TODAY IN HISTORY: Terry Fox ends his marathon
In 1535, Jacques Cartier visited and described the area now known as Tadoussac, Que. Cartier died exactly 22 years later on Sept. 1, 1557.
In 1860, the cornerstone of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa was laid.
In 1890, the Metropolitan Street Railway Co. of Toronto began running its first electric streetcar at 19 km/h.
In 1904, Montreal policeman Etienne Desmarteau became the first individual Olympic champion to represent Canada when he won the 56-pound weight throw in.
In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan entered Confederation as Canada’s eighth and ninth provinces.
In 1909, tinsmiths caused a fire which destroyed a section of House of Parliament, leaving the central block untouched.
In 1923, Canadian businessman and financier Ken Thomson was born in Toronto.
In 1937, Trans-Canada Air Lines made the first passenger and first international flight from Vancouver to Seattle.
In 1939, Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, starting the Second World War. Britain and France declared war against Germany two days later, while Canada followed suit on Sept. 10.
In 1944, Canadian troops liberated the French port of Dieppe, the scene of a disastrous Canadian raid two years earlier in the Second World War.
In 1947, a CNR transcontinental passenger train collided with a passenger special train at Dugald, Man., killing 31 people.
In 1971, British Columbia banned alcohol and tobacco advertising.
In 1980, one-legged runner Terry Fox was forced to quit his cross-Canada “Marathon of Hope” near Thunder Bay, Ont. Cancer had spread to his lungs.
In 1981, the federal and Alberta governments signed an energy agreement calling for a two-tiered pricing system for oil.
In 1983, 269 people, including 10 Canadians, died when Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the jet entered Soviet airspace.
In 1994, Quebec police picked up more than 100 people in a raid on Chambly, including the town’s entire police force.
In 1995, Paul Bernardo was convicted of first-degree murder in the sex-slayings of Ontario schoolgirls Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.
In 1985, a joint American-French expedition found the wreckage of the British luxury liner “Titanic”900 kilometres off Newfoundland.
In 1999, at least 16 children suffered minor injuries when a Canadian National Exhibition ride in Toronto, “Wave Swinger,” malfunctioned and dropped more than two metres.
In 2011, Lloyd Robertson, 77, ended his career as the longest national news anchor in North America. He had spent 35 years with “CTV National News”and six years at the helm of CBC’s nightly news broadcast. Robertson was replaced by Lisa LaFlamme.