Events from the year 2023 in Canada.
Incumbents
The Crown Monarch – Charles III
Federal government Governor General – Mary Simon Prime Minister – Justin Trudeau Parliament – 44th
Provincial governments
Lieutenant Governors Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Salma Lakhani Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Janet Austin Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Anita Neville Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Brenda Murphy Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador – Judy Foote (until November 14); then Joan Marie Aylward Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Arthur LeBlanc Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Elizabeth Dowdeswell (until November 14); then Edith Dumont Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Antoinette Perry Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – J. Michel Doyon Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Russell Mirasty
Premiers Premier of Alberta – Danielle Smith Premier of British Columbia – David Eby Premier of Manitoba – Heather Stefanson (until October 18); then Wab Kinew Premier of New Brunswick – Blaine Higgs Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador – Andrew Furey Premier of Nova Scotia – Tim Houston Premier of Ontario – Doug Ford Premier of Prince Edward Island – Dennis King Premier of Quebec – François Legault Premier of Saskatchewan – Scott Moe
Territorial governments
Commissioners Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Margaret Thom Commissioner of Nunavut – Eva Aariak Commissioner of Yukon – Angélique Bernard (until May 31); then Adeline Webber
Premiers Premier of Northwest Territories – Caroline Cochrane (until December 8); then R.J. Simpson Premier of Nunavut – P.J. Akeeagok Premier of Yukon – Sandy Silver (until January 14); then Ranj Pillai
Events
January January 1 – Canada enacts a law prohibiting foreigners, except for immigrants and permanent residents, from acquiring residential areas in the country for two years in response to a real-estate bubble. January 10 – CF Montréal Reserve sacks Sandro Grande as head coach, after backlash over comments Grande made on Twitter following the attempted assassination of Quebec premier Pauline Marois. January 18 – Defence Minister Anita Anand announces that the country is donating 200 Senator APCs to Ukraine to aid them during the war. January 21 – The government agreed to pay billion to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding compensation for the effects of residential schools to First Nations. January 26: Anand announces that Canada is sending four Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine, the first Canadian tanks sent to the country. This move comes a day after Germany and the United States reversed their initial hesitations and announced a shipment of tanks to Ukraine as well. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Amira Elghawaby as Canada's first special representative on combatting Islamophobia for a four-year term. Her appointment was not only criticized by the Quebec government and the Parti Québécois, but they also called for her to resign due to remarks she said about Quebecers in 2019.
February
February 2 – In response to a detected Chinese balloon flying over Canadian and American airspace, Cong Peiwu, the Chinese ambassador to Canada, was summoned by officials, while the Canadian Armed Forces said in a statement that the incident posed no danger to Canadians. The balloon was shot down two days later off the coast of the U.S. state of South Carolina by a missile. February 8 – A man crashed a bus into a daycare in Laval, Quebec, killing two children and injuring six others. The man, identified to be 51-year-old Pierre Ny St-Amand, was arrested. February 11 – 2023 Yukon high-altitude object: Justin Trudeau orders the takedown of an unidentified object over Yukon, which is later shot down by a United States Air Force F-22 Raptor using a AIM-9X Sidewinder. The Canadian Armed Forces is deployed to collect and analyze the object. February 13 – At least twelve people are injured in an explosion at a construction site in Ottawa. February 18–March 5 – The 2023 Canada Winter Games are held in Prince Edward Island. February 27–March 5 – The 2023 World Junior Figure Skating Championships are held in Calgary, Alberta. February 28 – Canada bans social media platform TikTok from all government-issued devices, citing "an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security" from the Chinese-owned app.
March March 12: The Parti Québécois PQ held a leadership confidence vote. PQ party leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon broke a record for the PQ votes of confidence, with 98.51% support. March 13: The Juno Awards of 2023 are held in Edmonton, Alberta. Guillaume Cliche-Rivard from Québec solidaire is elected in the 2023 Saint-Henri—Sainte-Anne provincial by-election. A pickup truck hit eleven pedestrians in Amqui, Quebec, killing three and injuring eight. The driver was arrested after attempting to flee the scene. March 16 – A fire kills seven people in Old Montreal. The fire prompts a crackdown on illegal short-term housing rentals in Quebec. March 26 – Janine Gibson wins the 2023 Green Party of Manitoba leadership election.
April April 3 – The 2023 Prince Edward Island general election is held. The Progressive Conservative Party under Dennis King won a majority government. April 5–16 – The 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship is held in Brampton, Ontario. April 5 2023 Canada ice storm: Two people are killed and over a million people are without power after an ice storm strikes Ontario and Quebec. Quebec Minister of Education Bernard Drainville announces plans to ban prayer rooms in all provincial public schools. April 9 – The 2023 Canadian Ringette Championships are held in Regina, Saskatchewan. National champions are decided in U16, U19, and National Ringette League divisions. April 17 – Over $20 million worth of gold and other high-value items are stolen at the Toronto Pearson International Airport. April 19–May 3 – 2023 Canadian federal worker strike. April 27 – The Online Streaming Act receives royal assent, officially amending the Broadcasting Act and other related acts. April 29 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win a playoff series for the first time since 2004.
