title: “July 28” layout: page

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Highlights of the day

  • 1755 Nova Scotia Governor Charles Lawrence gets approval of Council to deport Acadians who refuse the oath of allegiance.
  • 1930 R. B. Bennett wins majority in the 17th general election, taking 137 seats to 91 for Mackenzie King’s Liberal Party.
  • 2005 First Canadian Forces troops deployed to the Kandahar region of Afghanistan.

List of Facts for 07 28

  • 1576 Martin Frobisher completes the navigation of Frobisher Bay without finding a route westward; his backer Michael Lok, an English textile exporter, financed the expedition to find a route to China; Lok was later sued for losses from Frobisher’s three expeditions.
  • 1615 Samuel de Champlain reaches Lake Huron on his way to Huronia; his seventh voyage to North America. French River, Ontario
  • 1633 Fur Trade — Flotilla of 140 Huron canoes arrives at Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1642 Roman Catholic Priest baptizes a 4-year-old Algonquin boy. Montréal, Québec
  • 1755 Expulsion of the Acadians — Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Charles Lawrence gets full approval of the Council of Nova Scotia to deport and disperse those Acadians who refuse to take the oath of allegiance.
  • 1786 Brewer John Molson proclaims that good ale is all I want; says he wants to brew beer on the grand stage of the world. Montréal, Québec
  • 1812 War of 1812 — Isaac Brock asks the sixth Parliament of Upper Canada to repeal Habeas Corpus and impose martial law; Legislature uncooperative; doesn’t take threat of US invasion seriously. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1819 Trial — Son of Nova Scotia Attorney General John Uniacke goes on trial for murder after duel in Halifax. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1824 Ile d’Orléans shipyard launches the steamboat Columbus. Québec, Québec
  • 1838 Eight exiled Patriotes from Lower Canada arrive in Bermuda. Hamilton, Bermuda
  • 1839 John Simpson & Peter Dease round Cape Alexander and find Simpson Strait separating King William Island from mainland; explore NE of Cape John Ross to Castor & Pollux River, named after the ship. Nunavut
  • 1847 Brantford incorporated as a city. Brantford, Ontario
  • 1847 London incorporated as a city. London, Ontario
  • 1847 Several new businesses incorporated in Lower Canada — the Montréal Mining Company, the British North America Company, the British & Canadian Mining Company of Lake Superior, the St. Lawrence & Industry Railroad, and the Canada, Nova Scotia & New Brunswick Railroad. Montréal, Québec
  • 1858 John A. Macdonald & George-Étienne Cartier resign as ministers after defeat on motion that Ottawa should not be the capital of Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1863 Imperial Statute defines boundary of British Columbia. London, England
  • 1868 Louis Riel returns to St. Boniface via the United States. St. Boniface, Manitoba
  • 1883 Record — CPR sets track laying record: 10.9 km in one day. Alberta
  • 1884 Northwest Rebellion — William H. Jackson aka Honoré Joseph Jaxon, backing Riel, issues a manifesto of the grievances and objectives of the Settlers’ Union. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
  • 1885 Trial of Louis Riel resumes after a one-week delay. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1890 First electric street lighting in Trois-Rivières. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1891 First annual Harvest Excursion leaves for Western Canada with 1,300 farm workers. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1897 Taxation — Canada imposes new 2% royalty on minerals from Canadian mines; primarily a tax on Klondike gold to pay for law enforcement. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1904 Fernie incorporated as a City. Fernie, BC
  • 1905 Fire destroys core block of downtown Fernie; losses to $120,000. Fernie, BC
  • 1905 Midway & Vernon Railway begins building grade west from Midway. Only a few miles built. Vernon, BC
  • 1905 Cabinet passes Order-in-Council amends Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway’s charter as per Railway Commissioners’ authorization of June 27. Victoria, BC
  • 1905 A. W. Dingman gives Governor General the Duke of Connaught and Lady Connaught a tour of his oil discovery in southern Alberta, lighting a 15 metre jet of gas from the Dingman Well. Alberta
  • 1905 Toronto Stock Exchange and Montréal Stock Exchange close for three months; brokers fear financial panic due to pending European conflict as Austria declares war on Serbia; in concert with New York; shut down till spring of 1915. Toronto, Ontario Montréal, Québec
  • 1930 Federal Election — R. B. Bennett wins a majority in the 17th Canadian general election, taking 137 seats to 91 for Mackenzie King’s Liberal Party of Canada; voters also 12 Progressive Party MPs; 10 United Farmers, 5 other; gets 48.8% of the popular vote; — July 28 — Federal Election — Agnes MacPhail the only woman elected in the 17th Canadian general election. — July 28 — Federal Election — Conservative Party leader R. B. Bennett is elected in Calgary West and becomes Prime Minister. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1934 Marie Dressler dies at age 64; vaudeville and film star known for her Tugboat Annie role, born Leila Marie Koerber in Cobourg, Ontario. Los Angeles, California
  • 1943 Second World War — Canadian Army troops take the town of Agira after five days of hard fighting at heavy cost against heavily dug in German troops. Agira, Italy
  • 1945 Section of Prospect Point overlooking the US Falls breaks off and slides into the Niagara River Gorge. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1948 Québec Election — Maurice Duplessis reelected as Premier of Québec, as his Union Nationale Party wins 82 seats, against 7 for the Liberals. Québec
