1977 — The vaccine for swine flu that has been in storage for nearly a year is about to expire and will be flushed away. Health Minister Marc Lalonde had announced the intention of vaccinating nine million Canadians even though there were no cases of swine flu in the country at the time.
The government of Pierre Trudeau was following the lead of President Gerald Ford in the U.S. who had introduced a flu vaccination program after the outbreak of swine flu cases south of the border. The pandemic never really happened, turning the vaccine programs into a fiasco.
1911 —William Lyon Mackenzie King offers to write Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s biography. He has the time because he recently lost his seat in the House of Commons and will be resigning as Labour minister with the defeat of the Laurier government.
2000 — Pierre Trudeau dies in Montreal of prostate cancer. He was also suffering from Parkinson’s disease. After retiring from politics, he worked for the Montreal law firm Heenan Blaikie until his death.
1943 –Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King learns that his nephew, who is serving in the Canadian forces, is missing in action in the Mediterranean and presumed dead.
1955 — Jean-Paul St. Laurent, the son of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, wins the by-election in Temiscouata, Quebec, becoming the third child of a Prime Minister to sit in the House of Commons. The other two were Hugh Macdonald and Charles Hibbert Tupper.
1926 — After less than three months as Prime Minister, Arthur Meighen steps down and William Lyon Mackenzie King returns to the top job.
1891 — Like his predecessor Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s new Prime Minister John Abbott supports the idea of letting the courts decide the legality of Manitoba abandonning publicly funded French schools. The government’s response to the Manitoba challenge was first announced last year by Justice Minister Sir John Thompson.
1958 — The government of John Diefenbaker has suspended production of the Avro Arrow interceptor aircraft, but not its ongoing development. Defence Minister George Pearkes has actively lobbied cabinet for the past month to eliminate the costly program.
2004 — Speaking before the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, Prime Minister Paul Martin calls on the international organization to respond more quickly to humanitarian crises like the one in Darfur in the Sudan. Although he feels “it is always preferable to have multilateral authority for intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state”, he is frustrated by the U.N. bureaucracy thwarting action.
1911 — In the 12th federal election, the Conservatives led by Robert Borden break the 15-year stint in power of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The Liberals not only lose the election, but also William Lyon Mackenzie King who is defeated in Waterloo North (Ontario).
Canadian Prime Ministers 