1962 in Canada - Events

Events

• March 21 – The birth-defect-causing drug thalidomide is banned
• May 2 – The Canadian dollar is pegged to the U.S. currency
• June 15 – Canada is the third power to reach space with the launch of scientific satellite
• June 18 – In the 1962 Federal election John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is reduced to a minority government
• July 1 – First medicare plan is launched in Saskatchewan to great protest by doctors
• July 30 – Trans-Canada Highway opens
• August 6 – A Premiers Conference is held in Victoria, British Columbia
• September 1 – Place Ville Marie opens in Montreal
• September 29 – Alouette 1, Canada's first satellite is launched.
• October 25 – The Bedford Institute of Oceanography opens in Nova Scotia
• October 25-November 12 – The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. Diefenbaker refuses to put Canadian forces on alert, angering the U.S. government.
• December 11 – The last three hangings in Canada take place.
• The Globe and Mail adds the Report on Business section