See also: 1948 in Canada, other events of 1949, 1950 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

Events

• March 31 - Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province.
• April 1 - Joey Smallwood becomes the first premier of Newfoundland as a Canadian province
• April 4 - Canada joins NATO
• May 4 - Leslie Frost becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Thomas Kennedy
• June 27 - Federal election: Louis Saint Laurent's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority
• September 14 - the Noronic, the largest Canadian passenger ship on the Great Lakes, was destroyed by a fire while docked in Toronto, killing 118
• Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are abolished, making the Supreme Court of Canada the country's top court
• British Columbia gives Asian-Canadians the vote

Arts and Culture

Literary Awards

• See 1949 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Angeline Hango , Truthfully Yours

Births

• January 24 - Guy Charron, hockey player
• February 14 - Denis Rocan, Manitoba politician
• February 23 - Marc Garneau, astronaut
• March 3 - Elijah Harper, politician
• March 16 - Victor Garber, actor
• March 30 - Liza Frulla, politician
• April 4 - Nava Starr, chess player
• April 8 - Claudette Bradshaw, politician
• April 14 - Percy Mockler, politician
• April 16 - Sandy Hawley, jockey
• May 6 - Diane Ablonczy, politician
• May 14 - Leona Czwartkowski, poet
• May 20 - Sheldon Oberman, children's writer
• May 20 - Dave Thomas, actor
• June 4 - Réginald Bélair, politician
• June 21 - Jane Urquhart, writer
• June 22 - Wayne Easter, politician
• July 3 - Jan Smithers, actor
• July 11 - Liona Boyd, musician
• August 13 - Bobby Clarke, hockey player
• August 21 - Larry Fisher, murderer
• August 30 - Don Boudria, politician
• September 6 - Carole-Marie Allard, politician
• September 12 - Kevin Major, children's writer
• October 25 - Laurie Skreslet, first Canadian to summit Mt. Everest
• October 27 - Garth Drabinsky, theatre promoter
• November 27 - Nick Discepola, politician
• November 28 - Paul Shaffer, musician
• November 29 - Stan Rogers, folk musician
• December 12 - John Godfrey, politician
• December 19 - Larry Bagnell, politician
• December 21 - John Loewen, Manitoba politician
• December 30 - Jim Flaherty, Ontario politician
• Ray Henault, Chief of Defence staff