January 16 – Canadian Prime Minister
Paul Martin begins a nine-day trip to Asia in Indonesia surveying the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami damage. Martin also travelled to Sri Lanka, India, Japan and China.
February 8 – Controversial
Toronto police chief
Julian Fantino is appointed
Ontario's new commissioner of emergency management.
February 8 –
Edmonton police chief
Fred Rayner is fired after news of a police sting targeting a journalist and the chair of the city's police board comes to light.
February 10 –
Wal-Mart says it will close one of its stores in
Jonquière, Quebec, just as its 200 workers are about to win the first-ever union contract from the world's largest retailer.
March 8 –
Grant DePatie, a gas station worker in
Maple Ridge, British Columbia, is dragged to death for seven kilometers under a moving van after chasing after a 16-year-old who had stolen $12 worth of gas. Later, a new law called "Grant's Law", requires citizens in
British Columbia to pay before they pump, becoming the first province in Canada to enforce this law.
April 21 – Prime Minister
Paul Martin and the leaders of the opposition address the nation separately on television on the subject of the
sponsorship scandal and the possibility of a
general election being called this spring.
May 10 – The
House passes a motion, which the opposition says should topple the government. The governing
Liberals refuse to resign following this by claiming that this is a procedural matter and not a
vote of no confidence.
May 27–30 –
Triumvirate, the "First North-American Model Parliament", being a simulation of a North American parliament, is launched in the Canadian Senate in Ottawa by the North American Forum on Integration (NAFI), at the invitation of Liberal Senator
Céline Hervieux-Payette.
July 8 – Adrienne Clarkson undergoes pacemaker surgery.
Beverly McLachlin, as
Chief Justice of Canada, becomes administrator of the government during Clarkson's convalescence.
August 13 – Ernest "Smoky" Smith receives a full
military funeral.
August 15 – The
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation enters a labour dispute with its staff, significantly affecting programming on all of the CBC radio and television networks. Only staff in
Quebec and
Moncton, New Brunswick are unaffected, due to membership in a different
union.
June 29 –
The Rooms, a new cultural facility in
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador housing the province's art gallery, provincial historical museum and provincial archives, is officially opened.
September 20 – Canadian rocker
J.D. Fortune is named the winner of the television reality show Rock Star: INXS, becoming the new lead singer of popular Australian rock band
INXS.
Sport
January 4 – The Canadian junior men's hockey team wins the IIHF World Junior Championship, defeating Russia 6–1. The team, which went undefeated over the course of the tournament, was touted as the "Greatest Team" to ever play in the junior men's tournament. They won Canada's first gold medal at the tournament since 1997.