See also: 1985 in Canada, other events of 1986, 1987 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.

Incumbents

• Prime Minister - Brian Mulroney
• Governor General - Jeanne Sauvé

• Premier of Alberta - Don Getty
• Premier of British Columbia - Bill Bennett then Bill Vander Zalm
• Premier of Manitoba - Howard Pawley
• Premier of New Brunswick - Richard Hatfield
• Premier of Newfoundland - Brian Peckford
• Premier of Nova Scotia - John Buchanan
• Premier of Ontario - David Peterson
• Premier of Prince Edward Island - James Lee then Joe Ghiz
• Premier of Quebec - Robert Bourassa
• Premier of Saskatchewan - Grant Devine

See 1986 Canadian incumbents for more

Events

• January 22 - An investigation determines that a bomb caused the crash of Air India flight 182
• January 31 - The Canadian dollar hits an all-time low of 70.2 U.S. cents on international money markets
• February 8 - Hinton train collision: 23 people are killed when a VIA Rail train collides with a Canadian National Railway train near Hinton, Alberta
• March 15 - In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium,Wembley,England, Canada beat England 3-1.
• May 1 - Shirley Carr becomes the first female head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees
• May 2 - Joe Ghiz becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Lee
• May 2 - The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia opens.
• May 8 - Alberta election: Don Getty's PCs win a fifth consecutive majority, but a smaller majority than before
• May 24 - In Calgary, the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup against the Calgary Flames
• May 25 - An attempt is made to assassinate Malkiat Singh Sidhu a cabinet minister in the Indian province of Punjab in Vancouver
• June 19 - The new Competition Act comes into force
• June 20 - Jean Drapeau resigns as mayor of Montreal
• August 5 - Canada adopts sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies
• August 6 - Bill Vander Zalm becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Bill Bennett
• August 11 - Tamil refugees are found drifting off the coast of Newfoundland
• September 30 - Canadian MPs elect the Speaker by secret ballot for the first time.
• October 6 - Canada receives a United Nations award for sheltering refugees
• October 20 - Saskatchewan election: Grant Devine's PCs win a second consecutive majority
• December 8 - The University of Toronto's John C. Polanyi shares the Nobel Prize for chemistry for the development of the chemical laser
• Negotiators begin work on what would eventually be the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement
• The birds series of Canadian banknotes is released
• Supreme Court rules on the RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd. case
• Conrad Black buys The Daily Telegraph
• Dinosaur fossils are found in Parsboro, Nova Scotia

Arts and Literature

New Works:

• Margaret Atwood - Freeforall
• W.P. Kinsella - The Fence Post Chronicles
• Robert Munsch - Love You Forever
• Alice Munro - The Progress of Love
• Antonine Maillet - Garrochés en paradis
• Hugh Hood - The Motor Boys in Ottawa
• William Gibson - Count Zero

Awards:

• See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Wayne Johnson , The Story of Bobby O'Mally
• Gerald Lampert Award: Joan Fern Shaw , Raspberry Vinegar
• Marian Engel Award: Alice Munro
• Pat Lowther Award: Erin Mouré, Domestic Fuel
• Stephen Leacock Award: Joey Slinger , No Axe too Small to Grind
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Dennis Lee

New Music:

• Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan
• Neil Young - First We Take Manhattan

New Movies:

• James Cameron's Aliens is released
• David Cronenberg's The Fly
• Denys Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire

Births

• January 8 - Jaclyn Linetsky, actor
• December 12 - Marie-Pier Beaudet, Olympian

Deaths

• February 27 - Jacques Plante, hockey star
• March 4 - Elizabeth Smart, poet and novelist
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, poet
• November 5 - Claude Jutra, filmmaker