1956 in Canada

See also: 1955 in Canada, other events of 1956, 1957 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

Incumbents

• Prime Minister – Louis Saint Laurent
• Governor General – Vincent Massey

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell
• Premier of New Brunswick – Hugh John Flemming
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Henry Hicks then Robert Stanfield
• Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alex Matheson
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Events

• February 10 – William Coffin is hanged
• May 1 – The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada merges with the Canadian Congress of Labour to form the Canadian Labour Congress.
• May 8 – The controversial bill to create the Trans Canada Pipeline is introduced in the House of Commons.
• May 15 – A CF-100 crashes into a Grey Nuns convent outside of Ottawa killing fifteen.
• June 20 – Saskatchewan election: Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation wins a fourth consecutive majority
• November 1 – The second Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 36.
• November 4 – Lester B. Pearson proposes a successful resolution to the Suez Crisis, this will win him a Nobel Peace Prize.
• November 20 – Robert Stanfield becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Henry Hicks
• December 14 – John Diefenbaker is elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.
• René Lévesque begins hosting Point de Mire

Arts and literature

New Books

• Milton Acorn – In Love and Anger
• Pierre Berton – The Mysterious North
• Max Aitken – Men and Power
• Leonard Cohen – Let Us Compare Mythologies
• Harold Innis – Essays in Canadian Economic History
• Farley Mowat – Lost in the Barrens

Literary Awards

• See 1956 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Eric Nicol, Shall We Join The Ladies?

Music

• Walter Susskind replaces Sir Ernest MacMillan as the director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
• Pianist Glenn Gould tours the Soviet Union

Births

• January 6 – Peter Stoffer, politician
• January 9 – Gregory Dewar, politician
• January 28 – David Faurschou, politician
• February 7 – Murray Downing, farmer
• February 28 – Guy Maddin, filmmaker
• February 29 – Steve Ashton, politician
• February 29 – Bob Speller, politician
• April 4 – Evelyn Hart, ballet dancer
• May 7 – Jean Lapierre, politician
• May 9 – Wendy Crewson, actor
• May 19 – James Gosling, computer scientist (Java)
• May 29 – Claude Drouin, politician
• June 10 – Hugh MacMillan, musician
• June 22 – Blake Debassige, artist
• July 8 – Terry Puhl, baseball player
• July 15 – Barry Melrose, hockey player and commentator
• July 17 – Bryan Trottier, hockey player
• August 12 – Bruce Greenwood, actor
• August 12 – Jane Siberry, singer
• October 7 – Brian Sutter, hockey player and coach
• October 23 – Geoffrey Kelly, musician
• December 10 – Marie Bountrogianni, politician
• December 31 – Paul Zed, politician

Deaths

• February 10 – William Coffin, alleged murderer
• September 11 – Billy Bishop, fighter pilot
• December 7 – Huntley Gordon, actor