The Big Events On New Year's Day
A lot of major things happened in Canadian history
January 1 is often a major day in Canadian history. That is the day when many laws passed in the previous year are put into force.
As a result, there are many important anniversaries that happen on that day throughout our history.
Since we are only a couple of days from the New Year, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of those momentous anniversaries.
In 1906, the first movie theatre dedicated to only showing movies opened in Montreal. Called the Ouimetoscope, it was originally a cabaret before it was converted by owner Leo-Ernest Ouimet. Within the first week of business, he earned $100, nearly $3,000 today. The success of the theatre led to the demolishing of the original building that held 500 people, to build a 1,200 seat movie palace that also had air conditioning. The theatre closed in 1924.
In 1922, British Columbia switched lanes from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right side. The change was done in the middle of the night and amazingly, there were no accidents on that day.
In 1947, the first official Canadian citizens were sworn in through the Canadian Citizenship Act. This separated Canadian citizenship from British subject. Anyone born in Canada, or to Canadian parents, or who was British and had lived in Canada for five years, was made a Canadian citizen. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King was made the first Canadian citizen with the number 0001.
In 1991, the Goods and Services Tax, known as GST, came into effect. The tax was incredibly unpopular but generated so much money that no subsequent government has removed the tax. The seven per cent tax replaced a 13.5 per cent federal manufacturers tax. The tax was lowered to six per cent in 2008 and then lowered again to five per cent.
In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement superseded the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA, as it was named, broadened the free trade agreement to include Mexico. The agreement was focused on the goal of improving the standard of living for people in the three countries.