May May 6 – Coronation of Charles III as King of Canada and the other Commonwealth realms. May 8 – Canada expels Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat based in Toronto, from Canada, after Wei was accused of intimidating a Canadian opposition legislator critical of Beijing. The legislator Wei was accused of intimidating was reported to be Conservative MP Michael Chong. In response to Canada's expulsion of Wei, China listed Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, Canadian Consul in Shanghai, as persona non grata, where she would be expelled by May 13. May 9 – Quebec's premier Francois Legault comes out opposed to a plan by Century Initiative lobby group which wants to increase immigration in Canada, saying that "it constitutes a threat to Quebec". May 24 – Canada and Saudi Arabia agree to restore full diplomatic relations after a breakdown in relations in 2018 over the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. May 29 The 2023 Alberta general election is held, with Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party retaining a reduced majority government. Paul Bernardo is transferred from Millhaven Institution, a maximum security prison in Ontario, to La Macaza Institution, a medium security prison in Quebec. The transfer caused controversy.
June June 6 – Out-of-control wildfires burn in nearly every single province and territory. By the end of the season, which began early and ended late, 184,493 square kilometres burned in Canada, the equivalent of nearly 1.5 times the size of the Maritime Provinces. June 8 – Smoke from several wildfires in Ontario and Québec cause an eery orange sky in New York City sparking "Eh!POCALYPSE NOW" and "BLAME CANADA!" headlines on the cover of the New York Post. June 11 – Nick Taylor becomes the first Canadian citizen to win the Canadian Open since 1954. June 15 – A vehicle collision between a handi-transit bus and a semi-truck occurs on the Trans-Canada Highway near Carberry, Manitoba, killing 17 seniors and injuring 8 others. June 18 Titan, a submersible carrying five people, goes missing in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. The submersible imploded, killing everyone in it. Canada reaches the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League final, their first final in a CONCACAF tournament since the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup. However, they lose to the United States 2–0. June 19 – Federal by-elections are held in: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount Oxford Portage—Lisgar Winnipeg South Centre June 24 – Provincial by-elections in British Columbia are held in: Langford-Juan de Fuca Vancouver-Mount Pleasant June 26 – Olivia Chow wins the 2023 Toronto mayoral by-election, becoming the first visible minority person and the first woman to lead the city post-amalgamation. June 28 – A professor and two students are stabbed during a gender issues philosophy class at the University of Waterloo.
July July 2 – A ban on the testing of cosmetic products on animals is imposed by the government. July 5 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrests Patrick Gordon Macdonald, the chief propagandist for neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, and charges him on three counts of terrorism. July 24 – 2023 Calgary Heritage federal by-election is held. July 27: Provincial by-elections in Ontario are held in: Kanata-Carleton Scarborough-Guildwood
August August 23 – Saskatchewan follows New Brunswick's Policy 713 changes and implements a policy that requires parental consent when students under 16 years old wish to change their gender pronouns.
September September 2 – Canadian Indian residential school gravesites: During four weeks over the summer of 2023, the Pine Creek First Nation team sent to the site performed an excavation of some of the anomalies, but found no human remains. September 7–17 – 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. September 9 – At the Conservative Party of Canada 2023 policy convention, delegates voted 69%-31% to ban under 18 year olds from having gender-affirming care such as surgical interventions. September 10 – Canada wins bronze after defeating the United States 127–118 in overtime at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, their first medal in the event. September 14–21 – 2023 Atlantic International Film Festival. September 16–24 – 2023 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival. September 18 – 2023 India-Canada diplomatic crisis: The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau stated that Canadian intelligence has identified a credible link between the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder and the Indian government and that he had brought this up to his counterpart Narendra Modi at the 2023 G20 New Delhi summit, calling on India to cooperate with Canada in investigating the murder. In response to the alleged killing, the Canadian foreign minister Mélanie Joly ordered the expulsion of a top Indian diplomat in Canada named Pavan Kumar Rai, who headed the operations of the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, in Canada. September 20 – Ford Motor Company and the auto workers union Unifor reach a deal which averts a labor strike. The deal is predicted to influence the resolution of the American United Auto Workers' strike against the big three major American auto makers. September 21–October 1 – 2023 Calgary International Film Festival. September 22 – Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian-Canadian World War II veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), was in the House of Commons. He had been invited by Anthony Rota, the speaker of the House of Commons. Rota recognized Hunka's presence and praised him. Hunka received a standing ovation. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was there and took part in the standing ovation. The event was controversial. Within the next several days, Rota apologized and resigned.