1964 in Canada

See also: 1963 in Canada, other events of 1964, 1965 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

Incumbents

• Prime Minister – Lester B. Pearson
• Governor General – Georges Vanier

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Duff Roblin
• Premier of New Brunswick – Louis Robichaud
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
• Premier of Ontario – John Robarts
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Walter Shaw
• Premier of Quebec – Jean Lesage
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Woodrow Lloyd then W. Ross Thatcher

Events

• April – Canadians are issued Social Insurance cards for the first time
• April 22 – Saskatchewan election: Ross Thatcher's Liberals win a majority, defeating Woodrow Lloyd's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
• March 13 – Canada begins a decades-long peacekeeping mission in Cyprus
• March 23 – George Stanley first describes and sketches the proposal for Canada's new flag that is eventually accepted
• May 2 – Northern Dancer wins the Kentucky Derby
• May 22 – W. Ross Thatcher is sworn in as Premier of Saskatchewan
• May 27 – The Prime Minister unveils the "Pearson Pennant", his preferred, but ultimately unsuccessful, design for a new national flag.
• June 15 – The Great Flag Debate begins in the House of Commons.
• July 16 – Canada extends its exclusive fishing zone to 12 miles off-shore
• Summer – At the Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Japan, Canada wins only a single Gold Medal
• September 10 – After almost three months of debate in the Commons, the flag question is referred to an all-party committee.
• September 17 – The flag committee meets for the first time.
• October 5 – Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip begin an eight-day visit to Canada.
• October 22 – The flag committee makes its final selection of the design that will become the national flag.
• November 30 – John Diefenbaker launches a filibuster to try to prevent the introduction of a new Canadian flag
• December 16 – Bill creating the new Flag of Canada passed in the House of Commons after much controversy
• Canada pulls its peacekeepers out of Zaire
• Stanley Cup: Toronto Maple Leafs win 4–3 over the Detroit Red Wings
• Grey Cup: British Columbia Lions win 34–24 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
• Glenn Gould gives up doing live performances
• Governor General Georges Vanier hosts the "Canadian Conference of the Family"
• Innis College founded at the University of Toronto

Arts and literature

New books

• Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man – Marshall McLuhan
• The Circle Game – Margaret Atwood
• The Laughing Rooster – Irving Layton
• Flowers for Hitler – Leonard Cohen
• The Stone Angel – Margaret Laurence

Awards

• See 1964 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Harry J. Boyle, Homebrew and Patches Clarke Irwin
• Vicky Metcalf Award: John F. Hayes

Television

• October 4 – The controversial news show This Hour Has Seven Days premieres on CBC

Births

• January 10 – Brad Roberts, musician, Crash Test Dummies
• January 31 – Sylvie Bernier, Olympic diver
• February 10 – Victor Davis, Olympic swimmer
• April 1 – Scott Stevens, hockey player
• August 17 – Colin James, musician
• September 2 – Keanu Reeves, actor
• August 9 – Brett Hull, hockey player
• August 17 – Colin James, musician
• October 14 – David Kaye, voice actor
• October 26 – Marc Lépine, murderer
• November 15 – David Caplan, politician
• November 16 – Diana Krall – Jazz musician
• December 19 – Laurie Kane, golfer
• December 27 – Kevin Patterson, writer
• Gary Barwin – author
• Gloria Reuben – actor
• Paul Bernardo – murderer

Deaths

• February 18–Joseph-Armand Bombardier, inventor of the snowmobile
• June 9–William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, newspaper and securities tycoon