  • 1950 Census — Dominion Bureau of Statistics says Canada has 13,845,000 inhabitants. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1954 Canada agrees to serve with India and Poland on special commission to supervise Indo-China armistice. Vietnam
  • 1954 The Crew Cuts have a #1 Billboard pop singles hit with Sh-Boom, a song that was a cover version of a rhythm and blues version, recorded by The Chords; the tune will stay #1 for seven weeks; some consider this song to be the First real rock ’n’ roll record, not Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock; the Crew Cuts had a clean-cut White harmony glee-club image, like the Four Aces, the Four Lads, and the Four Freshmen, but they started covering songs originally recorded by R & B/doo-wop vocal groups. Formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1952, their First Top Ten hit was Crazy ’Bout Ya Baby, a group original, on the Mercury label; other hits include Earth Angel; the group broke up in 1964. New York, New York
  • 1955 Hartland Molson appointed to the Senate of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1964 Parliament passes Canada Student Loans Act providing interest-free loans to university students through the banks. Ottawa
  • 1964 Senate Banking Committee recommends charters for Bank of Western Canada and Laurentide Bank. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 Alex Campbell sworn in as Premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Walter Shaw. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1973 Canadian group The Band performs before 600,000 fans at the Watkins Glen Summer Jam, along with the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band; biggest rock festival since Woodstock four years earlier. Watkins Glen, New York
  • 1979 Record — Grade A egg dropped from the CN Tower observation deck lands unbroken in a net cushioned by shaving cream and cotton. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1981 Hailstorm lasting 15 minutes pounds Calgary and vicinity, causing $100 million in damage. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1981 Fire destroys St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Saint John; built in 1871. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1982 Last issue of Today magazine distributed in 18 Canadian newspapers.
  • 1984 Canadian team attends the three and a half hour opening ceremonies of the XXIII Olympiad in the Los Angeles Coliseum, as part of a contingent of 7,800 athletes from 140 nations; the Los Angeles Olympics is boycotted by 15 Russian and Eastern countries, who stay away in a Soviet-led withdrawal in response to a Western boycott of the 1980 Moscow games to protest the invasion of Afghanistan. Los Angeles, California
  • 1984 Montréal Expos’ Pete Rose passes Ty Cobb for the most singles in a career with #3,503 against the Philadelphia Phillies. Montréal, Québec
  • 1985 Pat Bradley wins the 13th Du Maurier Golf Classic. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1988 The House of Commons in a free vote turns down a government resolution and five amendments on an abortion bill. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1989 Anne Murray returns to her home town of Springhill to open the Anne Murray Centre, a museum devoted to her career that officials hope will attract up to 90,000 visitors a year; Murray First hit the charts in 1970 with her ballad Snowbird. Springhill, Nova Scotia
  • 1991 Montréal Expos’ Dennis Martinez pitches 15th perfect game in major league history (96 pitches, 66 strikes); as the Expos shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0. Montréal, Québec
  • 1993 Disaster — Plane crash kills five at Havre-St-Pierre. Havre-St-Pierre, Québec
  • 1994 Crowd of 35,000 people attend the First Lollapalooza festival in Molson Park, featuring Smashing Pumpkins, the Beastie Boys and George Clinton; rain turns the park into a sea of mud. Barrie, Ontario
  • 1994 Supreme Court of Canada refuses appeal of lower court ruling awarding the NHL oldtimers estimated $45 million from the league in surplus pension funds. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Canadian Brian Walton wins Olympic silver in the cycling points race at the Atlanta Olympic Games; Curt Harnett earns the bronze medal in the men’s sprint on the track near Stone Mountain; Canada’s men’s doubles team of John Child and Mark Heese take the bronze at the inaugural Olympic beach volleyball tournament. Atlanta, Georgia
  • 1996 Canadian rowers win medals at Lake Lanier at the Atlanta Olympic Games: Dave Boyes, Jeff Lay, Gavin Hassett and Brian Peaker take Olympic silver in the men’s four; Marnie McBean, Kathleen Heddle, Laryssa Biesenthal and Diane O’Grady come away with bronze in the women’s four; Emma Robinson, Anna van der Kamp, Theresa Luke, Tosha Tsang, Alison Korn, Heather McDermid, Maria Maunder, Jessica Monroe and Lesley Thompson have a silver-medal performance in the women’s eight with coxswain. Atlanta, Georgia
  • 1997 New York Rangers centre Mark Messier signs a 3-year $20 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver, BC
  • 2002 Pope John Paul II ends the celebrations of World Youth Day with a mass for 800,000 people in Toronto’s Downsview Park; speaks publicly on the church abuse scandal for the first time, telling the young Roman Catholics that sexual abuse of children by priests fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2005 First Canadian Forces troops deployed to Afghanistan reach the Kandahar region to join what will be a 250-strong provincial reconstruction team, the first such team Canada has sent to Afghanistan. Kandahar, Afghanistan