TODAY IN HISTORY: Farewell Stephen Harper
In 1858, In Pittsburgh, the Associate Presbyterian and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian churches merged to form the United Presbyterian Church in North America.
In 1887, the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway was opened for public traffic —18 months after the last spike was driven at Craigellachie, B.C. Trains had been running from Montreal to Vancouver for a year, but passengers now could ride all the way on 4,700 kilometres of CPR track.
In 1896, 55 occupants of a streetcar died when a bridge collapsed in Victoria.
In 1940, the evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.
In 1974, 14-year-old Bernadette Wheeler suffered a fatal heart attack during a concert by David Cassidy at London’s White City athletic stadium. Four other fans were taken to hospital and 100 others required medical treatment. Cassidy began toning down his teen idol image soon after, and quit “The Partridge Family” TV series which made him a star.
In 1977, William Powell of The O’Jays, one of the most popular black vocal groups of the 1970s, died of cancer in Canton, Ohio. He was 35. “Love Train” was a No.1 hit in 1973.
In 1981, 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier “USS Nimitz” off Florida.
In 1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were secretly married in the Dominican Republic. But the prince of pop and the daughter of “The King” did not confirm the marriage until Aug. 1. They later divorced. The couple did not have children.
In 2001, Eric Fairclough was acclaimed leader of the Yukon NDP, becoming the first aboriginal to head a major political party in Canada.
In 2003, a CF-18 jet crashed during training exercises near Cold Lake, Alta., killing the 38-year-old pilot.
In 2004, the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement signed peace accords with the Sudan government to end their 21-year war, in which two million people died.
In 2008, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier was forced to resign over a security breach involving classified documents left in his former girlfriend’s Montreal apartment.
In 2009, Bob Dylan, age age 68, became the oldest musician to have a No. 1 album in England with his album “Together Through Life.”
In 2014, Narendra Modi took the oath of office as India’s new prime minister. Modi’s inauguration was the first to which India invited leaders from across South Asia, including Pakistan.
In 2016, Conservatives bid a formal farewell to Stephen Harper, whose speech at the Conservative party convention was his first since stepping down as leader after his party’s October election defeat.