Canadian History Trivia Flashcards
Who was the political leader who led the campaign to introduce universal health care?
Tommy Douglas
Thomas Clement “Tommy” Douglas, was a Scottish-born Canadian social-democratic politician and Baptist minister. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
Which once and future Prime Minister lost the 1874 election after it became known that he offered bribes during the construction of the transcontinental railway?
Sir John A. Macdonald
The Hudson’s Bay Company is the world’s oldest chartered trading company. What product gave this company its start?
Fur
What three oceans border Canada?
Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic
What medical breakthrough led to a 1923 Nobel Prize for Frederick Banting and J.J.R. Macleod?
the discovery of insulin
Which Canadian province has the largest land size?
Quebec
In the federal Parliament, what is a law called before it is passed?
a bill
The country’s worst health crisis, spread by troops returning from overseas services in the First World War, was caused by what disease?
influenza
In 1942, a national plebiscite sparked a fierce debate over military service and national unity. What was this plebiscite about?
conscription
Which mountain is Canada’s highest?
Mount Logan, in the Yukon
Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte was taken hostage and murdered in the crisis initiated by which extremist separatist group?
FLQ (Front de liberation du Quebec)
Who was the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada?
Bertha Wilson
Who was Canada’s prime minister during the Second World War?
William Lyon Mackenzie King
Canada is a part of the voluntary association of countries that used to belong to the British Empire. What is this association called?
The Commonwealth
What was the name of Canada’s flag before the Maple Leaf?
Red Ensign
During what war did Canadian doctor Norman Bethune create the first mobile blood transfusion clinic in 1936?
Spanish Civil War
Which province elected the first female provincial premier in 1993?
P.E.I. (Catherine Callbeck)
Which province was, in 1916, the first to grant women the right to vote?
Manitoba
Which province was, in 1940, the last to grant women the right to vote?
Quebec
On Aug. 31, 1976, Carallyn Bowes became the first woman to accomplish this, a feat that took 133 days to complete.
running across Canada
Canada’s first post office was established in Halifax in 1755. The first Deputy Postmaster General was this American thinker and revolutionary.
Benjamin Franklin
On Feb. 26, 1972, Michel Girouard and his pianist, Rejean Tremblay, got married, the first of this kind of wedding in Canadian history.
a same sex marriage
In 1833, painter Joseph Legare opened Canada’s first one of these, in Quebec City
an art gallery
This Canadian prime minister won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in developing the UN Emergency Force in 1957.
Lester B. Pearson
Who was the first Canadian woman in space, flying aboard the American space shuttle Discovery from Jan. 22 to 30, 1992?
Roberta Bondar
This sport, which origin-ated among the Algonquian tribes of the St Lawrence Valley, is the oldest organized sport continuously played in North America.
Lacrosse
This kind of suit was developed in 1941 by W.R. Franks and his colleagues at the University of Toronto to allow pilots to carry out high-speed manoeuvres without losing consciousness.
The G-suit
This bridge, at 12.9 kilometres in length, is the longest bridge in the world to cross ice-covered saltwater.
Confederation Bridge (between P.E.I. and New Brunswick)
In response to the temperance movement, Toronto pharmacist John J. McLaughlin invented this drink in 1907 as a popular alternative to alcohol.
Canada Dry Ginger Ale
Which province’s entry into Confederation had to be moved up a day due to concerns that the original date, April 1, 1949, was April Fool’s Day?
Newfoundland
This prime minister holds the record for the shortest term, 69 days, from May 1 to July 8, 1896.
Sir Charles Tupper
This prime minister holds the record for longest unbroken term, serving 15 straight years in office, from July 11, 1896, to Oct. 6, 1911.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier
The oldest dinosaur bones in Canada, fossils that are approximately 200 million years old, were found in what province?
Nova Scotia (at the Bay of Fundy, near Parrsboro)
Canada’s most northerly point is this cape in Nunavut.
Cape Columbia
John Ware, nicknamed the “Smoked Irishman,” started ranching in Alberta in the late 1880s and was the first black one of these in Canada.
a cowboy
Which of the following slogans is best associated with Canada’s constitution?
a. Liberty, equality, fraternity
b. Peace, order and good government
c. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
b) Peace, order and good government
Name the trade agreement that links Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and which went into effect in 1994.
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
What was the name of the route used by fleeing American slaves to get to Canada?
The Underground Railroad
Which American War sped the move toward Confederation?
The American Civil War
In 1959, John Diefenbaker’s government cancelled the development of what new warplane?
The Avro Arrow
What year was Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, Canada’s first female doctor, granted a medical licence?
1880
Using tanks and a garden hose with no nozzle, Charles Merle Rolston of Vancouver opened the first one of these in Canada in 1908.
a gas station
What Canadian city houses the longest continuously operating ballet company in Canada?
Winnipeg, since 1939
