Highlights of the day

  • 1610 Samuel de Champlain arrives back at Québec on his fourth voyage to New France
  • 1760 François, General de Lévis, defeats the British at Ste-Foy; Murray retreats behind the walls of Québec.
  • 1996 Winnipeg Jets play their final game as a team; move to hockey hotbed of Phoenix, Arizona.

List of Facts for April 28

  • 1610 Samuel de Champlain arrives back at Québec on his fourth voyage to New France; he and Pontgravé experienced a rough crossing from St-Malo. In June he mounts a new expedition against the Iroquois. Québec, Québec
  • 1631 Luke Foxe sails from London on the Charles to find the Northwest Passage; skirts the western shore of Hudson Bay; finds relics of Thomas Button’s expedition. London, England
  • 1760 François, General de Lévis, with 5,000 soldiers and Indians, defeats James Murray’s 3,900 British troops at the Battle of Ste-Foy, a bigger battle than on the Plains of Abraham; Murray, leader of the British after Wolfe’s death, wisely retreats behind the walls of Québec to wait for reinforcements by ship, while withstanding Lévis’ siege. The French fleet had been smashed at Quiberon Bay the previous autumn, and the French supply ships were lost in the Bay of Chaleur in the Battle of Restigouche. When HMS Lowestoft approached Quebec, Levis raised his siege and retreated to Montreal. Ste-Foy, Québec
  • 1760 Last meeting of the Sovereign Council of New France. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1818 U.S. Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot Convention of 1817, making it a lawful treaty of the United States; limits naval forces on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. Washington, DC
  • 1818 US President James Monroe proclaims naval disarmament on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. Washington, DC
  • 1826 Ice on the Red River begins to break up, marking the start of the greatest recorded flood in Manitoba history. Manitoba
  • 1827 John Galt founds town of Guelph; chooses site as headquarters of the Canada Company. Guelph, Ontario
  • 1868 Finance Minister John Rose brings down the First Canadian budget after Confederation for the Macdonald Ministry. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1877 North West Territories Act is amended to provide for a Council. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1885 First voyage of the steamer Kootenai.
  • 1888 Province of British Columbia passes Crow’s Nest and Kootenay Lake Railway Act: reqires a line of not less than three-foot gauge built from apex of Crow’s Nest Pass to mouth of Goat River on Kootenay Lake. Victoria, BC
  • 1898 British Columbia Copper Company, Limited, registered in British Columbia. Victoria, BC
  • 1898 Steamer J.D. Farrell arrives at Fort Steele on her maiden voyage.
  • 1902 International Coal and Coke Company, Limited, incorporated in the State of Washington by E.J. Dyer, et al.
  • 1911 First aeroplane flight in Alberta is made in Edmonton by Bob St. Henry. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1919 Canada joins 41 other countries as they unanimously accept the Covenant of the League of Nations. Geneva, Switzerland
  • 1923 G.P. Graham appointed Minister of Railways and Canals.
  • 1945 Truce arranged between Canadian and German forces in Holland. Netherlands
  • 1957 The Guy Lombardo Orchestra have a #1 Billboard hit with their Easter Parade. New York, New York
  • 1964 Vasily Tarasov expelled from Canada for spying; Ottawa correspondent for Soviet newspaper Izvestia. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 Expo 67 opens in Montreal -
  • 1968 Montreal native Galt MacDermot opens his rock musical Hair at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway; an off-Broadway version opened in October 1967; lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado; show will run for 1,729 performances, finally closing on July 1st, 1972; original cast recordings of the off-Broadway and Broadway versions will sell over 5 million copies, not to mention hit songs from the show, including the medley of Aquarius-Let the Sunshine In and Good Morning Starshine. New York, New York
  • 1968 Walter Sitch, 98, is possibly Canada’s First great-great-great-grandfather when his great-great-granddaughter gives birth to a son. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1970 First CP unit coal train over Kootenay Central to Roberts Bank, BC.
  • 1972 Ottawa starts building 1,690 km long highway from Alberta border to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Tuktoyaktuk, NWT
  • 1981 Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton fans the Montréal Expos’ Tim Wallach in the First inning, becoming the First left-hander and sixth pitcher in the major leagues to get 3,000 career strikeouts; Phillies will go on to beat the Expos 6-2. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • 1983 Ontario signs agreement with New York State to exchange information and research on acid rain. Albany, New York
  • 1984 Edmonton Oilers 8, Minnesota North Stars 5
  • 1985 Frank, Alberta. Frank Slide Interpretive Centre opened.
  • 1991 Floyd Laughren presents $52.8 billion NDP spending budget that will triple Ontario Deficit to record $9.7 billion; Ontario Treasurer goes against advice of Ottawa. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Milwaukee Brewers wallop Toronto Blue Jays 22-2 with an American League record 31 hits in 9 innings. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Montreal Expos thrash Colorado Rockies 21-9 at Coors Field. Denver, Colorado
  • 1996 Winnipeg Jets play their final game as a team, and are eliminated from the playoffs, losing to the Detroit Red Wings 4-1; the so-called ‘Winnipeg Whiteouts’ will play as the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1996-97 season. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1999 Armed 14-year-old boy shoots 2 fellow students with a .22 calibre rifle at W.R. Myers High School in Taber; kills one (Jason Lang) and injures the other; killings inspired by Colorado massacre 8 days earlier; the boy had recently withdrawn from public school to escape bullying. Taber, Alberta