-million. 8 – Bruce McArthur was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. The 67-year-old serial killer had pleaded guilty to the murders of eight men from Toronto’s gay village between 2010 and 2017. The Crown had asked for a sentence of life with no chance of parole for 50 years.
10 – Actor Jan Michael Vincent died of cardiac arrest at his home in North Carolina. He was reported to be 74. He was best known for his role as helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the CBS hit show “Airwolf,” which ran from 1984 to 1986. 15 – U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in an effort to get funding for a border wall with Mexico. Trump painted a dark picture of the U.S.-Mexico border as “a major entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics” and one that threatend “core national security interests.”
18 – Gerald Butts, Justin Trudeau’s principal secretary and long-time friend, resigned amid allegations that the Prime Minister’s Office interfered to prevent criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. Butts released a statement in which he categorically denied the accusation that he or anyone else in the PMO improperly pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to help the Montreal engineering giant avoid prosecution.
20 – The Trudeau government voted down an Opposition motion for a public inquiry into the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould — who is at the heart of the firestorm — abstained from voting, explaining it was not appropriate since the matter involves her personally. 21 – Musician and actor Peter Tork, best known as the keyboard player and bassist of The Monkees, died at the age of 77.
24 – The 91st Oscars were handed out in Hollywood. Rami Malek took home the best-actor Oscar for “Bohemian Rhapsody.” “Green Book” won the coveted best-picture Oscar, and Olivia Colman won best actress for “The Favourite.” 27 – Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould got a chance to “speak her truth” to the House Justice Committee, claiming she experienced “consistent and sustained” pressure from a number of officials to get her to interfere in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin which would’ve allowed them to avoid a criminal trial.
1 – The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld a landmark judgment that ordered three tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars in damages to Quebec smokers. Imperial Tobacco, JTI-Macdonald and Rothmans-Benson & Hedges had appealed a ruling that found the companies chose profits over the health of their customers.
6 – Justin Trudeau’s former principal secretary testified the SNC-Lavalin criminal case had nothing to do with the prime minister’s decision to move Jody Wilson-Raybould out of her coveted post as justice minister in a mid-January cabinet shuffle. Butts said staff in the Prime Minister’s Office always respected the fact that, as attorney general, it was up to Wilson-Raybould alone to decide whether to order negotiation of a remediation agreement with the Montreal engineering giant.
8 – SNC-Lavalin lost a court bid to overturn the public prosecutor’s refusal to negotiate an agreement that would see the company avoid a criminal trial. 15 – Fifty one people were killed in mass shootings at two mosques full of worshippers attending Friday prayers on what the New Zealand prime minister called one of the country’s darkest days. One man was arrested and charged with murder in what appeared to be a carefully planned racist attack.
19 – The Liberal-dominated justice committee pulled the plug on its probe of the SNC-Lavalin affair, prompting fresh howls of outrage from the Conservatives and NDP. 22 – A Conservative-led filibuster ended just minutes before 1:00 a.m., capping an almost 30-hour effort to force the prime minister to loosen the reins on his former attorney general, allowing her to talk about the fall-out from the SNC-Lavalin affair.
25 – The last legal restrictions on Omar Khadr were lifted when an Alberta judge ruled that a war crimes sentence for the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner had expired. The ruling meant Khadr could apply for a passport as well as travel and visit freely. Khadr was sentenced to eight years in 2010 by an American military court for alleged acts committed in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old.
29 – Jody Wilson-Raybould said she took the “extraordinary and otherwise inappropriate step” of secretly recording a phone call with the country’s top public servant just before Christmas because she feared the conversation would cross ethical lines and she wanted an exact account of what transpired.
2 – Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott were kicked out of the Liberal caucus. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement moments after their fellow government MPs gathered on Parliament Hill for an emergency meeting to determine their future with the party. 7 – Federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer called a news conference to denounce a threatened lawsuit against him for libel as being “without merit.” Trudeau’s suit alleged Scheer libelled him with his assertion that the prime minister politically interfered with the criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.
10 – Toronto Mayor John Tory said he was cautiously optimistic about the provincial government’s $28.5 billion plan to expand transit through the city and into surrounding regions. Premier Doug Ford said the province would contribute $11.2 billion towards the plan, which includes a new 15-kilometre downtown subway relief line as well as a three-stop subway line in Scarborough.
14 – Tiger Woods won his fifth Masters title. Woods shot a 2-under 70 for one-stroke victory at Augusta National Golf Club. It was his first title win since the 2008 U.S. Open, capping a remarkable recovery from debilitating injuries and embarrassing personal problems. 18 – A Montreal man convicted of terrorism for nearly killing an airport police officer in Michigan was sentenced to life in prison. U.S. prosecutors said Amor Ftouhi drove 1,600 kilometres from Montreal to the airport in Flint, Mich., where he yelled “God is great” in Arabic and repeatedly stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville on June 21, 2017.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Globe Advisor’s Best of 2019: Top 10 stories on ETF investingETFs still pale in comparison to mutual funds when it comes to total client assets, but they’re quickly gaining ground
Read more »
This independent firm beat Canada’s big banks to win top spot on 2019 IPOsIn a year many bankers and companies called ‘challenging’ for initial public offerings, this Canadian firm bucked the trend
Read more »
Olivia, Oliver are B.C.'s top baby names for 2019Olivia claimed top spot from Liam which was B.C.’s most popular baby name in 2018
Read more »
Some of the best Maclean's columns of 2019 - Macleans.caFrom the SNC-Lavalin debacle to Trump to Don Cherry's firing, here is a small selection of some of the many insightful opinion pieces published in Maclean's in 2019
Read more »
How a turbulent 2019 shifted the ground under Canadian sport - Sportsnet.caIn a year of highs and lows, uncomfortable revelations forced the sport that defines this country to grapple with how to better reflect it moving forward.
Read more »
Resurgent Maple Leafs close out 2019 in style with win over Wild - Sportsnet.caWith a goal and an assist each in a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild, Auston Matthews and William Nylander made sure that the Toronto Maple Leafs finished off the year in style.
Read more »