TODAY IN HISTORY: Canada adds new territory

In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1773, the event known as the Boston Tea Party occurred. To protest a British tax on tea, angry colonists disguised themselves as Indians, boarded three ships and dumped 340 chests filled with tea into Boston harbour.

In 1916, the monk who wielded powerful influence over the Russian imperial court, Gregori Rasputin, was murdered by a group of young nobles.

In 1944, the Battle of the Bulge began during the Second World War. German forces launched a surprise attack against Allied forces in Belgium (the Allies eventually beat the Germans back).

In 1949, an amendment to the British North America Act, giving Canadian Parliament power to amend the Constitution on federal matters, was passed by British Parliament. The amendment did not apply to areas of the Constitution under provincial jurisdiction.

In 1953, royal assent was given to a bill to establish the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources.

In 1954, the first synthetic diamond was produced at General Electric Research in the United States.

In 1960, two passenger planes, one belonging to United Airlines and the other to TWA, collided over New York City killing all 134 people aboard both aircraft.

In 1976, the federal and provincial governments halted vaccination programs against swine flu following reports of paralysis apparently linked to the vaccine. The move followed an announcement the same day from the U.S. that similar vaccinations were stopped because of possible links with a paralytic condition known as Guillain-Barre syndrome.

In 1980, Kentucky Fried Chicken king Colonel Harland Sanders died at age 90. He was probably the world's best-known human trademark.

In 1986, the New Democrats got their first Member of Parliament from Quebec when independent MP Robert Toupin joined their ranks.

In 1991, the Canadian government agreed to create a third territory in the North called Nunavut. (It officially became a territory on April 1, 1999.)

In 1991, the UN General Assembly rescinded a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The Arabsponsored resolution of Nov. 10, 1975, had declared “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”

In 1994, Via Rail's Atlantic train rolled into Saint John, N.B., for the last time as service to southern Quebec and New Brunswick was cut.

In 1996, Prime Minister Jean Chretien apologized for an election promise to scrap the GST.

In 1997, the Canadian Senate voted to strip Senator Andrew Thompson, who had attended only three per cent of the chamber's sittings since 1990, of his office, secretary, telephone and most travel privileges. He resigned from the upper chamber in March, 1998.

In 2002, Prime Minister Jean Chretien formally signed the Kyoto ratification document. It made Canada the 98th country to ratify the Kyoto accord, which commits countries to reduce their output of the heat-trapping greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming.