TODAY IN HISTORY: B.C. allowed to sell hydro

In 1849, the Hudson's Bay Company signed a lease with the British government acquiring control of Vancouver Island — for seven shillings a year.

In 1906, the first advertisement for a radio, a Telimco selling for $7.50, appeared in the magazine Scientific American. Not until the 1920s, though, would commercial radio be widespread.

In 1915, a major earthquake in Avezzano, Italy, left about 30,000 people dead.

In 1920, the New York Times ridiculed aviation pioneer Robert Goddard for saying rockets would work in outer space. The paper issued an apology and retraction after the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.

In 1945, during the Second World War, Soviet forces began a huge, successful offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe.

In 1947, Britain’s Privy Council ruled Ottawa was within its rights to pass legislation making the

Supreme Court of Canada the country’s final court of appeal. Until then, Canadians could take their cases to the Privy Council.

In 1949, Prince Edward Island banned the sale and manufacture of margarine.

In 1964, Canadian and American negotiators reached agreement on a hydro and flood control project on the Columbia River. It allowed B.C. to build dams and sell electrical power to the United States for 30 years.

In 1983, a storm dumped a record 141 millimetres of rain in one day on St. Alban’s, Nfld. A dam on the Exploits River burst, causing an estimated $60 million in damage to Grand Falls and Bishop’s Falls.

In 1984, Toronto social worker Anne Cooles became the first black senator when she was appointed to the Upper Chamber by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

In 1986, nearly 24 million cans of Star-Kist tuna were detained for re-examination by fisheries inspectors. A government report later criticized federal inspection procedures and noted serious quality problems with the Star-Kist plant’s products.

In 1992, mass immunization programs against meningitis were announced by the Ontario and Quebec governments after an unusually severe outbreak of the disease in some regions. They were aimed mostly at children and teenagers in Ottawa, several regions in Quebec and all of Prince Edward Island. It was the largest mass inoculation in Canada since the 1950s when millions got polio shots.

In 2000, medical history was made in Lyon, France, when doctors grafted two new arms onto a man during a 17-hour operation.

In 2005, Toronto recorded an all-time high temperature of 18 C.